You have a point about the gate, but I stand by the letter of my post. Having almost come to grief in similar circumstances, I would urge people facing such circumstances to evaluate the risks with the utmost seriousness. Even just delaying the trip through the mountains until the daylight hours probably would have saved James' life.
Reading through these posts is like trying to understand the logic of a liberal - I just don't get it. Apparently, it's everyone else's fault except Kim's.
First, and foremost, you don't drive at night through the snow - even on an interstate. Hundreds of thousands of people from the Bay Area follow this general rule when going up to Tahoe to go skiing on I-80.
These are people who know the road, have done it before, and aren't traveling with small children. The ones who don't are hardcore teens & 20-somethings, yet, if they continue to pursue the sport as they get older and have families, they adopt the general sane rule.
To travel at night through snow and unknown terrain, even a marked major highway, is the height of irresponsibility. Sorry, someone had to say it.