Sydney Rainwater
Maddie Green, a college student from Atlanta, went on a winter break vacation in January to relax, snowmobile and spend time with five friends. But Green didn’t expect to form such a love-hate relationship with snowmobiling.
Green and her friends planned a trip to Big Sky, Montana for Jan. 3 through 7, in which they stayed at one friend, Hannah Babb’s, parents’ mountain home. Babb’s parents rented three snowmobiles on Jan. 5, and the six women paired up and hit the trails.
Green had never been to Montana or snowmobiled before, so when the instructor asked who would be the slowest, most cautious driver, all eyes pointed at her. Green managed to get her and Libby Maddox, the friend she was paired with, to the top safely despite her anxiety about driving. Green doubts she went above 25 mph the entire day.
Green was sure to take it slow on the drive up, not only to be cautious, but also to take in the sights. She had experienced beauty in nature before, but noted there’s “nothing like everything being completely snow covered.”
Green recounts hating the drive down the mountain, describing the path as being narrow and full of trees she had to dodge.
The time spent with friends experiencing the views of Big Sky was worth the terror of snowmobiling for Green.
“Everything looked like a postcard,” Green remembers. “Like, I had never seen anything like that except in photographs.”