How a notorious hill in Wellesley stopped drivers in Thursday's snow storm
Roads in Waterloo region closed and school buses cancelled due to snow
Covered in a layer of hard-packed snow, the hill at the end of Ament Line was like a icy chute for cars and trucks making their way from Hawkesville to St. Jacobs, and I was stuck in my car about halfway down, with my tires spinning.
Behind me, shrouded in blowing snow, were two other cars that, like mine, had become stuck in their attempt to climb the treacherous hill. As far as we knew, the road and the hill was one of the only routes left open through Wellesley and Woolwich townships Thursday evening.
Police had closed the mains roads earlier in the day as heavy snow and high winds had reduced visibility to near zero. Ament Line was one of the last roads to be closed at around 9:00 p.m.
'Like a nightmare'
"It was almost like you were driving into a cloud of snow," said Waterloo Regional Police Sgt. Stu Church, who was on the road from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
"Anything running East to West was like a nightmare. You were one minute on dry roads and then the next minute you were into total whiteouts."
Details disappear in a whiteout. The road, the curve in the road, the car on the road -- they all look the same, and nothing looks familiar.
Had I known I was approaching the hill at the end of Ament Line, I would have turned around.
When Kressler Road turns the bend and becomes Ament Line, it immediately ascends at 45 degrees. On a good day, the hill is a tough climb for my little Yaris. Covered with snow, it is impossible.
Impossible climb
But I didn't know I was approaching the hill, so I made the turn from Kressler to Ament at about 15 km/hr and then, slowly and cautiously, I made my way forward. Then I saw the hill.
It rose up in front of me for a few brief seconds before a fresh blast of snow hid it from sight. There were already two cars stuck on its slope.
There was only one way I could make it to the top, so I pulled into the left lane, shifted into fourth gear, and pressed hard on the gas.
Savior in blue coveralls
I fish-tailed it past the two cars on the hill, but my momentum was dying. As the tires began to squeal, I swerved into the right lane and pulled back on the emergency brake. Like the cars behind me, I was stuck.
A sharp tap at the passenger window got my attention. Where the woman in blue toque and coveralls came from, I didn't know, but I had already left caution at the bottom of the hill. I rolled down the window.
Her name was Erica Weber, and she was going to push me over the top of the hill.
"Grant [her boyfriend] and I have been doing it for a little while where we've started to push the cars up the hill," she told me, "because right when it snows you get no traction."
"We don't want anybody to get stuck on that hill -- it's brutal and so scary -- so I usually have my window open, because you can see the lights outside if somebody is stuck there."
A treacherous hill
Grant was holed up in Listowel because of the storm, which is why Erica was the only one to come to my rescue, but she was sure she could do it alone.
Weber said she had already helped four or five cars up the hill that night, and seen hundreds more turn around at the bottom.
"Most people just turned around because they were too scared," she said, "but once you're at a certain point of the hill, it's really scary to turn around on it."
A close call
In Erica's estimation, I had reached that really scary point. She planted herself like a linebacker behind my car and told me to release the parking brake and ease into first gear.
I did what she said, and immediately my car began sliding backwards. I slammed on the brakes.
"This isn't going to work," I yelled.
"Try again," she yelled back.
I tried again. The car slid backwards another foot.
She came around to the window.
"This isn't going to work," I said again.
There wasn't anything more to say.
She ran down the hill to let the other cars know that I was going to try turning around, then she ran up the hill to make sure the coast was clear.
I managed to turn my car around without incident and meekly crawled back the way I had come, turning the corner onto Kressler Road. About an hour later, I finally made it home, no thanks to the snow and blowing wind that blocked my path.