>>Don't these people realize that they are in the mountains and should be prepared in case of weather change?
I used to live up there in Lake Arrowhead. It snowed, and everybody who lives there is aware. But it sounded like it was an extremly heavy snow, way more than usual.
I remember driving up the mountain once in the snow.. beautiful, but scary.
When I was in college (and much younger, lol) I would drive from Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley every Thursday to Goldmine Ski Resort. 2.5 hours, 138 miles from my driveway to the Goldmine parking lot.
But even I carried chains, because up there, *you just never know...*
Did I ever get caught up there? Oh you bet. Once, during the 82-83 El Nino season. Started out to be the best sunny day, it ended dumping about a foot and a half within a couple of hours by the time we were leaving Walden's Pond (remember that place?) Fortunately, after waiting it out a bit, the roads were clear enough to get home the back way.
Did I ever forget my chains after that? No way. It still amazed me, several years later, that people were paying some of the (enterprising) locals to put their chains on their vehicles, if they had them that is :)