December 28, 2010
Dear Editor:

We wanted to write to commend the California Highway Patrol and Pine Mountain Club Patrol for their conduct on Saturday, Christmas night. My wife and I felt that something should be said, perhaps so we could share our appreciation for the spirit of our Mountain Community and the lengths that some people will go to do their job.

That evening, around 9 p.m., after visiting family off the hill, we made a sloppy, slippery slog up Cuddy Valley Road. We witnessed several cars stranded along the sides of the road in the snow. Finally skating up to the ‘Y’ at Mil Potrero and Mt. Pinos entry area, we discovered to our disappointment that Mil Potrero Road was completely closed. Much groaning ensued! We arrived several cars from the front of the line and were told the road had been closed for two hours so far, and it could be for a couple more hours. At this time, it was snowing and 35 degrees outside, and indeed, we sat there for over two hours, trying to stay warm and sharing rumors with the locals and visitors. Here at the top, the CHP and PMC Patrol were handling a growing line of weary travelers who were none too happy about this situation. Apparently due to ice and snow there had been a multi-car pileup about halfway down to Pine Mountain and both lanes were blocked and covered in snow. While we waited for our very dedicated and appreciated plow and cinder trucks to arrive, the CHP officer was driving the 4WD Suburban, helping many two wheel drive cars and trucks get unstuck and out of danger. Later we discovered one of the vehicles was a very large “bus style” RV!

In addition to the CHP officer doing safety work, our PMC Patrol officer was charged with handling the influx of traffic and getting the word out about the situation.

He was calm, courteous, and very communicative, extremely professional, confident and polite, even after what appeared to have been a very long shift. He even dealt with the onslaught of drivers passing the rest of the line on the wrong side of the road, asking them to please pull over or get back in line. All of this, and we noticed the fellow at that time was not even wearing gloves! we commend you, sir!

We just wanted to give credit where credit is due and to convey that we were very impressed and comforted by the way the situation was handled. Thank you to CHP and PMC Patrol for your hard work on Christmas night! Happy New Year!

Andrew and Michelle Horn
Pine Mountain

Thank you for your letter. We called CHP to learn more about the accident. We learned they had no reports about an accident.

What they did have was an influx of Christmas Day snow visitors who were not equipped for snow conditions.

According to CHP’s Patrick Etchebarne, Kern County Roads Department made a decision not to plow the road up to Mount Pinos until after Christmas. The U.S. Forest Service closed the entry gate at the Mil Potrero ‘Y’ to keep people out due to unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, visitors decided to turn right, to play in the snow down the ‘S’ Curves into Pine Mountain. Because those roads were also unplowed and unsanded, icy conditions made them hazardous.

Rory Worster, Pine Mountain Club General Manager, said that Brian Adams and Stan Enscoe were the PMC Patrol officers on duty Christmas evening.

Their logbook tells the tale: At 8 p.m. PMC Patrol ran a check of the Mil Potrero Highway up to the ‘Y.” The officer found 15 vehicles stopped in the middle of the roadway or over to the side, unable to proceed because of ice and snow.

“It was so slippery, the officer almost was unable to get his own [4-wheel-drive] truck up there,” Worster said.

At the ‘Y,’ CHP asked PMC Patrol to maintain the stopped traffic, while CHP worked to clear the road. At about 9 p.m. Kern County Roads arrived. They plowed and sanded. After two and a half hours, after 10:30 p.m., conditions were safe to open the road again.

Andrew and Michelle Horn said they were driving an allwheel- drive Subaru Forester. “I installed chains while we were waiting; when we left the ‘Y’ they were only letting AWD or 4WD through first, who knows what happened after that! We got home about 11:30 p.m. after a careful drive down the road.”

The moral of the story: Be prepared and equipped for snow and ice conditions.

In last week’s issue of The Mountain Enterprise (page 5) we published our annual “Safety Tips for Winter Driving.” Please keep that in your glove box for a quick reminder of the specific techniques for different types of mountain driving conditions.

It also has a checklist to help us all be ready for the season.

Stay Safe. —Patric Hedlund

This is part of the December 31, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.