I wouldnt even have made it to any ski resort slope that day.
It was the morning after a blizzard, I was driving down to Kirkwood from Minden in May's 4Runner unaware that the road required a 4-wheel-drive in operation. The rest of the folks in the car- Chris, May and Susan...not the best morning folks, were still stirring. Approaching a curve at roughly 25 miles per hour I gently applied the brakes to negotiate the turn only to send the car into a tailspin. I attempted to rectify the situation by straightening the wheel only to have the car edge closer to the edge of the cliff. I was cool...if I was chewing gum...I would have blown a bubble. The bottom of the mountain started appearing, but I wouldnt bat an eyelid. The other folks now wide awake wouldnt speak either, contrary to the hysterical shrieking I am accustomed to watching of people in the movies. We slid closer with every passing second...and then there was a bump and the car stopped short of hurtling down the cliff. We had hit a mound of snow located just at the edge.
Next May was back at the wheels, I was relegated to the back seat cussed by everyone else and the car switched to four-wheel drive.
This life altering event was a message that I was saved for a reason. I accompanied my accomplished snowboarding buddies on every slope they ventured on...even without a helmet. First the solitude (blue), moving on to the cornice (black d) and finally to the Wall!
At the Wall with May
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