Posted on 01/15/2020 5:42:54 AM PST by NOBO2012
What’s it like barreling through mountain passes in whiteout conditions – translation for the uninitiated: the combination of snow and wind that results in zero visibility? It sucks. Nobody enjoys it: not thrill seeking adrenaline junkies, ordinary junkies, type A or B personalities, liberals, conservatives, not global warmists or deniers…NOBODY. You are unsafe at any speed and you know it.
Allow me to share a little of the “thrill” for those of you south of the Mason-Dixon line who’ve never seen the necessity of learning how to steer into a skid:
Yes, that about captures it. I know you can’t see anything - zero visibility, remember? And there you are, in a 5000 pound SUV, traveling 40, 50, 60 - even 70 mph, depending on the condition of your nervous system, hurtling up and down grades more suitable for mountain goats than wheeled vehicles. Throw in an endless stream of tractor trailers, aka semis, playing hopscotch with each other and you are living the dream, baby.
I’d say everyone should do it at least once but no, really, they shouldn’t. It’s insanity of the highest order. Right up there with the delusion that gender-queer is a real thing.
Add to the specific insanity of driving through the mountains in a snowstorm the fact that you are doing it with another bunch of people as insane as you are and we’ve moved into an undertaking at least as deranged as a Democrat debate. I don’t know what it says about me that I’ve done it now at least a dozen times.
Although right now I’m feeling both crazy and stupid. Maybe I should get some sleep.
Posted from: MOTUS A.D.
Keep your eye on the road—assuming there is a road somewhere underneath you.
I had to drive three hours in this kind of condition once. I was driving around 10 mph the whole time and praying some idiot driving way too fast for the conditions didn’t ram me from the rear.
Some years back, when it had snowed in North Texas on Christmas for the second year in a row, I posted on the old Hannity forum that we were having a white Christmas.
Whereupon one forumite (on the Left natch) angrily demanded to know what I meant by that.
I was like, dude, it’s Christmas and it’s snowing in North Texas (where snow alone is pretty rare these days).
He quickly apologized, additionally he was actually less easily offended for a good while afterwards.
I used to make the trip from Chicago to western Michigan regularly - I’ve been:
- Snowed in to a high school overnight (Paw Paw, Michigan),
- Seen cars hurtling past me at speed only to lose control and go end-over-end into the snow-filled median with little resulting damage,
- Had to drive on the shoulder of the road where you could get a little traction from the gravel there when the travel lanes were completely iced over,
- Driven through a 3 foot high wall of snow (actually 2 of them within a half mile) where the snow plows had plowed up the exit ramps and back down the entrance ramp on the other side during a blizzard,
- Learned that rear wheel drive cars can go faster in slippery conditions than front wheel driver cars can,
- Learned that 4-wheel drive doesn’t help once the car starts going sideways,
- Watched car after car start to lose control while going over a bridge (memo to self: Bridges DO ice before roads) and end up in the median when they hit dry pavement on an angle,
- And have been forever grateful for times I could go into an empty parking lot on a Sunday and practice steering into the skid.
I grew up in Michigan and went to college in the Upper Peninsula - the worst blizzard I ever saw was one in North Carolina. I’ve never seen it snow so hard for so long.
I used to drive a Triumph in Canada in the winter. No snow tires.
SUV purchasers get a free delusion every time they press “4x4”.
I usually see ‘em in the snowbank a few miles ahead.
There’s not much you can’t do (or slide in or out of or around) with fast hands, a manual transmission and an emergency brake.
Eventually arriving in Glenwood Springs, the snowfall seemed to peter out a bit, and so continued the drive to Aspen .. arriving in 7 hours of what should have been a 3 hour drive ....
The best part, though, is that the two of us decided to drive to Aspen, while another two friends on the same flight were going to take a short commuter flight ... but they got stuck at the airport and had to spend the night there ... while we arrived late that night and enjoyed the 15" of fresh new snow at Snowmass the next morning :)
Wooooo Hoooooo !!!
He sure can turn a phrase.
I live in Minnesota. I feel your pain.
Sort of...
I once drove 34 miles to work in a blizzard occasionally bumping the curbing/wake up strips of the right lane to know where the road was.
Opinions vary, but my sanity has been called into question a time or two.
I was able to get my "traction controlled" Ford Expedition to drift an icy corner the other night. In 4x4... It's all about your angular momentum and feathering the gas peddle.
My Son was suitably impressed.
And yes, I meant to do that.
Seriously... Stop laughing...
With these aforementioned conditions in mind, there is also much to be said for a good working stability control/anti-skid system on a car. Never thought much of these until I had a car that was equipped with one. They really help. Driving at sane speeds probably makes the biggest difference,tho.
Yeah, you definitely need to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.
A man’s got to know his limitations.
“Had to drive on the shoulder of the road where you could get a little traction from the gravel there when the travel lanes were completely iced over”...
I had to do that driving from Austin TX to Marble Falls. 17F that morning. Drove on the shoulder for 50 miles up and down the central Texas hills. Took 3 hours to make the trip.
Austin is on about the same longitude as Jacksonville Florida and Baja California.
Storm coming in from Alaska predicted to dump 20” of snow on Donner Pass. I-80 will be chains only-—or CLOSED DOWN again.
The biggest problem today are the owners of the 4WD SUV's and trucks who think they can go anywhere as fast as they want. They're the ones you see who have spun off the highway and are waiting for a tow truck down in the ditch..And it doesn't have to be white out conditions either. Just unsalted snowy highways that have frozen over......
I skied Utah once and on the first day we left Salt Lake City and headed up into the mountains. Since there was very little snow in the city, we didn't know what to expect. Then we got to the actual road up into the mountains.
That was a unique experience since there was a big electronic sign there that would give you instructions based on the road condition. Depending on the snowfall, the sign and state police would prohibit any traffic on the road unless the vehicles were equipped with tire chains........
Once we were headed up the mountain pass, we understood why. Narrow road, no guard rails and at least a hundred foot drop.
Just south of that intersection there was even a staging area where you could pull in and put your chains on.........
“I was like, dude, it’s Christmas and it’s snowing in North Texas (where snow alone is pretty rare these days).”
I just cannot any longer stomach the utter intolerance of these people, and their desire/obsession with controlling every word coming out of our mouths and even the very thoughts in our minds. Talk about totalitarians...they are it. I LOVE to goad these assholes and see them got nuts - because it discredits them.
Is that mandatory and enforced by the state police? Apparently in Utah it is....
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