So I heard the reason the city didn't plow this time

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Wow, Hopes, you're really a trooper.

And I agree that it wasn't so bad if you were driving around a flat area. The worst part of my commute on Monday was getting off of Banksville Road and up into Beechview, which is the last 5% of my drive home.

Turning left off of Banksville to get to Beechview, probably the steepest set of roads in the area.

[greg42]

I certainly would have gone for the hotel room, or at least that's what I think from reading it here. I've never been stranded though, so I'm not 100% sure. I just know I wouldn't have had any public transit ways to get even very close to home, and of course you can't exactly expect someone to come get you in the middle of that, or that renting a car from elsewhere (if it was early enough to get one, or if I could get out to the airport) wouldn't end in the same problem.

Heck, it wasn't just steep hills. I was surprised at the number of abandoned cars at the McKnight/Evergreen exit off the Parkway North. Something got stuck later in the evening I guess, and there were several cars there the following morning when we drove by.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by airwave09

Just curious, which road was it?

E Sycamore Street, the McCardle Roadway alternative to getting up to Mt. Washington.

I was an idiot for even going that way. I was heading to Upper St. Clair. The Liberty Bridge was backed up from the tubes and at a stand still. I decided to go through town and go across the Smithfield Street Bridge, make a right and go down to the West End. Once I got on the Smithfield Street Bridge, I decided that cutting up over Mt. Washington was a more direct route. BIG MISTAKE.

In all fairness, some other cars made it up the hill, but they were either four wheel drives or totally spinning the entire way up. I probably would have gotten up it if I had continued to spin my tires. I did spin them a lot to get 3/4 of the way up, but I had a new transmission put in my car 14 months ago. The warranty expired in December.

I got to where there was just no way I could go any further. I decided to turn around. When I was doing the three point turn, my car started sliding sideways down the hill. I'm good at driving in bad weather so I was able to correct the direction of the car while it was sliding sideways. I pulled it over to the guardrail. The hill was so icy that the car wouldn't stop---at all---it was just slowly inching forward. I told my son to get the salt out of the trunk and put it under the wheels so the car would park.

Then I sat there and tried to calm down. First time in my life I was actually afraid. My son tried encouraging me to try again, saying I was the best winter driver he knew, that he's seen me handle even worse hills. I decided to give it one more try by inching my way down, but again, the hill was too steep and too icy. We put the salt under the tires again so it would park.

I've been in way worse situations. I went over the mountain peak to Hidden Valley to discover the other side of the mountain was an ice storm. I was going 45mph when I crested the mountain. My car went totally out of control. But I kept it on the road and got it straightened out and then aimed it into the huge snow drift on the side of the road. No damage to the car. Pulled it out and continued on my way like nothing happened.

As I was sitting on this Sycamore hill looking down, I saw no way out. There was a guard rail on the right and a rock hillside on the left. Straight ahead there were two houses at a curve down below us. I could imagine my car ending up in their living room and two of the young adults with me weren't my kids. I couldn't risk it.

My son again tried to encourge me by reminding me how good I am at driving in winter weather, and I told him that part of being good at driving in winter weather is knowing what you can't do. With that revelation, I have more respect for people who abandon their cars in easier situations. They know their capabilities.

I knew there was going to be many more inches of snow. I figured we would wait until more snow fell and I'd have more traction. I didn't want to stay in the car because we risked another car coming down the hill hitting into our parked car with us in it. I decided we'd walk up to Mt. Washington and go to a restaurant to eat, to kill time. Once we got to the top, I saw the incline was still running and decided that we better get off Mt. Washington before the incline closed. That was the beginning of our journey home.

My tow truck driver made it to my car around midnight. He said it was too bad for him to take it down. At the time, there were way more cars abandoned on the hillside. While he was there, he watched a car come down the hill and crash into one of the abandoned cars. When he arrived back the following afternoon, every abaonded car had been crashed into except mine.

Originally Posted by Copanut

Pretty impressive walking that far, I would have opted for the downtown hotel room.

I seriously considered a hotel room. While we had dinner downtown, I was able to pass my keys to my tow truck driver. I looked for a taxi, but there were none. There weren't many buses but I decided to try to get closer to home in hopes we could get picked up. We caught a New Ken and got off in Etna. My husband can't drive because he's recovering from surgery. Everyone else nearby was out dealing with the weather themselves. So we started walking.

Originally Posted by Copanut

Your kids will have something to remember, to be sure.

When we were walking, I asked them what they learned. One said he leared to not stand in front of a car on an icy hill. LOL They listed off a big list of things they learned. I followed up their list by reminding them of the most important lesson----don't expect to be rescued, take action.

Originally Posted by greg42

I certainly would have gone for the hotel room, or at least that's what I think from reading it here. I've never been stranded though, so I'm not 100% sure. I just know I wouldn't have had any public transit ways to get even very close to home, and of course you can't exactly expect someone to come get you in the middle of that, or that renting a car from elsewhere (if it was early enough to get one, or if I could get out to the airport) wouldn't end in the same problem.

Well, you do live way farther out than I do. If it had been colder, I would have gone for the hotel room. I was wearing cloth tennis shoes and a down coat. That's it. My feet were wet, but they weren't uncomfortable. It was surprisingly warm that night for how terrible the weather was. Temps in the 30s aren't cold when you're physically active.

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by Hopes

E Sycamore Street, the McCardle Roadway alternative to getting up to Mt. Washington.

Wow! That might be the steepest, windiest road in the city. I take people from out of town up that in the summer to get to the overlooks and they are usually scared sh*tless. I wouldn't even consider taking a hummer up that thing when there is a lot of ice and snow. Yeah probably not a smart move to take that route lol.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by airwave09

Wow! That might be the steepest, windiest road in the city. I take people from out of town up that in the summer to get to the overlooks and they are usually scared sh*tless. I wouldn't even consider taking a hummer up that thing when there is a lot of ice and snow.

If I ever have a hummer, I would definitey try it again! I love a challenge!

Originally Posted by airwave09

Yeah probably not a smart move to take that route lol.

My husband is still laughing at me for trying it!

[Copanut]

Think about it, your kids will carry on the Baby Boomer tradition of: I walked 10 miles uphill in 1 foot of snow, both ways.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Think about it, your kids will carry on the Baby Boomer tradition of: I walked 10 miles uphill in 1 foot of snow, both ways.

I know! It's wonderful to carry on the tradition! They wont' be exaggerating much, except for the both ways and it wasn't an entire foot. But they definitely have a story to tell!

I was proud of them. They were troopers. Nobody complained. They thought it was exciting. Two of them had never been on the subway. Even during the walk, they were in good spirits and joking around. One of them said that it was better than just sitting around playing video games in his room.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I was in Boston a few weeks ago and they got 20 inches of snow. Yet somehow it wasn't that big of an issue because they had bulldozers in the street getting things cleared up. Pittsburgh could learn a thing or two from them.

I have to agree Boston and Mass for the most part do take care of the roads and parking lots in the winter. There can be exceptions now and then, but for the most part I have to give the road crews there alot of credit.

I think the worst places I have seen for not taking care of their roads are the Minneapolis area and here in Portland, Or.

I've never been thru Pittsburgh in the winter, but many places could learn a lesson from Massachusetts on taking care of the roads in winter.