Donner Pass - Help?

IT CAN GET REAL NASTY...BE CAREFUL!

 

Travel at a speed that is safe and that you feel comfortable going. And don't be afraid to shut it down. Cybergal's picture says a lot.

 

The down grades are steepest & longest going West toward Sac (seen several trucks with smoking brakes at check station about half-way down when weather was good---they just took it too fast, no excuse!)....going down East is not too bad, just watch out for other idiots! Caltrans does a great job of keeping that stretch clear....

 

Ah something i know alot about.
I live near there, go over it all the time.

The following are the BEST LINKS
for weather and road info for that part of the country
The first is the caltrans road condtions report. Type in the rt. # you want it will bring up the most cuurent road condtions. Also while there ,you can click on live cameras to see what the weather is doing .

http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi


http://www.noaa.gov/

And here is Nevada's

http://safetravelusa.com/nv/

Type in the city or zip code,, hint here,, make sure the spelling is correct

For the best info, i always enter, Truckee,CA Dutch Flat, CA and Nyak,CA

Another secret... When you know you headed that way, start looking at the nws satalite and forcasts 3-4 days out. Then keep an eye out on them. The weather pattern comes in at San Fran, and goes east, almost follow the I-80 corridor

Now the bad part. Make sure you have the correct amount of chains on the truck. Califorina requires you to carry chains at certian times of the year. No chains, you can get a ticket and prevented from cointuing past Reno.
Just west of Reno, when the chain law is in effect , you must pull into a parking area, and Caltrans will ask you about your chains, then hand you a slip of paper with thier req of where chains are req on the truck.

On that caltrans web site is also the phone # for the same report. PUT IT ON SPEED DIAL. Call it as you get closer to Reno, call it often. At one moment the chains lawis up, 30-45 min, it will come down, vice versa.
Also at times if the snow is dumping hard we're talking 3-4 inchs an hour, or more,, Caltrans will stop alll trucks from going over. This is because they may have to many cars up there, and they don't want trucks getting caught up among them.

Now, if chain law is effect, it's your choice to chain up, or sit in Reno/ Sparks, or Fernely until the cchain law comes down.

DO WHAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH

Beforewarned, you only have the TA and Petro in Sparks to park, and they do fill up fast.
Boomtown at mm5 west bound no longer allows trucks to park, since they closed the truck stop.

There is a Pilot and Loves in Fernely, and at the 32 a new small truck stop called Gateway.


Hope this helps

 

Look to your left sometime going down what is now called Donner Pass & you'll see the real one in places B-4 there were interstates. The new one is a joke compared to the original.

 

You'll be fine. Just check road conditions before you go over. It's not really that steep of a grade but it is a very long grade. For me it was the on coming headlights and the lack of painting of the lanes that made it bad. Take your time make sure you have chains because they inspect for them.

 

make sure to constantly check road updates.I will agree that it's not the steepness but the stretch. you'll be alright,just take your time and be safe

 

That loooks BAD