Battlesnow Caralatica (Part 2)

It’s been two days and the blizzard finally relented. Ivan and I walked along the side of freshly paved roads. We reach where we thought the cars were, but we didn’t recognize anything. We found ourselves in a parking lot.

“It’d be pretty funny if we abandoned our cars here,” I told Ivan.

Nevertheless, we gave up and we headed back to the cabin. We informed the others that we couldn’t find the cars, so Tim offered to come with us to find them. We again hiked along icy roadsides and headed for the parking lot.

“Holy shit . . . .”

Up front and center of the parking lot are two, six feet piles of snow. Somehow we miraculously abandoned our cars in a parking lot. With shovels in hand, we dug. We worked in shifts to keep things continuous – there was still snowboarding to be had. Raul and I began one of our morbid conversations.

“I’d bury a puppy in snow as my present for my kid. He’d hear it whimper and I’d say, ‘You better start digging before your present dies’” said Raul.

I replied, “And already have a blank tombstone and a plot in a pet cemetery already taken care of, just in case your kid is too damn slow.”

Bystanders walked by and gave us odd looks while we dug. Mark suddenly went insane and began to sing screamo.

“I hate my life! My girlfriend left me! I want to die!”

It didn’t end there. He switched gears and sang country.

“My wife left me; my dog died; I’m drinking whiskey.”

As we dug, a roadside worker walked over to see how we’re doing, and imparted us with a little story.

“I lived here all my life and this is seriously the worst snowstorm we’ve had in over 20 years.”

Of course it was our luck to think that we could drive through some snowfall, but no, it was a full-on blizzard. We were snowed in on the mountain. Trapped. And no one was able to get on the mountain too. We worked diligently and got one of the cars free. We had a brief celebration and went straight to work on the second car. We were men on a mission; we still wanted to snowboard despite all the hard labor we’re going through.

We successfully freed the second car and brought them back to the cabin. Half of us booked it to the slopes and realized that there will be hardly anyone riding – people who wanted to get on the mountain couldn’t. The powder was fresh and the place felt empty. It was a night of riding that we rightfully deserved.