[Cover photo by Dan Cook on Unsplash]
The white out hit. Biggest winter storm of the year in Fairbanks area for winter of 1966/67 (and we had plenty of experience with snow and blizzards). We’d known it was coming and I left early hoping to avoid it. I was attempting to get back home from what would have been about a 20 minute drive under normal circumstances, but I was just 3 to 5 minutes into the drive when it hit big. Blinding snow blowing in on top of existing snowfall and mounds of it.
It started like this then got worse.
[Photo by Loic-van-der-Heyden on Unsplash]
I was in a Jeep CJ5 and had chains on the tires, so I felt ok about traction (relatively speaking), but visibility was the problem. I was struggling to identify where the road was. I thought it was bad in the Jeep, so I made a really dumb decision to step out and see if I could get a better look outside….that was a bad Idea!
Smack! I fell instantly to the ground.
No sightlines, so no sense of up or down. Balance was not possible. I reached out and around and found the edge of the Jeep and was able to pull on it and climb back in. I wasn’t sure where the road was until my eyes found something I could use.
Not a bad depiction. It was worse than this though. [Photo by Les Anderson on Unsplash]
Tree tops jutting out of the snow allowed me focus and I guessed that the gaps in between them were the general outlines of the road. I got the Jeep going, but it would bog down as I hit bigger and bigger drifts. In fact, I realized that I was going to have to accelerate in between drifts so that I could hit them with enough momentum to get through them.
Thus, I continued for 10 minutes. Speed up (to between 23 and 26 mph) hit the snow drift… bog through it and speed up for the next one. I was starting to wonder how much progress I was really making and if I was on the road I thought I was on. Then, in the distance I saw a light through the storm. What was it? Some shape started to form as I got closer.
It was a snow plow! “Yes! I can follow him,” I thought–then reality set in.
No, he’s not making it better for me… because he was stuck. Yes, the snow plow was stuck in the snow.
I wanted to help, but I knew if I lost momentum, I might never get moving again. I slowed ever so slightly and opened the door as the man in the plow shouted out.
“There’s another plow a mile ahead. Please send him back for me!” he hollered.
“Yes!” I shouted and gave a thumbs up. I kept momentum. About a mile or two of bursting through drifts down the road, I found the next plow. He was not stuck and had slightly cleared a small area which enabled me to stop safely and send him back to plow number one. I regained my momentum from his clearing and took off. I made it back home — and I gained a lot of confidence in my little Jeep that day.
[Image above from by,ymee on Pixabay – Pretty good representation, but should have chains on tires and more snowfalling and less sun! 🙂 ]
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Read the next story: Tales from the Cold #2 Jeep Escape!
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