Driving home from Seattle last winter, heading east on Hwy. 2, I was starting up the last steep incline to Stevens Pass, when suddenly the cars in front of of me slid off the road and crashed.

The road was hard ice. In a massive ice storm. Immediately, I downshifted to low, and crept up the ice at 7 mph. Drivers stood numbly beside their crashed cars, watching me go.

An emergency rescue vehicle was in front of me. "They can rescue me if I crash," I thought, relieved. But at the summit, they turned into the ski area. So, I headed east alone, steeply downhill.

Stevens Pass closed behind me, I later learned. That massive ice storm lasted 44 miles, from Skykomish to Leavenworth. Down... steeply down... and around sharp curves on ice, I lightly braked, holding my breath. "Please... please ... get around the curve..." Watching for fallen trees on the road.

The Nason Ridge Rest Area was filled with cars and trucks: people spending the night. I passed crashed cars that slid off the road. The highway was sheet ice. Pelted by tiny ice balls, on I drove: 15...11...7 mph.

It took me FOUR HOURS to drive 44 miles on hard ice. Raining ice. The road was steep and extremely curvy. I made it safely because I drove slow enough for the conditions.

When I descended to Leavenworth, the road surface turned from ice to wet pavement. I nearly cried with relief. But I still had 35 miles to get home and could not relax.

The next day I felt like I had been beaten with a 2 x 4. That was the most harrowing drive I ever experienced.

@LiterateHiker It will make one super tense. I was driving through north texas years ago, doing 65 or so on a two lane road. All of a sudden I went into a slide. There was a car coming in the other lane coming toward me and a car sitting on the side of the road, so l tried to steer toward the parked car, the lesser of two evils so to speak. He must have seen me coming and pulled out just as l got to where he was sitting. I came to a stop where he had been sitting. I had hit black ice. The highway did not change in appearance. It looked dry as a bone. I had to sit there for a bit and get my shit together. Scary stuff.

@LiterateHiker Way more hairy than my two worst winter experiences, but the one thing in common was probably the real, palpable fear I had each time that I was in real danger of going off the road, getting stuck with no help for hours, and probably dying out there in the snow and cold. Each time I was driving down two lane roads that were white out and deep in snow, coming home from work and hoping I could blast thru the snow drifts on the road without getting stuck or hitting a stalled/stuck car in front of me that might be beyond my vision thru the heavy snowfall.

After surviving both episodes, I resolved that I would never again risk my life driving thru deadly winter storms for a fucking job......

@TomMcGiverin

My women's hiking group hikes year-round. Snowshoes and microspikes provide traction. Winter is gorgeous in the woods and mountains.

As small, slender woman, with high exertion I soak my shirts with sweat which then freezes. I must change into dry shirts when we stop for lunch to prevent hypothermia.

Learned the hard way that putting a down jacket and raincoat over a wet shirt doesn't work. By the time I got home, I had hypothermia. It took over 24 hours to warm up my core.

Yesterday I went snowshoeing for two hours. Arriving home in wet clothes, I shivered all night long.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

@LiterateHiker Nope. You're a brave woman with the way you drive and hike. I'm more of a timid wimp, lol.

Or just cancelling altogether until it is safe to be on the road. I can't fathom ANYONE putting so much on the line for a haircut.