Driving in the mountains advice for new drivers.

Sounds like a mainline haul road except it's paved. In that situation,steer axle chains are recommend. Don't lock your door or wear a seatbelt.

 

27 years running Colorado mountains, regardless the truck, the load, the road conditions, never take your speed for granted. Keep in mind, every truck is different as well. The first Mack I drove, the engine brakes sucked, I could've drug my feet alongside and done a better job slowing things down. The next one was 100% improvement, the next one was marginally better. The first two were auto-shifts, the third was an M-Drive. I learned better with that M-drive to use manual mode (which I had done previously as well) and make it work with the jake's for better braking. My current T680, I rarely touch the foot brakes going down 70, often times I sit there switching between 1, 2 and off, 1, 2 and off. I'll slow it till I'm 3 or 4 under the limit, then shut them off till I hit 4 above then turn them off medium, as my speed drops, I'll switch to 1, then turn it off.

BUT, this is a skill I've developed over the years, again 27 years running these hills in all conditions. At the same time, this advice only really works on 70, 40 over Berthoud or Rabbit Ears. Now, 50 over Monarch, that's a different animal altogether. Toss in 550 or Wolf Creek and everything is even more different. As someone else said, 50 over Monarch is a hair raiser, for truckers, it's probably the most dangerous, or a close second to Wolf Creek, for truckers, seems every other year there's a fatal on the WB side. Same holds true for Wolf Creek. As much as I despise the nannism on some of the roads, I agree with it on Wolf Creek, but at the same time, I'd love for the State to develop of Mountain Certification for drivers, that would give some drivers more freedom on some the roads, and allow them to better enforcement on the drivers who are a problem.

I ran 550 every two weeks for 6 years, I'll admit I regularly sped on it, 20 mph curves at 35 mph, BUT, it also depended on my load, the trailer I was using, and the road conditions. My truck never changed, but there were 3 different trailers I used, one of them had super touchy brakes, barely breathe on the pedal and the responded, another had horrible brakes, every driver complained, they did a full brake job and nothing changed. The third was a full aero trailer, for whatever reason, that trailer pulled like a dream and tracked perfectly, on the flats the brakes were great, in the mountains the brakes always seemed like they were dragging but never were. 50, 160 and 550 are where we separate the steering wheel holders from the truckers. I know old timers that won't run any of those roads, and love running I 70, I've seen rookies freeze up on their first trip over 550 and park it and let their trainer take over. In the winter, 550 will scare you straight, no guardrails, couple thousand foot drop-off, tap the brakes and your trailer wants to pass you and that's with a drag chain installed. You will slow down.

 

You're kind of exaggerating Indy Pass, I've driven it in the pickup many times in the summer, 35' length restriction, but it's two lanes the entire way, the problem is the extremely tight switchbacks. There's stretches of it where taking a truck wouldn't be a problem, but that's on the east side, and actually they do run gravel and logging trucks on that side, but when the gates closed, there's someone there to open it for them. The drop-offs on 550 are far worse that Indy Pass.

BTW, if you really want to have fun, Douglas Pass, at night in a driving rain storm. There were small rocks falling off the hillside as I was climbing it NB. Never again, pitch black, my headlights felt overwhelmed, never passed another vehicle. Near the bottom of the pass, noticed the SB road closure gate was down and a CDOT plow truck was sitting there. He stopped me and asked why I went around the other gate, told him it wasn't down when I went by. Turns out the pass had been closed all night due to rock fall and they forgot to set the NB closure gate.

One pass that never gets discussed enough is McClure, absolutely stunning drive year round, but in the winter, you better have full chains on, if you're heading SB, don't take them off to till you get to the chain station, even if the road looks clear, there's ice patches.

 

Thanks, what do you want from a dirt eatin' Wisconsin farmboy transplant? Monarch Pass is still pretty tense. Has its own poorly placed truck runaway ramp, it does.A neighbors SIL works for CDOT, and keeping the pass open is a full time job. Poncha Pass not the steepest, but mud slides close the road when it pours.

 

Chained on Wolf Creek today, in the slush, thanks CDOT, appreciated that immensely

 

BTW, the absolutely most deceiving pass in Colorado, LaVeta on US 160 between Ft. Garland and Walsenburg. It doesn't look steep, it looks pretty tame, but in reality it's a fairly steep descent and you can build up a lot of speed pretty quickly. When I first started with my company, we used to load containers of lava rock from a place outside San Luis, Co., came down LaVeta one day not thinking about it, next thing I know I'm rapidly gaining on the traffic in front of me, and I'm doing 80 mph and gaining speed. I was on/off those brakes a lot to get slowed down. Coworker that was behind me and I had a long talk about it later.

 

Thats why i included

"or if it is, whoever put that limiter in was an idiot."

I dont care if it was the manufacturer or aftermarket, its a really bad way of doing things

 

Those hills you all have out there scar the hell out of me more than any of the ones i do out here in the southwest !!! Been there , ain't doing it again !!!

 

Newsflash, Colorado bans hand held devices while driving. Hands free devices are not included.
CDOT to ban phones on roads