Snow Driving Tips and Techniques

That shovel will work

 

Yes, Union Creek, OR is much closer to Crater Lake than Union, OR is.

 

yes I know. I just misspoke haha I fish and hunt down in southern Oregon yearly and always try to make sure and stop at beckys

 

Lol no. Google is your friend man. You are missing the "air" part of a snowflake.
12" of snow in the west has a lot less water than 12" snow in the east and it's mostly due to the temperature while its snowing. Snow can range from a liquid ratio of 30:1 all the way to 5:1, meaning when it's really cold you could have 30" of snow only containing 1" of water to snow coming down at slightly above freezing that only 5" of snow could contain 1" of water.
All you really have to do is shovel... one time... snow in the Rockies and then shovel snow in the Appalachians. You then know the difference in snow by the weight of the shovel full.

 

If I see a car approaching the road that I'm on from a side road or driveway, I look at their front wheel to see if it's still turning (still in control) or locked up (likely to slide into the road in front of me).

 

I don’t need google, I’m born and raised in Canada and know ALL about snow haha. I know what you were trying to get at. The density changes based on temperature. Heavy snow is more liquid than frozen and vice versa. But all snow has the same water content. It’s pure water.

 

lol good job, I like how no one in the video clears the snow off

 

I live in a hilly, urban area..... If you need to park at the bottom of a hill....try and do it in a place where others won't slide past/into you at the present time or speculating into the future. We live a the bottom of a steep cul-de-sac (that misses the de-icer and plowing) and one of the first things we do is make sure all of our cars are crammed into the driveway. We always end up with 1 or 2 idiots that will slide down and determined they're getting back out and they just end up in completely precarious situations or worse in someone's well kept landscaping. Just have some chains on hand as a safety net.... can save you from some real PITA type situations. In some cases, I won't even pull out of the driveway unless I have chains...and of course make sure you have clothing/gloves/boots in case you need to be outside doing shit for a while...I forget about that sometimes... cold hands and fooling with cold metal bits just sucks.

It always blows me away when temperatures flip and literally within a few minutes (it seems), people go from traction to spinning out of control (and they're usually in a nice single file line when it all starts), parked on the side of the road at all kinds of crazy angles.....and then forgot about it... I'm always watching temperatures and traffic density.. and once I get even the slightest hint of a flip to surface freeze, I'm finding a safe place to park and hoofing it if I have to....and if there's a chance this all might happen, I'm one of the first on and off the road before. So far, so good.

 

I didn’t read all of the comments as you got a lot of good info already. Keep an eye on that trip check website, and by law if the conditions are bad enough you would be required to have chains with you, but I’ve never used chains in the state of Oregon and I have drive over the passes in the worst of conditions. I do keep a couple sandbags in the bed.

If you do have chains, make sure you are comfortable putting them on.

From an equipment perspective, the type and quality of your tires are going to make the most difference here.

Crater Lake is an easy drive with relatively well maintained roads. You would probably have a more difficult time in bad conditions on other passes on your way over here, if the weather gets bad.

 

Ensure u have a safe distance between rage car in front of you, easy on the gas when u start and make sure you have some blankets, water and a full tank of gas. If you become stranded the blankets will keep you warm

 

Yep. I've found popping into neutral is a very good thing. The pic attached is a braking test with a manual trans 2012 Tacoma. On the left is in gear and ABS is doing its thing clicking and banging, on the right is popping the MT into neutral and pumping the brakes.

Easy to see that in gear relying on ABS the truck just kept going and going and going. In neutral pumping the brakes the front end dove downhill to get to a complete stop but it sure as hell and taxes came to a complete stop long before ABS did.

The OP's video I would have been in neutral way up that hill and pumping the brakes.

 

I'd also recommend a dry run putting the chains on in your driveway and driving a few yards across your lawn and then check them for tightness.
Granted, it'll be under ideal conditions, but you DO NOT want your first time to be under adverse circumstances.
At least this way you'll have some familiarity with putting them on BEFORE it becomes a necessity.

 

@monkeyface

You should have your ABS checked.

It is designed NOT to lock up the wheel which prevents a Sliding wheel. The ABS system can "pump" the brakes many times faster than a human. BTW, the ABS will work with the tranny in neutral. Placing in neutral removes engine power from the wheels, less for the brakes to overcome.

 

Correct, in neutral there is no engine power to the wheels, therefore no engine power for the brakes to overcome.

Just do a braking test in neutral vs in gear and you'll see the difference.

 

Darn near fell outa my chair.

Thank you for correcting me.



<edit> Nice stealth edit.

 

For automatics

other way around for us with the MT. We get extra braking from the engine

 

True, although sometimes the engine braking is too much.

The MT guys can always depress the clutch pedal.

 

Don’t eat yellow snow. That’s all I can give ya

 

A dry run putting on chains at home will also ensure the chains fit the tires. It would not be good to find out they don't fit when your trying to put them on on the side of the road.