That's the spirit!

I think I am getting into this now.

It is always interesting to hear the differences in climate and terrain we have. Here the mile poles are mostly 'regular' height, maybe 3 feet or so, with every 5th or so pole extra height, maybe 6 feet. You're obviously getting a lot more than that to warrent 8+' markers.

200 yard visability on the major highways isn't all that unusual here, but driving usually isn't a problem because you can cue off the mile markers. With the rolling or hilly terain we have, even the exposed interstates aren't bad as far as drifts go.

I don't care about the drivers, I care about their families...the drivers are obviously idiots who should never be allowed to drive again. Their vehicles should be taken from them and destroyed.

I certainly hope that they were charged for the gasoline deliveries.

Those mile markers sure help, don't they? Driving without a undisputable visual clue of where the road ends is really spooky. It doesn't have to be a blizzard - a grey, overcast day with fresh snow on the road will be hard enough. Imagine what this would be like if you put 1" of powder on top of that black tarmac:
winter road

Minor road in mountain area, good visibility conditions:


Major road at night:



This is a short video stub from inside a snow plow truck at a major route, trying to keep that mountain pass open. You can clearly see the reflector poles flashing by.
mpeg-video snow plog

As conditions worsen, the major mountain passes will allow only convoys guided by snow plows in front and at rear - you have to wait for the snow plow, and they will only allow you in the convoy if you have adequate clothing and equipment. No shovel, no rope and no winter clothing and you won't be allowed into the convoy. If it gets worse, convoys are for large trucks only (higher seat position gives a huge gain in visibility in snow drift compared to ordinary cars). Worse than that, the mountain pass is closed. There may also be night closure. I would guess that these routines are pretty similar in the mountain regions of U.S. and Alaska.

At least you have the poles. When I first moved to Ohio in the early 90's and was caught in a snowstorm on the outerbelt on the way home from work and there were no signs or light poles yet and snow driften across and wasn;t yet plowed. There was a spot where you couldn't tell where the road was and just drove by feel, if you went off the shoulder the side of the truck would sink into the grass so I knew I was off the road and owuld turn the other way a bit.

At rental car company rates.

There is an added dimension in these situations because so many of the passengers - children - aren't there by choice.

Ironic and illustrative to have these two threads going at the same time.

This reminds me of a couple snowstorms that caused avalanches along I-84 when I was in college. To get back to school (Oregon State) through the Columbia River Gorge (sea level), I had to que up in a convoy led by snowplows. Chained up my '69 Mustang's rear wheels and had chains on one front wheel for steering. Took hours to get through as we crawled along and sat still for long periods while the snowplows did their thing.

Remember a lot of people running from the convoy heading the forest to relieve themselves.

Nowadays I'm hard-pressed to think of anything that would compel me to go through such extremes to get somewhere. But back then New Year's parties were pressing business.

Am I missing something? What did these people do to warrant the vitriol?

Drive on snowy roads in snow country?

Trust authorities to tell them if it wasn't safe? Exactly as society teaches them to do?

They got stuck Thursday night. The road wasn't closed until 1:30am Friday, and they were getting them out Friday day.

What am I missing?

I think you're missing a heavy dose of sarcasm, at least in the case of my earlier posts.

Some people on this forum have a habit of immediately blaming the victims whenever a news report tells of someone getting lost or injured while out and about. In every case that I've read anyway, before any or at least many of the facts behind the event are publicized. See the debacle of a thread concerning the folks attempting to climb Mt. Hood for some great examples of posting without knowing what the hell has actually happened.

There are also a lot of people, none of whom are actually involved in search and rescue, who also use every opportunity to state that the victims of any mishaps should be billed for the cost of their rescue. None of those folks has ever, to my knowledge anyway, ever explained why fire and police services shouldn't also be billed for. Ironic since the majority of search and rescue efforts are provided by volunteers anyway who do it for their own reasons and the costs passed along to the taxpayer completely pales in comparison to things like police and fire services.

Some of us I think, are getting a wee bit tired of reading armchair analyses by people without the knowledge or the facts to have an informed opinion.

The comments made about the victims of the Mt. Hood event went beyond the pale even for this forum, in my opinion. It's been breathtaking to see what people write about things that they know virtually nothing about.

Thanks for reminding me that irony and sarcasm can be a tough thing to do well on a web forum.