A weekly ski trip by about 50 women from the Denver area turned into an overnight ordeal when they got stuck in a snowstorm in the back of Jackknife’s semi-tractor trailer on the way back from Vail.
One of the women, Brenda Jollup, said it was a test of patience and perseverance. But she said the two got to know each other better, helped several women with medical issues, and returned home safely on Thursday after a 22-hour bus ride. Ta.
“This is a testament to a woman who knew how to cope with other crises in our lives, deal with unexpected and unpleasant situations and keep things in the right perspective,” said Jollup, a former teacher. Ta.
“We ran out of food, water, and were restricted from using the toilets,” she said. “And when we ran out of toilet paper, people dug into their backpacks for tissues. And we looked out for each other.”
The women were taking part in the final leg of a series of 10 weekly ski trips run by Sera Ski Bus, a volunteer-run women’s ski group that has been in operation for about 40 years.
The women, some in their 70s, were chased off the Vail hills by thunderstorms on Wednesday afternoon, but that didn’t get them to the worst part of the trip.
They were enjoying apres-ski snacks such as banana bread and cookies, but a semi-jackknife interrupted them for several hours.
When it started running again, the transmission overheated and we had to tow it over a pass and then wait until it cooled down. Eventually, they were stopped again at night behind another broken-down trailer.
“We resigned,” Bette Davis said. “We’re sleeping on the bus right now. Nothing’s happening. We’re just idle there forever.”
One of the women was injured when another skier rear-ended her while descending the hill, raising concerns about whether another passenger would be able to get her daily insulin injection.
“We helped each other,” Jollup said. “We had snow piled up on the injured girl’s lap. We even shared what was in our backpacks with the diabetic girl, including food.”
At one point, there was a water shortage, but the bus company was able to bring a maintenance truck to a convenience store that buses couldn’t access and provide water and potato chips, Davis said.
The women used their cellphones to contact their families when there was service, trying to find out when the road would reopen for them and everyone else stranded on the highway.
Mary Wagner said the group has emailed Gov. Jared Polis’ office and lobbied the media to complain about the lack of information and to stop the highway that brings so many tourists and money to ski resorts. He said that he appealed by drawing attention to the fact that , Wagner said.
“It gave me purpose instead of just sitting around complaining,” Wagner said. He said he couldn’t sleep much on the bus and spent most of the night laughing with his friends.
Nevertheless, she returned to skiing on Friday on a previously planned trip.
Wagner said she wants authorities to impose stiffer fines on truck drivers who don’t wear chains and be more efficient in removing stranded vehicles.
In Colorado, truck drivers traveling through the mountainous sections of Interstate 70, the state’s main east-west highway, are required to carry chains from September to May to help with traction during storms. It is mandatory to prepare the tires to be equipped with chains to increase the speed.
An unknown person was accused of not using chains during this week’s storm and was stranded and obstructing traffic. Other vehicles stuck behind had to wait for a professional tow truck to arrive and remove the big rig and allow traffic to flow.
The Colorado State Patrol announced Friday that 12 truck drivers were arrested for failing to use chains during the storm.
However, he acknowledged that trucks may be towed to move traffic before officers arrive to issue tickets.
Davis said that despite being stranded on a snowy highway, the bus was able to keep going and he didn’t get cold because he was wearing all his ski gear.
Davis, 76, has been a member of the Celaski Bus Group for about 25 years.
“When I first rode the bus, I was one of the younger members and was always in awe of the older women who were still skiing,” she said.
“Now I am one of them. This story will be told for the next 30 years, but we want this bus to run forever.”
