Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post

mooby · 11-22-2012, 12:19 PM

Some really good stories in here, thanks for sharing. I guess I've been lucky so far, the most scared I can ever remember was when me and a couple friends went snowboarding in WV a couple years ago. We had never been out in WV before so we didn't know what the drive would be like, and my brilliant plan at the time was to hit the road right after I got off work at 5 pm, when it would be getting dark already.

So we hit the road, we were following the gps as soon as we got off 81 (highway to southwest VA), and as soon as we got in WV it was pitch dark mountain roads until we got to the hotel. Eventually we got to a point where we were about 30 miles from the place, and my gps told me to take a turn down a road called Highway 19. As soon as we turned onto this road, we noticed it was a gravel road covered with ice and snow. That was our first warning something was off. I checked the alternate route to see if there was a better way, but it said we either go 5 miles on Highway 19, or go 40 miles around the mountain. Well, I decided as long as I kept my foot steady on the gas, we'd be able to make it (note, I was driving a Corolla at the time, not the best ride for going over snow/ice covered roads), so we pushed on. About half a mile in we noticed this gravel road was only wide enough for one car, and it was about 10:30 at night so we couldn't see anything, but we kept going anyways, because the road was so narrow there was no room to turn the car around. About 3 miles in on this road, we were going up some really steep terrain, and we were high enough on this mountain I could look out my window and see the tops of trees about 20 feet down, so I knew if we slipped off this icy gravel road for any reason we'd probably be seriously injured, and yet I kept going.

Well, not long after, my car lost traction and slid into a small snowbank. I pulled the e-brake, collected myself, asked my friends if they were ok, and then I opened the door and noticed my left front tire was about a foot away from the edge of the cliff. We got out really carefully, we dug the tires out of the snow, and since there was no room to turn around I had to drive my car in reverse about 2 miles back down the mountain until the road got wide enough to turn the car around. And then we took the long route around the mountain. Definitely a bad decision on my part to take the shorter, unsafe route.

11-22-2012, 12:19 PM	#17
mooby Hug Anne Spyder Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 20,577	Re: Scariest Moments of Your Life Some really good stories in here, thanks for sharing. I guess I've been lucky so far, the most scared I can ever remember was when me and a couple friends went snowboarding in WV a couple years ago. We had never been out in WV before so we didn't know what the drive would be like, and my brilliant plan at the time was to hit the road right after I got off work at 5 pm, when it would be getting dark already. So we hit the road, we were following the gps as soon as we got off 81 (highway to southwest VA), and as soon as we got in WV it was pitch dark mountain roads until we got to the hotel. Eventually we got to a point where we were about 30 miles from the place, and my gps told me to take a turn down a road called Highway 19. As soon as we turned onto this road, we noticed it was a gravel road covered with ice and snow. That was our first warning something was off. I checked the alternate route to see if there was a better way, but it said we either go 5 miles on Highway 19, or go 40 miles around the mountain. Well, I decided as long as I kept my foot steady on the gas, we'd be able to make it (note, I was driving a Corolla at the time, not the best ride for going over snow/ice covered roads), so we pushed on. About half a mile in we noticed this gravel road was only wide enough for one car, and it was about 10:30 at night so we couldn't see anything, but we kept going anyways, because the road was so narrow there was no room to turn the car around. About 3 miles in on this road, we were going up some really steep terrain, and we were high enough on this mountain I could look out my window and see the tops of trees about 20 feet down, so I knew if we slipped off this icy gravel road for any reason we'd probably be seriously injured, and yet I kept going. Well, not long after, my car lost traction and slid into a small snowbank. I pulled the e-brake, collected myself, asked my friends if they were ok, and then I opened the door and noticed my left front tire was about a foot away from the edge of the cliff. We got out really carefully, we dug the tires out of the snow, and since there was no room to turn around I had to drive my car in reverse about 2 miles back down the mountain until the road got wide enough to turn the car around. And then we took the long route around the mountain. Definitely a bad decision on my part to take the shorter, unsafe route.