Photoessay #2898 - Spin-out near the pass

This is NOT a picture of Naomi's incident, but a representative picture that I used from somewhere without permission.  She's ok and safe and not too much damage to the car.

Naomi had decided to come back from Ellensburg last night.

Always respect the Cascade mountains and Snoqualmie Pass.  The mountains aren't that high; the elevation at Snoqualmie Pass is 3022, low by Sierra standards.  But the mountains can be very rugged and driving treacherous.  The weather was calm down here so I didn't think to look at the pass conditions.  I know Naomi would.  Traction tires adviced, wintry mix.  But a big storm was coming, better to come now, she figured.  In the dark?

About 6:30 pm, we get this hysterical phone call from her, the kind where it takes awhile to get her to calm down enough to figure out what's going on.  She had tried to change lanes, figuring the compact snow in the other lane was better that the compact snow in her lane.  The car started to slip, she slammed on the brakes and she spun and was now against the concrete median right by a big cliff.  Facing the traffic on I-90.   And didn't know what to do.  Very upset.   Surely we couldn't help her from down here.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"I don't know!" she wailed.  All she saw was dark and snowy.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes.  And I think the car is ok.  Waaah!"

"Are you still going west-bound?"

"Yes!  East-bound is on the other side of the cliff"

Comforting.

"Are you past the pass?"

"Yes!'

"Call 911," we advise.  We can't think of anything else to do.  Later she said she didn't think to call 911 because it wasn't an emergency.  Not an emergency?  You've spun out on I90 in the dark and snow and are stuck against a median that we hope is going to hold.  That's an emergency!

So she did call 911.  She said the dispatcher kept interrupting her when she wailed that she didn't know where she was.  A trouper called her.  What did we do before cell phones.  But she doesn't have much juice left on the phone so I decide not to stay on the line and call her  back 10 minutes later.  No answer for quite awhile, I was getting worried.  Then she answered sounding calm.

"Can't talk mom, I have things I have to do."

"Is the trooper there?"

"Yes."

So we never heard if she got out of the mountains until she came home.  Note to sons and daughters:  When the crisis is over, call the folks and let them know!

Later I asked her how the trooper got her out of the snow and turned around.  She said that he helped her back off the bridge (Glad I didn't know she spun out on a bridge), then he put chains on her tires near the median.  Then he got in and turned the car around.  He followed her to the next exit and took off the chains.  Plus gave her a little lecture about driving in snow.

My sincere thanks to the Washington State Trooper who helped her.  He told her "It's going to be a long night," as he took off probably to rescue the next person who spun out on I-90 last night..