We each have several pairs of studded rubber things you put on your shoes. Work
a treat for walking in icy conditions. Last year we were putting out signs on
the snowmobile trails and it was super icy. I had no issues with my cleats on,
everybody else was sliding all over.I lost a pair a couple weeks ago while
hunting, I think I'll buy a pair for each car...
-Curt
On Saturday, January 6, 2018, 1:01:14 PM EST, Jim Cathey via Mercedes
<mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
This turned out to be one of the skating rink thaw days that plague our
hill, and Jill managed to make it 50 or so feet down before losing control
(at low speed) and bashing into the ice berm at the side. She walked back
home, leaving the car cocked in the roadway with the flashers on. (Not a
good place, if anybody else were to come by.) We walked back out, and were
barely able to make it down to the car without falling, mostly due to
careful path choices. The car wasn't even badly stuck, but it couldn't go
forward nor backward on the thick glare ice. Further attempts in that line
would only have swung the ass end out further into harm's way. As it was
I'm not sure anybody coming by would be able to miss the car, but traffic
was essentially nonexistent.
The conditions looked bad, but nothing really worse than many other days in
the past, so I figured that if I could just get unstuck I could probably
get to the bottom of the hill OK. My other option was to try to
deliberately pivot the car around the stuck wheel by gunning it and letting
it swing around so that it was facing backwards down the hill, then back
down. (I have actually done this before, but it's pretty scary. The only
other real option was to call for a tow out, which would have left us very
vulnerable to being part of a wreck during the no-doubt lengthy time it
would have taken a chain-equipped tow truck to arrive.) I decided to try
throwing gravelly chunks of ice from the berm under the tires so that I
could back away from the berm a bit. I had to hang onto the car to
stay upright as I carried gravelly ice to each wheel. Before setting out I
punched the magic "Hill Descent Mode" button, something that we've never
used before, but which is intended for slippery steep downhills off-road.
The conditions certainly qualified! The car grunched and crunched quite a
bit and I was able to back up a bit, then move forward and turn away from
the berm and proceed on downhill. The car seemed fairly unstable, and there
was a real party going on under the hood as the car managed its brakes
independently to keep me creeping under some semblance of control.
It worked! I was able to reach lower elevations of the hill, where the ice
was much less problematic, whereupon I turned off the Descent switch and
drove normally (for the conditions). At the bottom of the hill I turned
around and gunned it, and rocketed back up the hill as per usual under
these conditions, where forward momentum is a crucial component of getting
past the worst bits. (Hey, it beats walking back!) The car's Dynamic
Stability Control was kicking in a lot, but I was able to get back home
without too much trouble. No harm, no foul. The car was clearly up to the
task, validating its choice in the first place. The Nokian Hakkapeliitta
studded snow tires continue to perform admirably in this, their sixth, year.
Lessons for SWMBO in the future, on such days:
1) Stay home!
2) Use the Hill Descent Mode.
-- Jim
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