paulj
12-30-2004, 04:27 PM
Yesterday I took a quick road trip over Stevens Pass (US2) to Leavenworth, WA, and back, about 250 miles round trip. It was a typical NW winter day, with a light steady rain all day. Above 2000 ft rain turned to snow. WSDOT conditions for the pass (4000 ft) were:
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/maciver/roadview/sr2/
'Traction Tires Advised, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited.
Compact snow and ice on roadway // Partly cloudy'
The highway was well plowed, leaving a thin layer of fresh snow over the pass. For much of this I drove at a steady 40 mph, often in 2nd (automatic) allowing me to control my speed more with the gas than with the brakes.
Once in Leavenworth (a lumber town turned successful Bavarian style tourist town) I turned to explore Icicle Creek, which leads up to some popular summer hiking trails. Where road maintenance turned from county to forest service the surface turned to compacted snow. I drove this in 1st and 2nd till the tracks dwindled down to a single set of car tracks and a couple of snowmobile tracks. Then I carefully turned around, with lots of back and forth, trying to stay within the packed snow band. See the first of the attached pictures.
On the way back down the road, I started to test my traction in the unpacked snow at the side of the road - until the front right wheel got in too deep (2nd photo). At this point when I tried to move back or forward, the car tended to slide further toward deeper snow on the lower side of the road.
With a small spade I cleared snow from behind the rear wheels, and laid some traction mats behind these wheels (3rd photo). Once I straightened the front wheels I was able to back up a short ways past these mats. Backing up in a situation like this can be tricky. You want to back toward the center of the road, but turning the front wheels to do this, makes them move further off the road. So backing straight, with just a bit of turning is better.
Now with more clearance in front, I laid the mats in front of the front wheels. Once I remembered to release the parking brake(!), I was able to pull forward and onto the packed snow at the center of the road.
I was glad to have a small spade to clear away snow. The traction mats (Lions grip brand) worked ok. Getting the edge under the tire wasn't easy. I did have chains with me, but installing them on the recomended front tires when stuck would have been a pain. I might have been able to install them on the rear tires while getting unstuck.
The drive back over the pass was uneventful, though with heavier evening snow, a bit slower. Back in the rain the drive was faster. However just west of Sultan a crash was blocking traffic, so I took a slower, more scenic (during the day) road on the south side of the river (Ben Howward).
In the snow, my tires (225/70/16 Goodyear Integrity all-season M+S) were adequate with careful driving, but I'm sure there are better ones. On the wet roads I was quite happy with their handling - or rather with the Element's handling. The ability to start in 2nd gear was a big plus when traction in the snow was poor.
paulj
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/maciver/roadview/sr2/
'Traction Tires Advised, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited.
Compact snow and ice on roadway // Partly cloudy'
The highway was well plowed, leaving a thin layer of fresh snow over the pass. For much of this I drove at a steady 40 mph, often in 2nd (automatic) allowing me to control my speed more with the gas than with the brakes.
Once in Leavenworth (a lumber town turned successful Bavarian style tourist town) I turned to explore Icicle Creek, which leads up to some popular summer hiking trails. Where road maintenance turned from county to forest service the surface turned to compacted snow. I drove this in 1st and 2nd till the tracks dwindled down to a single set of car tracks and a couple of snowmobile tracks. Then I carefully turned around, with lots of back and forth, trying to stay within the packed snow band. See the first of the attached pictures.
On the way back down the road, I started to test my traction in the unpacked snow at the side of the road - until the front right wheel got in too deep (2nd photo). At this point when I tried to move back or forward, the car tended to slide further toward deeper snow on the lower side of the road.
With a small spade I cleared snow from behind the rear wheels, and laid some traction mats behind these wheels (3rd photo). Once I straightened the front wheels I was able to back up a short ways past these mats. Backing up in a situation like this can be tricky. You want to back toward the center of the road, but turning the front wheels to do this, makes them move further off the road. So backing straight, with just a bit of turning is better.
Now with more clearance in front, I laid the mats in front of the front wheels. Once I remembered to release the parking brake(!), I was able to pull forward and onto the packed snow at the center of the road.
I was glad to have a small spade to clear away snow. The traction mats (Lions grip brand) worked ok. Getting the edge under the tire wasn't easy. I did have chains with me, but installing them on the recomended front tires when stuck would have been a pain. I might have been able to install them on the rear tires while getting unstuck.
The drive back over the pass was uneventful, though with heavier evening snow, a bit slower. Back in the rain the drive was faster. However just west of Sultan a crash was blocking traffic, so I took a slower, more scenic (during the day) road on the south side of the river (Ben Howward).
In the snow, my tires (225/70/16 Goodyear Integrity all-season M+S) were adequate with careful driving, but I'm sure there are better ones. On the wet roads I was quite happy with their handling - or rather with the Element's handling. The ability to start in 2nd gear was a big plus when traction in the snow was poor.
paulj