For the past few years we have driven to Ohio on the day after Christmas. When we get into North Carolina, we leave the Interstate and take U.S. 19 to Cherokee and then U.S. 441 through the Smokey Mountains into Gatlinburg. There is always this one particular place that we pull over and walk around near a stream.

This year was no exception. We drove. We stopped. We walked around by the stream. However, when we got back in the car and drove a few miles further the traffic began to slow. There was some snow on the sides of the mountains and people were pulling off to play in it. A little further up and the roads began to look rather slick. Yet a little further the traffic came to a halt; on a sheet of black ice; on an incline; on a tiny little two-lane road. Did I mention the part about being in the mountains? Yeah, I thought so.

So about a minute after we stopped I saw the first SUV start sliding after attempting to move forward. Then another. Then I tried. The car was in drive. The wheels were spinning in the right direction. The car, however, was moving in reverse—sideways. This obviously wasn’t working for the long line of cars in front of me and it wasn’t going to work for me either. I let the car slide a little further—cutting the front wheels to the right—then managed to whip the car around facing the other direction.

On the descent, I kept the car in first gear while gently applying the brakes. Only once did the car start to gain more momentum than the wheels would allow and cause me to slide. I corrected that slide by shifting from first into neutral. This allowed the car to straighten itself out. I then crept over into the fresher snow at the right edge of the road, shifted back down through the gears and slowly applied the brakes.

When I got back to the bottom, I stopped at the ranger’s office and found out that they had only opened the road two hours earlier. Nice to know.

So, to sum up the experience: First, don’t take the scenic route through the mountain if it is possible that there has been snow/rain/ice in the last week. While it may be bone dry at the bottom, the higher altitude in combination with some of the shade cast by higher peaks could leave that stuff there for weeks. Second, grow up driving in snow and ice. Learn to love and appreciate it by doing stupid things like driving in it when no one else is. Go out into empty parking lots and see what fun things you can do with momentum and lack of friction. After all, it worked for me.