Can confirm.
Rate yourself (and be honest) as a driver on snow and/or ice
- Thread starter YellowSnow
- Start date
Can confirm.
I don't claim to be good, but I do it a lot and have never had an accident.
If I'm going to break trail in deep snow, and have to chain up (I'm two miles up a steep hill from where they plow), I do get to get to be a little more like Mario Andretti. It's fun being chained up.
If I'm going to break trail in deep snow, and have to chain up (I'm two miles up a steep hill from where they plow), I do get to get to be a little more like Mario Andretti. It's fun being chained up.
ISWYDH
I drove a Uhaul truck towing a car trailer from Tennessee to Seattle back in 2007. Took the Oregon trail and came to a pass with the signs out saying chains were required. I stopped at Les Shaub to buy some chains and asked the guy if I needed them on the trailer as well. He said yes. So I chain up, white knuckle it over the pass and pull over to take the chains off only to find the trailer chain was wrapped around the axle. That was a fun 45 minutes laying in wet snow on the shoulder of the interstate getting that unfucked.
coronabruin
New Fish
My first tim driving a car was in the snow when I was 12. 89 full size bronco. The butch dad let me drive all the way down from whisky dick to ellensburg. It was pretty easy without a bunch of dumbucks on the road next to me. Btw referring to Ellensburg, CA. Not a very well-known town!
Slow and steady in the snow - one time in Lynnwood me and a friend were in my 4x4 SUV making a beer run. He says lucky I have a 4x4 can go anywhere in the snow. I slam on the breaks and explain to him a 4x4 slides off the road just like any other vehicle. and proved it. No traffic was the only reason I did it
Lucky there were no ditches just curbs - then I explained a 4x4 can get you out of trouble once you are in it. took off nice and went slow and steady
Lucky there were no ditches just curbs - then I explained a 4x4 can get you out of trouble once you are in it. took off nice and went slow and steady
You lying fuck, CB. You've never left the sunny, dry So Cal pavement heading towards your smoggy little, studio apartment in Fontana.
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Purple_Pills
New Fish
Level 3 in snow, level 2 on ice. Not quite a Finnish driver yet.
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Give me a fucking front wheel drive and a hand break and I'll show you some fun.
Also Utah snow drivers might be the most overrated snow drivers on the planet. Mormons don't fucking play with the snow. That shit is plowed and salted before you can brew your morning sanka. Plus the stuff is so light and fluffy, and the dry desert air soaks up any moisture that could potentially turn to ice. And again I'd note, the amount of salt is almost excessive. There are beaches with less salt. The amount of Utah residents who actively have good experience on actual snow covered pavement has to be minimal. Also where most people live and work is flat. Some definite hills in SLC and on the eastern bench but even that mellows out.
Also, Utah has some dirty ass snow. Only place where snow falling on a perfectly clean windshield gets dirty from snow. Best thing about the Cascade Concrete, those windows shine.
To be clear there's a lot to like about Utah. @89ute milky smooth runners thighs. Cort Dennison's everyman can do linebacker play. Cookies. Ski Slopes (The K12). Choirs. Peter Puffer Cake Eating Rowers.
Did I say a lot? I meant six. Six things.
Also Utah snow drivers might be the most overrated snow drivers on the planet. Mormons don't fucking play with the snow. That shit is plowed and salted before you can brew your morning sanka. Plus the stuff is so light and fluffy, and the dry desert air soaks up any moisture that could potentially turn to ice. And again I'd note, the amount of salt is almost excessive. There are beaches with less salt. The amount of Utah residents who actively have good experience on actual snow covered pavement has to be minimal. Also where most people live and work is flat. Some definite hills in SLC and on the eastern bench but even that mellows out.
Also, Utah has some dirty ass snow. Only place where snow falling on a perfectly clean windshield gets dirty from snow. Best thing about the Cascade Concrete, those windows shine.
To be clear there's a lot to like about Utah. @89ute milky smooth runners thighs. Cort Dennison's everyman can do linebacker play. Cookies. Ski Slopes (The K12). Choirs. Peter Puffer Cake Eating Rowers.
Did I say a lot? I meant six. Six things.
This take is mostly accurate. Utah salts the shit out of everything and you're car is fucked after 10 years give or take unless you're on it constantly at the car wash after each storm cycle.
Case in point: I never needed snow tires living in Utah and I was driving up and down gnarly mountain road like Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon regularly in massive storms. No ice to deal with cause salt and the All Seasons do fine in packed snow.
Meanwhile in White Wakanda, 2 inches of wet packed then freeze over night stuff causes my 4 Runner (which doesn't have snow tires) to slide all over the fucking place. It's ridiculous.
Most days heading up to Mt Bachelor there's a car or two off the road and often times rolled over.
Fuckin' salty pussy. Have had 3 Hondas +20 years no rust except for the 83 Honda which died in 2003, which was replace by my current "new" Honda. The 83 had a little rust in the wheel well. Would still be driving but some fuck stain rear ended me. Anyway, 96 and 03 Honda - no rust.
Bad ass snow driver too. It's all about Honda.
Honda's and Toyotas hold up better in the salt that Fords and Chevrolets.
But I guarantee you if you look under the underbelly of a 20 year old Honda in SLC vs a 20 year old PDX Honda it's going to look dramatically different. There will be way more corrosion on the former.
I love salted roads and am not complaining at all. The snow driving in Oregon is way more sketchy. I'm a fucking expert Yoot.
TurdBomber
Active poster
Santiam and Blewitt in blizzards and ice, dozens of times over 30 years without incident. Some of the worst shit I've seen was on Snoqualmie Pass, where every dipshit with an AWD thinks they're driving a snow cat, only to learn the hard way a few miles ahead, high-centered or buried in a snowbank.
It only takes one shitty driver to stop an entire freeway and there's a surplus of them traveling I-90.
It only takes one shitty driver to stop an entire freeway and there's a surplus of them traveling I-90.
I've often wondered what the best all around snow vehicle is. Our newish Sequoia is heavy AF which make going down steeper icey hills a bit tricky, although the snow tires make a big difference in negating this issue. But man the clearance is nice to have along with a locking differential if you get into the deep and think stuff.
We took the family on Xmas eve (via snow cat) down to Elk Lake Resort for dinner. Had to park up a Dutchman's Flat Snow Park (across from Mt Bachelor West Village) to meet the snow cat for the rest of the journey down the Cascade Lakes Hwy.
The snow was deep and wet in the parkin spaces and first some dumb ass in a VW Tuareg manages to get himself high centered stuck, followed by @1to392831weretaken in his Minvan doing the same thing. Pure comedy. We could barrel though that shit no problem.
1to392831weretaken
New Fish
My badass minivan this tim of year is proudly sporting the steelies with Blizzaks. My brother had a Christmas party, and nobody was going to show because the roads were totally fucked. Said hero minivan made the rounds, saving the day and getting everyone there and home.
Tires make all the difference. If I had the choice between AWD and dedicated winter tires, the latter is the obvious choice (both is best, I guess, but I've never owned an AWD vehicle, as you don't need one here). My car has the same steelies/Blizzak combo, and it's a hoot in the snow. There are no "now days" where I work, so I have at least a thousand miles of experience in the PNW heavy, wet shit, and Whatcom County owns like two plows. This has given me an irrational amount of confidence that bit me in the ass recently. I was driving home from work with my brother shotgun. It was the night where 8" of snow turned into a sheet of ice covered in slush after six hours of freezing rain. Everyone was showing up to work in the morning saying the roads were awful, and I just rolled my eyes and made the air-jerkoff motion and took off like usual. Highway 20 wasn't nearly as bad as people were saying, so I was bombing down, passing pussies left and right. Got to the freeway, and I didn't last a quarter mile. Hit a pile of slush over a sheet of ice, and the Blizzaks said, "Fuck you!" and gave up. Came around a full 90 degrees, dead stick, and the guardrail was coming at us insurance-write-off fast. Was steering out of it, but no response. Turned to my brother and said, "We're going to hit. Hard." No shit, three feet from the rail, the tires dug in and we straightened right out and carried on like nothing had happened. Took it a LOT easier the rest of the way. First winter conditions to ever kick my ass. That stuff was like driving through a foot of pudding. I thought of this thread even as we were spinning.
As for Hondas and rust, get a newer one and you won't have to worry about how long the body lasts, as the engine will have blown up several times long before the road salt has done its job. Fuck Honda right in the ass.
Lastly, what would be the best snow vehicle? No different than what would be the best vehicle for ANY conditions: the best ratio of grip:weight. WRC races winter rallies. They don't switch to trucks or SUVs when the snow starts falling. They stick to their lightweight cars and throw grippy ass tires on them:
If the snow is so high you'd be plowing it in a lightweight car, it is what it is. Otherwise, you want the lightest possible vehicle that'll be over the snow, and you want to put dedicated winter tires on it. My personal favorite snow ride is this:
View attachment 46636
No weight, grip for days, constant laugh. Just stupid fun...