"It was pretty impressive to see," said Penn Dameron, Executive Director of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation. "It is a pretty great group of employees we've got here."

Storms dropped two feet of snow on Grandfather December 18-20, posing the staff with the challenge of clearing a path up the road to reach the animals in the wildlife habitats. For the first few days, animal keepers had to hike in to feed the animals. It was December 21st before two backhoes could be brought in to clear a lane for vehicles to get through.

Amazingly though, the attraction was able to open "half-way" for visitors to drive to the Nature Museum by December 23rd.

"The heavy, wet snow was a big problem," said Maintenance Supervisor John Church. "We were rushing to shovel that big heavy snow before the ice came in. It was good we got it off when we did because we'd be trying to get it with an ice pick if we hadn't."

The ice storm arrived in the night on Christmas Eve. By first light on Christmas Day, trees were bent over and cracking under the weight of half inch of ice. Projectiles were falling from the skies as breaking limbs and shards of ice were crashing all around. One person compared the sound to someone stomping on bubble wrap. Another compared it to firecrackers on the Fourth of July. Still others said it sounded like guns at a firing range.

"My pets would not go out of the garage for fear of things falling from the sky," said Grandfather Marketing Director Catherine Morton. "I imagine the woods were a pretty scary place to be, because a screech owl came in and roosted up under the eve on my porch until it warmed up enough for the crashing to stop."

Security officer Kermit Eller said he tried and tried to get to the Mountain on Christmas Day for his security shift.

"The first time we drove up US 221 from Linville, there was a tree down across the road," recounted Eller. "By the time I got turned around to head back down, another tree had fallen behind us and blocked us in. Just luckily, (Highland Games Assistant GM) Levon Suddereth came by in a fire department truck and he was able to cut us out."

Megan MacLeod spent Christmas Day agonizing over the fact that she could not get in to feed the animals.

"They got lots of food on the 26th," MacLeod said. "Both the cougars and the otters got spoiled. The deer got two bales of alfalfa -- and then they just laid on it."

When staff members arrived on December 26 they found a power line down across the road just inside the entrance gate. Since no vehicles were able to get up the road past the downed power line, the only option was to get by with the vehicles that were already parked inside the gates.

By Monday, December 28 the propane tank at the Nature Museum had run dry, shutting down the emergency generator that powers the restaurant and animal habitats. Any delivery of propane was on hold until the electric company could come shut off the power to the fallen electric line, so 13 tubs of ice cream melted and several cases of chicken strips, bacon and hot dogs thawed before the generator was powered back up.

With no power, the restaurant staff could not cook for the troops. Fudge Shop Manager Anita Wilson and Group Tour Director Kim Rupard stepped into the void, catering meals out of their own homes for the grateful group. The two chefs watched with enormous smiles as the hungry laborers devoured their cuisine.

"I do enjoy cooking for these guys," said Wilson. "These are my friends and I want to take care of them."

Chief Naturalist Jesse Pope said thinking about how to prioritize what needed to be done was a challenge. "We didn't have power to operate the company gas pump, so we had to take gas cans home with us at night so we could bring back gasoline in the morning to run the generators. We didn't have power to charge our radios, so those of us who had electricity took radios home at night to charge them up for the next day."

The first priority at the wildlife habitats was to clear the fence lines of fallen limbs and trees. The cougars could be kept contained in their 30 foot X 15 foot "sick run," but the bears had free run of their enclosures.

"Yonnie was the only bear stirring around," said Habitat Manager Christy Tipton. "Luckily there were no trees across the fence in the habitat where she is, or she would have been out. She shrewdly evaluates every corner of the habitat looking for any little vulnerability."

Tipton reported that with the help of US Forest Ranger Eddie Cartaya and another four-man crew from K & C Tree Service, all trees were cleared away from the habitat fences by the afternoon of Tuesday, December 29.

The fence company came to fix the bear fence on the 30th. They will be back on January 4th to fix the cougar fence.

"It has really been amazing," said Dameron. "First of all it was a war just to be able to get in here. Once they were able to get in, it was just about as cold as anything I've ever experienced out there. At times we were up to our knees in snow, and no complaints. Everybody's just pitching in."

Grandfather Mountain is a scenic travel attraction and nature park located two miles norht of Linville on US 221.  The attraction is open weather permitting, but conitions change daily.  Phone ahead to 828-733-4337 for current conditions.