Steepest grade you ever pulled or went down.....

Had to revisit this thread, after this weeks adventures.

Notice the pic. Going down was easy, I was empty. Going up on the other hand. Was a b#### !!!

I topped the hill at a blistering 13 mph in 4th gear.

The next hill (also 15%), I got a run at. I was doing 75 at the bottom....and a blazing 13 mph...again in 4th gear at the top.

BTW, I was in 4th before I even got half way up the hill.

The picture was taken in Missouri of all places.

 

10% or steeper Hudsons Hope Loop in British Columbia

 

If you were referring to Donner, grades clearly marked before you reach them, nothing over 7%, it's the "Let er drift" signs that get me.

 

Genesse, Floyd Hill, Eisenhower, Vail all are max 7% grade and actually closer to 6% except for a couple of stretches

I got caught behind a truck hualing a crane up Loveland a few years back when they were doign daytime tunnel work that closed it to all trucks, it took 90 minutes to make it up. He stopped at the top to let the parade go by, I was #4 behind him, the line behind me was so long I couldn't begin to see the end of it.

All in a days work of trucking in Colorado, and if you want some real fun, try Monarch Pass (7 to 8%), Wolf Creek Pass (7 to 8% with very specifc weight/speed restrictions) the song is there for a reason, or Red Mountain/Molass/Coal Bank (especially in the winter.

 

Or try Douglas Pass-Grand JUnction, CO to Rangely, CO

 

BTDT, if it wasn't so #### rough it wouldn't have been so bad.

We have a customer in Silverton we deliver to couple of times a year, last winter was the first time I've ever had to chain up 4 drives and a 2 trailer tires to get anyplace. It was snowing like mad going up and down, so bad that while the road was open, CDOT was no where to be found, of course it was 3:30 am too.

 

What about CR32 and CR50 mid winter from Fraser to Silverthorne?

I won't say what company it was...but they THOUGHT I was going to use that routing to get to the mines on Ute Pass, from Denver.

It was bad enough at Eisenhower

 

I didnt realize that PA had such steep grades, I live right outside of petrolia and am on these roads you guys have mentioned all the time, and I would've thought that there were much steeper grades to be had out west?

 

To be perfectly honest, CA 178....north of CA-99, up the mountain, beyond the sign that says "Trucks over 30' kingpin to center of rear axle not advised". I went up it with a 53' cause i was a noob. Since it wasnt a truck route, there were no signs telling how steep it was, but it felt like it was quite a lot more than 8%...... I got a ticket for it too.

 

I used to go out west all the time, and there really aren't that many truly steep grades out there. Sure, lots of grades, but most of them aren't that steep. Most of the highways out there have been converted from two track roads used by covered wagons, and therefore are mostly routed to avoid the steepest parts of the mountains. How steep would YOU like to go in a wagon?