Originally posted by carolm:
I need somewhere - preferably in Colorado nearish to a ski resort where a certain couple could drive along it in the winter and slide off the side, preferably into water. Does the Million Dollar Highway fit the bill?
I'm not familiar with Colorado at all but seeing as I grew up in the western part of Austria, mountains and dangerous terrain is very familiar to me. After having seen the images you linked to I can only say that it's very unlikely - hillsides this steep are almost a guarantee that someone will be seriously injured and the car in question would almost certainly flip over a couple of times.
I believe you have the right idea in principle but the terrain you think about would rather make this into a news article about a fatal car accident than the beginning of a fictional story. If you think about some miracle that driver and passengers are alive and unhurt that's okay for you in a story but the reality is somewhat grim - and I know that because there have been plenty of similar fatal accidents over the years in my area.
Make it a rainy night, a relatively short hillsize of 50 to 100 yards and not too steep so a car can sort of 'glide' along safely on the wet grass but steep enough so persons cannot walk back up the hillside (have you ever walked uphill on wet grass?). It's unlikely someone will notice them if the weather plays against them so whatever plot devices you have in mind, they'd proably work here too.
edit: I obviously didn't read your post with enough attentiveness because I totally missed the issue of the winter season. This will possibly enable you to lengthen my suggested hillside and make it a bit more steep but it changes nothing about your Million Dollar Highway.
A snowy landscape can actually be more secure on those types of roads because of how roads are cleared. Snow plows usually shovel the snow over the side of the road which can create a buffer of dense snow that can stop your car from leaving the road, naturally depending on the angle of impact, speed, weight of your vehicle, etc. That fact coupled with slower driving on so obviously dangerous roads makes sliding off the road more unlikely the more it snowed.
