Wolph 2 : Snow 0.
...Barely. Last night I went down to see tekfox llamaslug and direwolf23 for wings. Since the weather had been surprisingly mild and since vinnywest had just done a trip down to Denver with my car, i figured I'd stretch the legs of the old 300e we have. Vinny had just gotten chains for it, and decided to test the waters to see if that was adequate for living up here. I noticed a little snow in Livermore as I headed down, but it quickly cleared up and jumped to 45 degrees, so again, I didn't think much of the weather. I've driven in adverse winter conditions plenty of times in Michigan, and hadn't really yet considered the effect that steep mountain climbs have with even just a little ice and snow.
The rest of the story I cut to protect the innocent. Enjoy a video of blowing snow:D
Wings finished up quickly, and since I was bringing food back for the wolf, I decided to head straight back. I trotted handily along up 287 toward Poudre canyon. Hmmm, that's funny, the highway info sign has something on it for the first time in 2 months. 'Highway closed ahead due to adverse weather conditions'. Oh goody. 'Well, it's just starting, it's probably preemptive, and they allow local traffic through' I thought to myself. There were a lot of flashing lights on the close gate, but the DOT worker was very polite, and when I said where I was going and that I had chains, happily let me through without getting out of his truck. I followed an SUV at a very unsatisfying 45 mph with almost no issues with the roads. They were wet, but not frozen. Then I started to climb. At first it was just a little exciting and snowy... but by the time I was at the turnoff for my road... there was about 4 inches of standing slush and snow on the road. I was still doing fine, but the benz is a rear wheel drive car with summer tires on it, I was wary of the climb.
It made it up the first pass handily... but the second, long climb to the top has 7-8 winding switchbacks and gets very, very steep at the top. Into the second curve, it became impossible to keep the car straight while still climbing. Well, that's what the chains were for. After 30 minutes of lying in slush on the side of the road installing the chains (which, once figured out, really only took about a minute a piece) I was off on my very bumpy, very noisy, very slow trip home. The chains got me back, but the car will be going in for more tires like the ones on the mazda. Getting passed by a scion TC at double your speed is just brutal:D the 50 minute trip home became a 2 hour trip, and a great learning experience. The primary lesson being take my own car:P
MFF is just around the corner, getting into Midway around 3:50 and training up, so I hope to see people there around dinner time. For everyone who is going, have safe travels this week, and a wonderful weekend!
The rest of the story I cut to protect the innocent. Enjoy a video of blowing snow:D
Wings finished up quickly, and since I was bringing food back for the wolf, I decided to head straight back. I trotted handily along up 287 toward Poudre canyon. Hmmm, that's funny, the highway info sign has something on it for the first time in 2 months. 'Highway closed ahead due to adverse weather conditions'. Oh goody. 'Well, it's just starting, it's probably preemptive, and they allow local traffic through' I thought to myself. There were a lot of flashing lights on the close gate, but the DOT worker was very polite, and when I said where I was going and that I had chains, happily let me through without getting out of his truck. I followed an SUV at a very unsatisfying 45 mph with almost no issues with the roads. They were wet, but not frozen. Then I started to climb. At first it was just a little exciting and snowy... but by the time I was at the turnoff for my road... there was about 4 inches of standing slush and snow on the road. I was still doing fine, but the benz is a rear wheel drive car with summer tires on it, I was wary of the climb.
It made it up the first pass handily... but the second, long climb to the top has 7-8 winding switchbacks and gets very, very steep at the top. Into the second curve, it became impossible to keep the car straight while still climbing. Well, that's what the chains were for. After 30 minutes of lying in slush on the side of the road installing the chains (which, once figured out, really only took about a minute a piece) I was off on my very bumpy, very noisy, very slow trip home. The chains got me back, but the car will be going in for more tires like the ones on the mazda. Getting passed by a scion TC at double your speed is just brutal:D the 50 minute trip home became a 2 hour trip, and a great learning experience. The primary lesson being take my own car:P
MFF is just around the corner, getting into Midway around 3:50 and training up, so I hope to see people there around dinner time. For everyone who is going, have safe travels this week, and a wonderful weekend!