SR-410 treacherous due to snow and ice

[Webmaster]

I was on the road yesterday and saw 4 vehicles which had spun off of the road and also saw signs that that many others had gone off the road.

The wonderful cold temps and abundant snowfall in the last few days have transformed the roadway into a skating rink.

Please keep at least 10 car lengths more between you and the vehicle in front of you than you would normally.

If you drive a pickup truck, put 500 lbs or more of weight in the bed. Pickup trucks have more problems on snowy and icy roads than all other types of vehicles.

Carry a bag of gravel, a shovel, road flairs and tire chains.

Be patient, especially when coming back from Crystal. A lot of traffic and lack of patients leads to disaster.

[Stretch]

Thanks for the heads up post. I'll be heading up this weekend to work, so I'll leave at least 45 minutes earlier than normal. Great idea about the gravel even though I drive a front wheel car.

May also want to carry a heavy rope to get pulled out if needed.

[engerski]

I was on the road yesterday and saw 4 vehicles which had spun off of the road and also saw signs that that many others had gone off the road.

The wonderful cold temps and abundant snowfall in the last few days have transformed the roadway into a skating rink.

Please keep at least 10 car lengths more between you and the vehicle in front of you than you would normally.

If you drive a pickup truck, put 500 lbs or more of weight in the bed. Pickup trucks have more problems on snowy and icy roads than all other types of vehicles.

Carry a bag of gravel, a shovel, road flairs and tire chains.

Be patient, especially when coming back from Crystal. A lot of traffic and lack of patients leads to disaster.

No lack of 'patients', however, many lack patience.
I totally agree with the spacing between cars. I get very annoyed at 99% of the cars tailgating on slippery roads. Makes me want to stop, pull the driver out of the offending vehicle and slap him/her.

[Stretch]

I echo the treacherous conditions lately. Yesterday morning I was heading to the mountain when I saw some vertical taillights ahead of me about a quarter mile. Just as I pointed them out to my ride share partner, the rear end of my car started racing the front end of my car. As we spin in the center of 410, and start to see the ditch on the west bound lane, I pulled the e-brake and slammed on the gas. Fortunately with this tiny bit of defensive driving, we gently went part way into the ditch backwards. I have been carrying a tow strap with me since the beginning of the season, so the next passerby was kind enough to give the car a slight tug to get it out. No damage done thankfully.

The vehicle ahead of me, however, ended up being a truck with a camper. He also hit the ice under the slush, but instead of spinning, his rig caught and rolled it onto its side. My buddy ran to him after we came to a rest in the ditch to see if he was injured... amazingly the driver didn't even have a bump or bruise. We called it in, made sure he was ok and continued to the mountain for another day shoveling snow and loading public.

Even though you may see some people pass by at a high rate of speed, don't be enticed to do so yourself. Most of the people I have encountered going exceptionally slow seem to pull off when cars start to stack behind them. If not, I give a quick flash of the high beams and they seem to get the hint.

If you do come to someone who is stuck and no one will give the courtesy to stop, if safe to do so, help them out. You never know when you'll need the same assistance the next time.

Please be careful out there and keep the rubber side down.

[Webmaster]

Yikes! I'm glad that one came out okay for you! The person in the pickup sounds as if he was even more lucky, by way of avoiding personal damage, at least….

The roadway is highly unpredictable when it’s icy. I remember a few years ago rounding the corner about a mile before the speed limit is reduced to 35. I wasn’t speeding, and the roadway was icy and the truck, a 4WD Jeep just let go. It slid about 5’ sideways and then caught a little traction on the shoulder. But for that it would have skated off the road with no warning.

Glad everyone came out unhurt!

[Stretch]

Thanks!

Sure woke me up first thing that morning... :eek:

[Stretch]

Headed up on New Years day expecting a lot of people to be hung over from the night before. Ended up taking two and a half hours getting up to the mountain because of downed trees. Every 10 minutes the plow would stop, saw some trees, plow them through and keep on truckin'.

On the way back, we got stopped at the bottom of the boulevard for an hour waiting for rescue crews to help the climbers from the accident at Snoquera.

From what a friend that was going to meet me up there told me, he took 2 hours to get to Buck creek then turned around because of length of time to remove trees. Apparently 410 was closed at Mud Mt Dam Road for a while because of harsh conditions due to snow loaded trees falling on the road.

Luckily we made the first group of cars up, so we had a decent day of skiing without the huge crowds.

Working Saturday, however, turned out to be a fiasco. 4000 tickets sold before 11:00. We were running hard all day long. Sunday turned out to be a lot lighter.

Now that the holidays are over, you can expect some great skiing without as many people on the mountain. Hit it midweek and enjoy very little waiting.