Stuck in the Snow

We went skiing on the mountain over the weekend. Ellen made it to the yurt in the National Monument on her first try, but she was tired by the time we got back to the car. We hustled her into the back seat and headed home for a nap. Before we got even a mile down the road, however, we saw a family in a Toyota Tacoma stuck in the snow. We weren’t driving the Chev, so I couldn’t pull them out, but we did stop to help. The story ends happily, but the rescue took much longer and was much more difficult than it needed to be. The family had obviously never been stuck in the snow before and they were completely unprepared. I’ve written on this previously for Associated Content, but the guy in this truck violated all of my driving in the snow rules.

First, he didn’t have boots, gloves, or a jacket. He was out digging in the snow with sneakers and bare hands—at least his shoes had laces, which is a lot better than all the foolishness with slip-ons and flip-flops. People! If you’re going out in your vehicle in the winter, bring some winter clothes. Anyone can get stuck and you need to be able to put on a jacket and some gloves.

Second, he had no shovel. This guy’s Toyota was high-centered in deep snow and he was digging with an 18-inch crow bar. A crow bar. The thing was an inch wide. Aside from having a warm coat to put on, the number one thing you can do to be prepared for winter driving is to put a shovel in the back of your truck. Fortunately for this guy, I used mine to dig him out.

Third, he couldn’t resist turning his wheels. The family did not speak English, but I showed the guy with the steering wheel how to straighten his wheels. Then I signaled vigorously outside the cab to get him to straighten up. But . . . the minute we got the thing to move an inch, he kept trying to turn the wheel. No, don’t turn the wheel, it creates a tremendous amount of surface area and friction that brings the vehicle to a stop. Plus it puts you into a whole new pile of snow. If you go straight in . . . and then I dig you free . . . please drive straight out.

Fourth, he wouldn’t keep his foot off the floor. Every time we were ready to try, he put the truck in gear and opened the throttle all the way. Don’t gun the motor, you will never move in the snow if you step on the gas. I don’t care if it is one inch of snow or one foot, you gotta be gentle on the throttle. You want your wheels turning slowly, not spinning wildly. This guy was about to set his tires on fire with how hard he was spinning them and, as a result, he had absolutely no traction.

A couple of other guys stopped to help and we finally had enough man power to get the truck out of the snow and back on the road, but it took about an hour more than it needed to. I was soaked with snow, sweat, and irritation by the time we were done. I told Valerie, “I could have got that truck out faster working by myself; all the ‘help’ provided by that guy and his family made it almost impossible.”