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LETTER: North Vancouver snow saint keeps cars moving on slippery hill

Dear editor: The first snowstorm of this frosty winter caught me off guard. The forecast had called for snow but as someone who grew up with white winters I thought myself immune to the road havoc it could bring.
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Dear editor:

The first snowstorm of this frosty winter caught me off guard. The forecast had called for snow but as someone who grew up with white winters I thought myself immune to the road havoc it could bring. I departed downtown at the onset of the storm with my three- and five-year-olds in the backseat. Vancouver was slippery but my Ontario driving skills served me well as I navigated their unsalted roads.

Mount Seymour Parkway taught me a humbling lesson about West Coast snow. As I neared the crest of the hill west of Berkley Road, all four tires lost traction and spun like glass on oil. I pumped the gas and rocked my tires toward the more recently salted lane. Surely my winter experience could get me out of this mess. The car moved nowhere. The snow would not even grant me inches forward.

I put the car in park and prayed we would not slide backward down the hill. Now what? Wait for a salt truck to plow me up the hill? Abandon the vehicle and hoof it the 20 minute uphill walk home with two sleepy, running shoe-wearing children?

He appeared out of the squall like Prince Charming sent by the gods of snow and ice. I rolled down my window and turned to greet him. “Anwin’s dad?” I said in disbelief. “What are you doing out here?”

“This is my hill,” he replied. “No one gets stuck on my hill.”

Like a quarterback who had run the play 100 times, he pushed my car up the incline while providing calm and clear instruction on how hard to hit the gas and at what angle to turn the wheel. At the top of the hill I looked in the rear view mirror for a glimpse of my hero on the hill. He had disappeared behind a wall of white to await his next rescue.

My hero’s act of kindness lingered with me in the hours and days that followed. It was the feeling of hot tea warming your soul. The sentiment grew when I shared the story with friends and thought about the many others he had likely rescued from the same situation. Thank you Hero on the Hill for bringing security to and building camaraderie within our amazing community.

Joanne Crymble
North Vancouver

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