Despite some people claiming the whole ordeal to be blown out of proportion, I can assure you that it some places it wasn't. Elizabeth Township, where I happened to be temporarily staying at the time, got decimated. Roads were blocked by thick heavy snow, hundreds of fallen trees, and more abandoned cars than you might believe. It was real chaos. There was no power anywhere, and getting from place to place was damn near impossible.
It took me a damn long time to clear it out but I made good use of my Jeep and snowshoes to be one of the few people to be out in the early aftermath. I didn't get many pictures since I was trying to reach entrapped elderly relatives the whole day but whatev.
It really was pretty tough to get places since so many areas were impassable. This huge tree came across the road and brought snapped power lines down with it, blocking me off from my uncle's house and I had to go on foot. There's a random car abandoned in a snow drift there, and no it wasn't just parked there. It was in the middle of the damn road.
Sparky eventually sprung his Jeep free too and we went off to play for awhile, taking in the madness downtown. It was somewhat creepy to see the city grid devoid of cars and covered in snow. The Hill District and Oakland were tough even in Jeeps to drive through with the unplowed steep hills. We managed to catch the Pens game and dinner at Primanti's after I tow strapped three stuck vehicles blocking my way to the Strip District. Sorry no pics =(
In the days that followed, power was still out and the long term effects set in. The weight of the snow started making shit collapse like windshields, the ice rink I grew up skating at, and my aunt's porch roof that I had to go tear off so she could get outside again.
After the heavens stopped spewing snow onto the region and the conditions in Pittsburgh became a bit more normal, I ran up to my home away from home of Sandpile Springs in the Laurel Highlands to check on my cabin and my other mighty Jeep. While just a few inches remained at home, the mountains still had well over two feet of snow, entrapping my poor ZJ. A little digging in the afternoon eventually sprung her free and gave me a reliable rig to traverse the white madness in.
And finally, I decided while I was in the area to check out what effect all the precipitation had on the mighty Youghiogheny River Gorge. The Falls were ridiculous.
So yeah, it kinda sucked but us adventurous folk in the city and suburbs were able to have some fun with it. You saw what I did, though I wish I had more from me and Sparky's urban offroading. Here's a really cool video of some pretty badass skiers and snowboarders taking advantage of the disastrous conditions around Pittsburgh right after the storm for urban skiing and such. I've never been much of a skier myself, but this shit is sweet so I gotta give these guys mad props.
That's all from Captain Crash for that storm. May there never be one like it again. Bleh. I'll leave you with a nice warm picture instead!
Tally-ho!
-Crash
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