Yesterday my wife was okay with me driving downhill on ice in our rental car and so was my younger daughter as we drove from Timberline Lodge back towards Portland, Oregon. However, then at the bottom of the steep hill up to Timberline Lodge from Government Camp she got nervous because of all the traffic, ice and snow there all at once.
By the way, it is better if you can avoid stopping at all, especially on the level or an upgrade while in ice and snow. Overcoming inertia when on the level and especially driving uphill can be difficult under many conditions and in some conditions impossible. So, if possible never completely stop even if you are only traveling one mile and hour or more.
So, when I reached the stop sign at the bottom of the hill I knew this as I slowly interfaced with heavy traffic on a completely ice covered road. At first everyone was moving at 10 to 20 miles per hour but then people slowed way down because some people I guess were really scared. One of the scared people at this point was my wife who suddenly sort of got hysterical and told me she was going to drive.
Normally, I would have put up a fight but my hip was hurting because I hadn't taken a pain killer from the ski lift malfunction from ice buildup so I did a U-turn to get back to somewhere we could change drivers. Also, it was kind of cool because they were making snow where I stopped so this was fun to watch for me even though below 20 degrees Fahrenheit out with the sun going down at the same time.
I was kind of concerned letting my wife drive because this was the first time in 20 years of snow driving that she hadn't automatically deferred to me. I asked her if she had had enough experience driving in ice and snow and she reminded me she had lived in Boston after College through several winters so I knew she understood the basics because it is below 20 degrees Fahrenheit with ice and snow pretty regularly winters there. She said she had driven her then 1968 Mustang there around 1975 or 1980 after college when she first worked there.
She did quite well even though I had to show her how to toggle through the gears while in low on our rented Chevy Traverse All Wheel Drive. After that, I noticed she was leaving a whole lot of distance between us and the nearest car in front of us which is what one should do if they haven't done this in awhile. The more distance between you and the car or truck in front of you while driving downhill on a sheet of ice even if it is partially rocked the safer you likely are going to be under these conditions, especially because you don't know how proficient the people are behind you in this kind of driving or what might be wrong with their vehicle if it isn't properly maintained.
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