Blizzard Of 98 - Trapped In Paradise

Blizzard Of 98

Trapped In Paradise

by Lincoln Price

Published: March 1998

The sky broke early in the morning, bringing down snowflakes that seemed the size of tennis balls. Within an hour a thick layer of snow spread across every uncovered blade of grass and tree. The weather reports stated that there was no indication of the snowfall letting up and advised for everyone to remain home due to all major roads and highways being closed.

It was getting worse by the minute. The entire horizon had become a starch, white blanket meshed together. Common sense told everyone in the area to start their fires, get the water boiling, and accept that they weren't going anywhere for a while. For my friends and me, it meant packing up our four-wheel drive truck and heading out to Wolf Laurel, North Carolina. As we struggled to pull out of the driveway, the snow only seemed to come harder, making a soft thud as each flake bounced off the hood and windshield. Slowly, we pulled onto Interstate 40 and confidently started our journey with the intent of never turning back until we reached our destination.

The whiteout began, the blizzard had come, and our prayers had been answered.

"There's another one," Jon said, pointing out the shadow of a car that had slid into a ditch and been temporarily abandoned. It had been that way all morning, wrecked cars scattered across the highway like the final remains and aftermath of a battlefield. Jon's truck had been doing well, his four-wheel drive tightly locked and working steadily. Our top speed reached 35 miles per hour. Above that you were risking joining the rest of the cars that were buried deep into the shoulders of the road. Things would have been just perfect except for the fact that we had been on the road for two hours and had only gone about fifty-five miles. Through patience, faith, and will, we reached the Wolf Laurel Ski Resort three hours later. What usually took us an hour to an hour and a half, had evolved into a full five hour journey. We left at noon and made it by dusk, still our enthusiasm was high and we had completed our quest.

"Hey! What's up?" Kevin Shelton asked, as we made our way into the snowboard shop. "You guys picked a good night."

This we knew. The fact was instantly understood as we watched one kid after another come scrambling in screaming about how great it was out there. As we listened, barely being able to control our intense waves of excitement, we struggled fiercely to put on our equipment. Within a few minutes, Jon, Nate and I were suited up and ready to go. We thanked Kevin, Shane and Steve, the guys who work in the snowboard shop, for their help and started to take our first steps towards the path of powder. Before we could reach our third step, everything disappeared in one giant FLASH!

There was nothing but blackness.

"Everybody take it easy!" I heard Kevin scream from somewhere far and way too distant. I couldn't see a thing, as I struggled to grab a lighter to make some kind of sense of what was going on. It had to be a joke, some temporary prank that would be resolved in a matter of minutes. We had come too far to stop here.

The lighters began to flare up inside the room. You could make out faint shadows dancing back and forth across the walls.

"Nate, John?" I asked, trying to get a position on my friends. I felt a solid rabbit punch in my lower back and knew that it was Nate's way of saying that he was right behind me. People were scattering in and out of the shop in search of some sort of stationary light. There was none. Everything was cast in blackness. Eventually we heard the sound of heavy boots come stomping in. It was a few members of the ski patrol rushing to retrieve emergency equipment.

"The power is out everywhere," I heard a voice say as it walked confidently behind the shop counter. "We're going to have to do an E-vac."

"OK," Kevin said. "Get what you need and I'll meet you out front right away." There was the sound of shuffling once again and I could hear Kevin walk out of the office and brush past me in the hallway. He recognized my figure and smiled.

"I wish you could see this man; we're going to have to evacuate every person that is stuck on the lifts."

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"By shooting a rope up onto every chair and going up there and pulling them down one by one."

"Oh," was all I could say. My mind was racing with the mental picture of a ski patroller catapulting himself up to the top of the lift and rescuing every stranded skier and snowboarder.

Kevin gave me a pat on the shoulder and disappeared out the door and into the faceless blizzard.

Inside the ski lodge another predicament was going on...the blizzard had ceased to let up the slightest bit. The parking lot outside was full with one stuck vehicle after another. The road that branched off it and led to the highway was virtually impassable without a four-wheel drive. Even then there was no guarantee that you would be able to make it out safely.

People were starting to wonder how they were going to get home. Every hotel within twenty miles was booked. Fear and panic began to rattle in whispers throughout the lodge as the sharp beam of one flashlight crisscrossed among the walls and ceiling.

Outside the blizzard maintained a constant high pitched sound as strong winds blew across the slopes. Voices darted back and forth in the darkness as members of the ski patrol shouted up to the stranded skiers on what to do. Slowly, people started to file into the lodge one-by-one exhausted and cold, but still full of enough energy to tell everyone how they were rescued from the lifts.

Midnight was not far away and still there was no sign of the power returning anytime soon. It was radioed back to the lodge that the lifts were secure and the final stranded skiers and snowboarders would be returning soon. A sigh of relief passed softly in the darkness as reports of no injuries or accidents came in. Still, the blizzard only seemed to grow fiercer with each hour and the problem of transportation still remained unsolved. If one were to try to drive home they would risk getting stuck and possibly freezing to death in the night. It was a problem with a difficult solution. Fortunately, a calm, mild mannered man by the name of Orville came up with an answer.

Orville is the owner of the Wolf Laurel Ski Resort. When it came time to decide how to help everyone figure out their situation for the night, he came up with the solution. Calling everyone to meet in the center of the lodge, he explained that anyone unable to leave would be welcome to sleep upstairs in the dining room. The accommodations were not exactly perfect, but they seemed incredible when compared with the possibility of getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere and freezing to death.

Incredibly, spirits were quite high as everyone prepared to bed down for the night. Sure, there was no power or heat, but that didn't matter. Outside the snow just kept falling and this meant one thing for the next day - powder and a lot of it. Beautiful, thick, silky white powder that was growing so deep you could get lost in it if you weren't careful. It was everything you could ever ask for especially when you would be the first ones on it in the morning. Silently, with eyes closed shut, you realized that you somehow had gotten trapped in paradise.

The snow stopped falling by the time morning came. It was a beautiful, peaceful white scene as you sat up and looked out onto the fresh covered slopes. The railings of the porch held at least a foot of snow on top of them. This meant that there was nothing but powder out there, ready and waiting for whoever wanted to slide across the mountain first.

As everyone hopped up and began to get dressed, I noticed something. Through the shouts and cries of excitement that filled the room, you still couldn't hear one thing - the soft hum of power. The heaters didn't vibrate with their raw lengths of warmth, and the luminescent glow of the lights was dark and absent. This definitely meant no power. No power meant no lifts. No lifts - I wasn't quite sure what that meant.

I walked downstairs and huddled with my friends next to the fire that was being started. The staff and ski patrol started to show up steadily, all inquiring about the plan for power. There was a rumor that the power plant was going to give us just enough to run the lifts and lodge. Although it was never said, we all knew that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Some talk began about hiking up to the top. However, as soon as you tilted your head back and measured the distance to the peak of the mountain, you knew right away that it was worth waiting around for a while.

So we waited and the hours passed on. Slowly, the time was threatening to reach noon, almost the peak of the day. Reluctantly, we waited some more.

"Hey, Orville's going to give a shuttle to the top in the van!" a voice shouted out as it came crashing through the lodge doors. Bodies sprang to their feet immediately and everyone grabbed their equipment. By the time I reached the van with my friends, it was packed full and looked as if we were going to have to wait some more.

"We're going to give it a shot," another voice called out. I turned back around and saw a couple of snowboarders piling in the back of a truck. My friends and I started to throw our gear in the back and hopped in.

"They'll never make it without chains," I heard Kevin say just before I hopped into the truck. Regardless, I was determined to go to any lengths to reach the top of the mountain. However, Kevin knew what he was talking about and we didn't even get halfway.

As the truck pulled back to the parking lot, everyone's frustration grew worse. The mountain was there offering every snowboarding possibility you could imagine and you couldn't get to the top of it.

"That's it, we're walking," somebody said. I don't remember exactly who it was, but it seemed to be the final solution. Everyone grabbed their gear and began to take the access road to the top of the mountain. It made sense to me, and I grabbed my board and started to follow. I took four steps and sunk into a snowdrift all the way up to my chest.

So the journey began. Right away everyone realized this was no easy walk. The mountain road was steep and your muscles began to burn beneath the skin as you pressed onwards. The elevation and rigorous walk made it hard to breathe. The more difficult it became, the more determined I felt to make it to the top. A half hour later, we were there.

At the top you could only sit and look. The view was naturally spectacular; the white slopes bending through snow-topped trees and valleys. Screams of adrenaline echoed across the mountain and you knew that the others were beginning to make their descent of some of the other runs. Still, I could only sit and look. Ironically, you were so happy to be at the peak that you didn't want to sacrifice all the work that it took to reach it. However, you realized that was what you had worked so hard to do. The blizzard had come, the power was gone, and now it was time to carve.

Crystal clear, champagne powder...there's nothing else comparable on this earth. For the average east coast snowboarder, you literally had to reeducate yourself on technique. The days of leaning heavy on your front foot and throwing your weight forward were over. In powder, it's exactly opposite. Lean back, put all your weight on your back heel, and you will begin to hear it.

"Shhhh, Shhhhhhhh!"

That's the sound of powder. Your board cut through it as if it were floating through a cloud. Your carves become one single motion, a glide that fears no ice. After the glide, everyone feels the absolute need of flight. The thirst for air is granted as you launch your body off huge jumps, moguls, and every hit possible. The landings are always soft and forgiving. One at a time your friends and you follow one another through the air, each performing a trick with a momentum and confidence they never thought possible.

"The lifts are on!"

I looked up and saw the chairs slowly moving, their shadows growing to promising new life. However, at that moment it all seemed insignificant.

"Shhhh, Shhhh," the sound goes again.

In one giant rush you feel an energy that sets your mind and body free. In a surreal and unbelievable setting, you realize that you have come here for a reason. So the blizzard came. The snow had fallen. In great strength and struggle you have found your way to ride. Through it all, we had discovered the very heart of paradise.