A 22-year-old Fort Lewis College student escaped with minor injuries early Sunday after rolling her SUV eight to 10 times down a 150-foot embankment on Molas Pass.
Bridgett Gantt crawled out of her demolished car on her own and hiked up the embankment to find help, she said.
“She made a lot of really smart decisions,” said her uncle, Rod Gantt, who lives in the Ignacio area.
Bridgett Gantt was driving a Nissan Xterra south on U.S. Highway 550, returning to Durango from Ouray about 5 a.m., when she drove into a blinding snowstorm that obscured her view of the highway, she said. She slowed down to about 25 mph and turned on her all-wheel drive, she said.
Without realizing it, Gantt crossed into the northbound lane of traffic and approached the side of the road. She tried to correct the vehicle’s path, but it was too late, and she slid off the side of the road.
“The snow was so slick my car just spun and slid sideways,” she said.
It felt like it came to a stop against a small snowdrift about a foot high at the side of the road and she reached for her gearshift to reverse the car, she said. Then the car tilted and started to roll.
“I feel like my eyes were open the whole time seeing my stuff rolling around in my car – feeling like I was falling forever,” she said.
The car rolled eight to 10 times before coming to a stop less than a mile from Lime Creek Road, Rod Gantt said.
The side airbags in the Xterra deployed immediately after she hit the embankment of snow, likely saving her life, Rod Gantt said.
Once the vehicle stopped, she tried to call 911, but she didn’t have any service, she said.
So, she collected herself, gathered some ski gear and water she had in the car and rolled down one of the windows to crawl out.
She dressed herself in ski boots, helmet, a light jacket, a blanket and a rain poncho. She also splinted one of her fingers with materials from a first-aid kit.
Using her phone, she shot a video of all the steps she took because it helped her keep calm and talk herself through her situation, she said.
When she got out of the car and looked up at the road, she could see nothing but darkness and realized that it was unlikely any passing driver would see her, she said. So she decided to climb the embankment.
“I couldn’t let myself get hysterical until everything was better, and then I could cry,” she said.
Once she got to the highway, she started walking and kept the flashlight on her phone on, so that drivers would be able to see her, she said. She was a bit worried that drivers wouldn’t stop to help her in her strange garb.
It took only about five minutes for a father and son, Kevin and Jason Ebelheiser, to stop for her. It was then, when she knew she was safe, she started crying, she said. The two were on their way to the Durango-La Plata County Airport and dropped her off at Mercy Regional Medical Center, she said.
Her pinkie had a hairline fracture and she received minor cuts and bruises in the wreck, but otherwise, she was unharmed.
“Looking back on it now, it feels like a dream,” she said Monday.
On Sunday, she talked with a Colorado State Patrol trooper who planned to investigate the scene. She doesn’t know if she will get a ticket, she said.
Rod Gantt and his wife, Joanne, met their niece at the hospital after hearing about the crash, he said. They also took her back to her car to retrieve her homework.
“We were just so proud of her, how she handled the whole thing,” he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.comThis story was updated with comments from Bridgett Grant. Her age, the description of her injury and other details about the crash were corrected. An earlier version of this story misspelled Kevin and Jason Ebelheiser’s last name.