The teacher, historian, and geographer Jaume Esquius, who was teaching in Castellbell i el Vilar at the time, personally experienced the difficulty of returning to Manresa. He recalls driving a Seat 600 with four people aboard, keeping the car in first gear all the way from Castellbell to his home.
The journey was particularly complicated on the ascent to the old C-1411 (now C-55), where he constantly had to dodge sliding cars. Once on the main road, the scene was bleak, with trucks in the ditch and vehicles stopped, forcing him to drive slowly until he reached the flatter Can Poc Oli road to his destination.
“"I don't recall special problems. Like every heavy snowfall, buses surely got stuck on the road, but we accepted it. Was it snowing? Well, it was snowing! Was it raining? Well, it was raining! And without mobile phones."
Other residents also recall mobility issues. Ramon Fontdevila, a retired teacher and politician, witnessed his wife's driving tests being suspended in Manresa. Meanwhile, Ramon Costa, the current mayor of Marganell and manager of a bus company in 1986, downplays the problems, recalling that snow was an accepted fact of life.
Beyond the traffic chaos, the snowfall also had a recreational side. Fina Farrés, a member of Càritas, remembers taking the opportunity to go out with the children to play in the snow at Sant Ignasi Park, a memory shared by many local citizens.
