Texas driver in Colorado winter -- HELP!

I'll be driving up to Winter Park this weekend and I've been checking www.cotrip.org for road conditions. Good info on that site, but my question is, what should I really expect when it tells me "snow, wet, slushy, icy spots" beyond the obvious? I'm guessing I won't need to keep the truck in 4HI coming in on I-25. I'll have to pit stop in Denver, and the drive from Denver to WP will probably be tricky.

Advice? The most "winter" road I've driven on is minimal slush.

 

I am here in the Denver area. Its snowy this week for sure. The mountain drive gets very tricky at night. If you can do the highway up I70 to winter park during the daylight, I recommend that. There was a 50 vehicle pile up on I70 just west of Golden last night.

If you have 4WD and good tread on your tires, you'll be fine. At night the bottom layer next to the pavement turns to ice so it is definitely trickier at night.

 

Thanks. That's exactly the route that I'd be taking up to Winter Park from Denver. It sounds like there's plenty of slipping, so keeping it in 4HI won't cause a gear binding problem?

 

IMO that's a call you'll have to make based upon the condition of the road at that time

 

If it's snowing over Berthoud Pass, get ready for some white knuckle driving. It can be pretty scary if you are not used to driving it.

 

One of the guys I'll be driving with has made the Denver --> Winter Park --> Denver drive numerous times in the winter. I want the experience so I'm gonna try to stay behind the wheel and have him Nav me.

Thanks for the info, guys. A lot of it sounds like "find out when you get there" so I'll just have to be very heads up.

 

Speed and following distance are the two most important factors imo. The first time your truck starts to kick out while going straight, you'll know when to use 4wd. Seen and experienced nearly spinning out while going straight on a road that barely even looks icy.

 

It was snowing when I hit the switchbacks on 40 after Idaho Springs, but people were still blowing past me like it was nothing. I just stuck to my speed 5-10 under the limit, kept it in 4HI and really slowed down for the switchbacks. Guess my TX plates caught me some slack?

 

Good call. My rule of thumb is Texas plates = pass, California plates = let them pass. Normally you find the California plates in a ditch further up the road.