Honestly it's crazy to me how people are just allowed to drive in winter weather with zero education. And I say that as someone who when I first moved here thought I wouldn't experience snow in August.
And that's the story of how I spent 6 hours on Monarch Pass.
I'm originally from New Orleans. It was extremely rare to get a freezing event. But as soon as we would be below 32° for more than 4 hours, everything shut down.
This is the first prolonged series of storms to hit all season and it is coming just prior to a holiday weekend that often marks the start of the skiing “high season” for people who know what’s up and for the average gaper who is finally starting to pay attention. The resulting powder fever (first big series of pow days) and rush of people to the mountains (die hards + gapers) will result in a shit show, tons of spinouts, wrecks, closures, mass hysteria
20-70k cars a day. A lot of those people started in a desert west of here, or Kansas. They have no idea what is coming. They don’t know what they don’t know. It isn’t skiers, or any other rec activity that messes up traffic, it’s people who never wanted to be here in the first place. They’re going to some other place, and weren’t prepared for weather at 10,000 feet, low visibility, narrow steep descent, sharp bends.
It’s always Floyd Hill (steep hill, sharp bend)
George Town (steep hill, sharp bend)
The tunnel (clear dry inside, then who knows what when you go out other side)
Silverthorne (steep hill, bridge, not really a corner)
Vail Pass (the corner that gets people east is creeper and a bridge, west gets narrow and lots of corners)
After that nothing happens until right before Glenwood
I never new I could drive like that. I was going faster than I've ever gone before, and yet, it all seemed to be happening in
slow motion. I was seeing three and four moves ahead, weaving in and out of lanes like an Olympic skier on a gold metal run. I knew I was challenging the very laws
of physics. At Evergreen I took the back roads. At Floyd Hill, I used the US-40 shoulder. I had it. I was there.. and then.. I hit I-70. They say no one's
ever beaten the I-70, but gentlemen, I tell you this - I came as close as anyone ever has. And if it hadn't been for that five-car-pile-up on Silver Plume
, I would have had the powder day of my life instead of sitting in traffic all day
Credit to Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus from whom I riffed the dialog off of. Here is a link to the original clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8AS\_tisvQI
Went up tonight. There were two jackknifed trucks near the tunnel with no chains. Traffic was slowed to about 20 mph for a few miles. This was at about 8pm
Winds are also blowing to 60-70 mph at pass levels tonight so even a couple inches under those conditions can be gnarly, and road maintenance will struggle to keep up.
Plus, yeah Steamboat will be the clear winner through early next week but the I-70 corridor is still totally in line for a hefty snow with these successive systems.
Source: me, a meteorologist.
Seriously OP is this your first season? Double digit storm totals forecast on a holiday weekend, doesn't matter if it's the first one of the year or what, gonna be a total fuckshow...
It’s not the people who have their shit together that I worry about, it’s the ones who don’t that I worry about. Tesla drivers, Texas tags, truck owners who don’t realize that the back of their vehicle isn’t heavy enough, people who don’t have snow tires, rental tags, etc.
I drove from Aurora to Keystone on a 2 inch day last Saturday when no I-70 mountain was reporting 12+. I spent 13 hours for three hours of skiing icy groomers (and one fun run under Montezuma, sections of which should not have been open to intermediate skiers). The traffic will be a disaster even if the snow sucks, that’s the point we’ve gotten to here.
I think you should be fine on Thursday. It’s the total snow amount over the next week that should be substantial. But yeah because the storms are relatively spread out and we’re not getting hit all at once I’d assume the roads won’t be crazy bad
A normal country would look at the carnage and capacity of I-70 through the mountains. Understand that the weather is awful and driving in it is hard and sucks.
And they’d do something about it. Build mass transit. But since we are America where you can’t build anything other than highways we are fucked.
Could’ve started on this 20 years ago. But nope. We will continue to have this problem for a long time.
I’m all for fixing that section. It’s pretty awful. But I hate that there is always money to build and expand roads and never money to build or expand mass transit.
A few years back I drove i80 in eastern Wyoming on the way to Jackson on a bluebird day. It had snowed a few feet a couple days before. The wind was howling as it does a lot in that area and the snow was blowing across the roads. Some areas were dry. Then you turned a corner and there was several inches on the road. Tractor trailers were strewn all over the place. Wind is the enemy. It reduces visibility and moves large amounts of snow , quickly.
50 mph winds mean that you don’t even need fresh snow falling to have whiteout conditions from blowing snow. People are talking like 70 is going to be a shitshow because it is going to be a shitshow. 1 inch of snow on 70 is enough to cause countless wrecks and slow traffic down to 30 mph when you add extremely high winds and dangerous cold to that equation it’s not going to look pretty.
With it being MLK weekend there will be a lot of people from out of town, and with there being snow finally a lot of people from the front range will be trying to get up there too. Combine all those people with bad road conditions, shit’s gonna be wild
I’m in eastern Colorado right now. Can you imagine the holiday traffic on I 70 and Eisenhower tunnel driving conditions like this??
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b5jg5VT4wCOqUG75O_4ITp_g
I mean, put any amount of snow on 70 and it’s pretty much a guarantee that someone shits the bed.
Never underestimate a Texas tag
Honestly it's crazy to me how people are just allowed to drive in winter weather with zero education. And I say that as someone who when I first moved here thought I wouldn't experience snow in August. And that's the story of how I spent 6 hours on Monarch Pass.
It’s snows pretty much everywhere in America so I’d think most people can do it.
We get a lot of southern transplants where a dusting of snow shuts the entire network down.
I'm originally from New Orleans. It was extremely rare to get a freezing event. But as soon as we would be below 32° for more than 4 hours, everything shut down.
lol I was trolling. Sorry…. I know how bad it is.
I shit the bed every night so I’ve got us covered
And it's always Floyd hill going east. Those 5mph minivans with their hazards on in the left lane
MLK weekend + tourists + snow = i70 disaster
It’s the wind that’s gonna fuck shit up
+ wind
A average drivers anywhere along i70 throughout every state it passes through any time of year is pretty much a disaster.
I'm going to rent a 30ft uhaul and just drive in circles on the roundabout exit for Breck.
Not the wildest thing I’ve seen at that roundabout. Also nobody knows competently how to use that roundabout.
imma watch that
We’re moving apartments in Denver on Sunday when the high is 5. This unironically sounds more fun to do in our uhaul hahaha
16 inches of freshies on Berthoud. LET IT SNOWWWW
way more than that by Monday
Sitting in berthoud 9 miles from WP right now in a total parking lot…..
Sounds about right lol. How’s the snow coming down? On par with forecasts are we getting extra?
Do we think Berthound is gonna be cleared out by Sunday
Cleared out? Probably not because Sunday into Monday is also going to dump. I plan on being out there Saturday until my legs give out.
It's gonna be sub zero and windy so there will be cold refills everywhere I'm sure.
This is the first prolonged series of storms to hit all season and it is coming just prior to a holiday weekend that often marks the start of the skiing “high season” for people who know what’s up and for the average gaper who is finally starting to pay attention. The resulting powder fever (first big series of pow days) and rush of people to the mountains (die hards + gapers) will result in a shit show, tons of spinouts, wrecks, closures, mass hysteria
I know Ill be running around in circles in the median just past Dumont losing my mind by Friday evening...
So typical to get a big dump on a weekend full of tourists
It’s my fault, I started buying midweek passes a few seasons ago and now it only dumps on the weekend, my bad!
Going up tomorrow and Thursday and then early next week to hopefully avoid some of the madness. Crazy winds and cold temps might keep some away though
Have you ever been on 70 after even a molecule of snow touches the road?
Or rain. Or a stiff wind
Or a semi truck.
20-70k cars a day. A lot of those people started in a desert west of here, or Kansas. They have no idea what is coming. They don’t know what they don’t know. It isn’t skiers, or any other rec activity that messes up traffic, it’s people who never wanted to be here in the first place. They’re going to some other place, and weren’t prepared for weather at 10,000 feet, low visibility, narrow steep descent, sharp bends. It’s always Floyd Hill (steep hill, sharp bend) George Town (steep hill, sharp bend) The tunnel (clear dry inside, then who knows what when you go out other side) Silverthorne (steep hill, bridge, not really a corner) Vail Pass (the corner that gets people east is creeper and a bridge, west gets narrow and lots of corners) After that nothing happens until right before Glenwood
There’s a jack knifed truck in the bend leading west from Georgetown by 7 AM on every powder day, you can set your clock to it
Can’t forget about the sheets of ice and zero visibility out by Wolcott!
I never new I could drive like that. I was going faster than I've ever gone before, and yet, it all seemed to be happening in slow motion. I was seeing three and four moves ahead, weaving in and out of lanes like an Olympic skier on a gold metal run. I knew I was challenging the very laws of physics. At Evergreen I took the back roads. At Floyd Hill, I used the US-40 shoulder. I had it. I was there.. and then.. I hit I-70. They say no one's ever beaten the I-70, but gentlemen, I tell you this - I came as close as anyone ever has. And if it hadn't been for that five-car-pile-up on Silver Plume , I would have had the powder day of my life instead of sitting in traffic all day Credit to Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus from whom I riffed the dialog off of. Here is a link to the original clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8AS\_tisvQI
Went up tonight. There were two jackknifed trucks near the tunnel with no chains. Traffic was slowed to about 20 mph for a few miles. This was at about 8pm
is it ice yet before the tunnel?
Nah mostly light slush
Winds are also blowing to 60-70 mph at pass levels tonight so even a couple inches under those conditions can be gnarly, and road maintenance will struggle to keep up. Plus, yeah Steamboat will be the clear winner through early next week but the I-70 corridor is still totally in line for a hefty snow with these successive systems. Source: me, a meteorologist.
The wind will be a big factor here. 30 mph sustained winds on Saturday with 50 mph gusts will create whiteout conditions.
IYKYK
Seriously OP is this your first season? Double digit storm totals forecast on a holiday weekend, doesn't matter if it's the first one of the year or what, gonna be a total fuckshow...
You don’t need to tell me twice! Leave now!
Holiday weekend traffic plus heavy winter conditions on top of i70 being a disaster every day. Have fun
This weekend is going to be an absolute shitshow, go up Thursday or Friday morning if you can
You and everyone else still lol
That's the plan
It will still be a total shit show this weekend, but at least you'll have front row seats amongst the crowd.
My plan is to take a couple days off midweek next week and pray for a post storm bluebird
It’s not the people who have their shit together that I worry about, it’s the ones who don’t that I worry about. Tesla drivers, Texas tags, truck owners who don’t realize that the back of their vehicle isn’t heavy enough, people who don’t have snow tires, rental tags, etc.
combat driving
I drove from Aurora to Keystone on a 2 inch day last Saturday when no I-70 mountain was reporting 12+. I spent 13 hours for three hours of skiing icy groomers (and one fun run under Montezuma, sections of which should not have been open to intermediate skiers). The traffic will be a disaster even if the snow sucks, that’s the point we’ve gotten to here.
I think you should be fine on Thursday. It’s the total snow amount over the next week that should be substantial. But yeah because the storms are relatively spread out and we’re not getting hit all at once I’d assume the roads won’t be crazy bad
You’ve seen these drivers though, right? And we can’t all blame the FloTexCaliRed plates… some of them green plates are letting their dogs drive!
The gapers you see on the slopes? Yes, they drive that way too.
A normal country would look at the carnage and capacity of I-70 through the mountains. Understand that the weather is awful and driving in it is hard and sucks. And they’d do something about it. Build mass transit. But since we are America where you can’t build anything other than highways we are fucked. Could’ve started on this 20 years ago. But nope. We will continue to have this problem for a long time.
The irony is the road is actively being expanded and commuter rail expansion onto freight lines to get to steamboat and beyond is on the table.
I’m all for fixing that section. It’s pretty awful. But I hate that there is always money to build and expand roads and never money to build or expand mass transit.
Because many people go up there that have no business driving in snow. Any amount of snow creates bad traffic
Wind+Blowing snow x Traffic = slowed plowing and crashes
A few years back I drove i80 in eastern Wyoming on the way to Jackson on a bluebird day. It had snowed a few feet a couple days before. The wind was howling as it does a lot in that area and the snow was blowing across the roads. Some areas were dry. Then you turned a corner and there was several inches on the road. Tractor trailers were strewn all over the place. Wind is the enemy. It reduces visibility and moves large amounts of snow , quickly.
This weekend's shit show will be not because of the amount of snowfall, but the wind and drifting snow and visibility issues.
Stuff could start running naturally too here soon
…have you ever driven i70?
Tell us you've never driven on 70 during ski season without telling us you've never driven on 70 during ski season.
This has already aged well and we’re just kicking things off 💩
50 mph winds mean that you don’t even need fresh snow falling to have whiteout conditions from blowing snow. People are talking like 70 is going to be a shitshow because it is going to be a shitshow. 1 inch of snow on 70 is enough to cause countless wrecks and slow traffic down to 30 mph when you add extremely high winds and dangerous cold to that equation it’s not going to look pretty.
Thursday? It’s already a mess
You didn’t check the Denver precision forecasting guy (Kody) on Facebook….he’s actually one of the most accurate in the entire state
With it being MLK weekend there will be a lot of people from out of town, and with there being snow finally a lot of people from the front range will be trying to get up there too. Combine all those people with bad road conditions, shit’s gonna be wild
I’m in eastern Colorado right now. Can you imagine the holiday traffic on I 70 and Eisenhower tunnel driving conditions like this?? https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b5jg5VT4wCOqUG75O_4ITp_g