Post by ronnv on Feb 21, 2011 18:00:21 GMT -5
Land Rover Trek 199 – Surviving the Snow Storm – 17 February 2011
It was important that I cross the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range on Thursday getting from northern Nevada to northern California. Checking the weather forecast and the websites for the highway passes I found: temperatures in the low twenties (Fahrenheit); winds to fifty miles per hour; snow fall as much as four feet deep; chains required for all trucks; chains required for two-wheel drive and snow tires required for four wheel drive.
I checked my off-road survival gear; packed my chains and winter clothing; some hot coffee and sandwiches and off I went at about 10:00am.
As soon as I left Fernley it began to snow lightly. At Reno it was snowing moderately. As I crossed the Nevada/California state line it was snowing heavily. At Beckwourth it was snowing quite hard. As I approached Portola it was beginning to be white-out conditions.
I came upon a Ford Explorer who had slid off the highway and into the ditch with snow up to his mirrors. I stopped to see if I could assist but he told me that a tow-truck was on the way. Upon reaching Portola the snow along the road was two feet deep and the road itself had about six inches on it.
Just past Portola I came upon a highway patrol car stopped in the center of the road and three pickup trucks in front of him all off the road in the ditch trying to extricate themselves. As I waited at a dead stop for an oncoming truck to pass the patrol car; my truck slid sideways into the berm at the road shoulder. After the truck had passed, I reversed and straightened out back in the road center. Another oncoming truck came along and my truck slid into the berm again.
This time I thought it was stuck. I shifted into low range and engaged the center diff lock and was able to back onto the road again. As I pulled around the patrol car and the pickups the group of drivers cheered. I suppose they were glad that there would be one less vehicle to extricate.
For the next twenty odd miles to Quincy I just stayed in low range and kept the diff locked. Just before Quincy I came upon another patrol car trying to help an off the road vehicle. This time I didn’t have enough room to fully stop and just barely made it around the patrol car at perhaps five miles per hour.
I passed through Quincy all right and the next adventure was near Keddie Resort. I came upon a temporary red sign stuck in the snow saying, “WRECK AHEAD”. Again I put it in low range, locked the diff and slowed to 5 mph. The guy behind me was in a hurry and passed me. As I came to the wreck there was the guy who had just passed me stuck in the snow on the side of the road.
About five miles past Keddie I came upon a line of cars and trucks stopped on the road. I could see some sort of wreck up ahead. Once a large Fed-EX truck pulled up behind me, I assumed it was safe enough for me to vacate the Land Rover and walk up and see what was going on.
It turned out to be an unloaded flat-bed trailer and tractor that had jack-knifed and blocked both lanes of the road from the cliff to the river overhang. A Subaru Outback had slid into the trailer. Lucky for the driver of the Subaru the hood had been pushed through the passenger side of the windshield and he walked away unharmed.
It took about thirty minutes for the highway patrol and a heavy duty wrecker to arrive on the scene and move both the Subaru and the tractor-trailer onto one side of the road, opening up one lane to let us all through.
Another five miles down the road we passed another highway patrol car on the right shoulder; two officers standing on the opposite shoulder looking down at a second patrol car dangling at the top of the cliff overhanging the fifty foot drop to the river. This was another very lucky driver.
The snow fall continued heavy until reaching about 1500 feet of elevation near Oroville where it changed into heavy rain. I reached Rocklin some time after 6:00pm. A normally four hour drive had taken more than eight hours.
It was important that I cross the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range on Thursday getting from northern Nevada to northern California. Checking the weather forecast and the websites for the highway passes I found: temperatures in the low twenties (Fahrenheit); winds to fifty miles per hour; snow fall as much as four feet deep; chains required for all trucks; chains required for two-wheel drive and snow tires required for four wheel drive.
I checked my off-road survival gear; packed my chains and winter clothing; some hot coffee and sandwiches and off I went at about 10:00am.
As soon as I left Fernley it began to snow lightly. At Reno it was snowing moderately. As I crossed the Nevada/California state line it was snowing heavily. At Beckwourth it was snowing quite hard. As I approached Portola it was beginning to be white-out conditions.
I came upon a Ford Explorer who had slid off the highway and into the ditch with snow up to his mirrors. I stopped to see if I could assist but he told me that a tow-truck was on the way. Upon reaching Portola the snow along the road was two feet deep and the road itself had about six inches on it.
Just past Portola I came upon a highway patrol car stopped in the center of the road and three pickup trucks in front of him all off the road in the ditch trying to extricate themselves. As I waited at a dead stop for an oncoming truck to pass the patrol car; my truck slid sideways into the berm at the road shoulder. After the truck had passed, I reversed and straightened out back in the road center. Another oncoming truck came along and my truck slid into the berm again.
This time I thought it was stuck. I shifted into low range and engaged the center diff lock and was able to back onto the road again. As I pulled around the patrol car and the pickups the group of drivers cheered. I suppose they were glad that there would be one less vehicle to extricate.
For the next twenty odd miles to Quincy I just stayed in low range and kept the diff locked. Just before Quincy I came upon another patrol car trying to help an off the road vehicle. This time I didn’t have enough room to fully stop and just barely made it around the patrol car at perhaps five miles per hour.
I passed through Quincy all right and the next adventure was near Keddie Resort. I came upon a temporary red sign stuck in the snow saying, “WRECK AHEAD”. Again I put it in low range, locked the diff and slowed to 5 mph. The guy behind me was in a hurry and passed me. As I came to the wreck there was the guy who had just passed me stuck in the snow on the side of the road.
About five miles past Keddie I came upon a line of cars and trucks stopped on the road. I could see some sort of wreck up ahead. Once a large Fed-EX truck pulled up behind me, I assumed it was safe enough for me to vacate the Land Rover and walk up and see what was going on.
It turned out to be an unloaded flat-bed trailer and tractor that had jack-knifed and blocked both lanes of the road from the cliff to the river overhang. A Subaru Outback had slid into the trailer. Lucky for the driver of the Subaru the hood had been pushed through the passenger side of the windshield and he walked away unharmed.
It took about thirty minutes for the highway patrol and a heavy duty wrecker to arrive on the scene and move both the Subaru and the tractor-trailer onto one side of the road, opening up one lane to let us all through.
Another five miles down the road we passed another highway patrol car on the right shoulder; two officers standing on the opposite shoulder looking down at a second patrol car dangling at the top of the cliff overhanging the fifty foot drop to the river. This was another very lucky driver.
The snow fall continued heavy until reaching about 1500 feet of elevation near Oroville where it changed into heavy rain. I reached Rocklin some time after 6:00pm. A normally four hour drive had taken more than eight hours.
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