Hitting The Road In Near Blizzard Conditions Tomorrow; Anyone Else?

General General Discussion
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Rolling to Steamboat tomorrow and some heavy snow and bad conditions expected. Nothing new. Winter kit obviously. Cat litter for weight; hopefully not for traction. Shovel next to skis. Several areas going through expecting 12-16in. with heavy winds/blowing snow. Nothing like rolling at 60 on completely covered roads–as in 6-12in. under tire. Have to anticipate as far as visibility allows. Don’t want to get stuck behind plows. Passing them is a pain. Only VERY gentle wheel turning at speed.

Live in northern UT so no stranger. Made same trip in bad conditions before. Hope I-80 doesn’t get gated. 12in. in these parts doesn’t mean shut down.

Anyone else going through the area tomorrow?

Sunglasses actually are good to wear in these conditions(generally) and help with visibility/anticipation/acuity/action. Funny to see lots of people from mountain west wearing sunglasses in heavy snow. Noticed it in UT, CO, and WY.

Leaving extra early b/c powder will be epic! Hope to be on slopes by 2pm. If takes longer to arrive, night skiing will be a blast. No kids, no wife, just me on a trip ordered by wife(before knew of weather) but she drives same AO as well so knows what I’m dealing with. Still have green light.

Hopefully will be taking selfies from a black by afternoon in heavy snow/wind! One blue run to assess and then to black.

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My new area has winter 5 months of the year (and gets 160-240" of snow annually, depending on the exact location), and I grew up in lower Michigan, so I’m pretty familiar with winter driving. Do you have tire chains, or a 4wd vehicle with M+S rated tires? By memory one or the other is mandatory on Colorado roads under certain conditions, which you might be going into.

Don’t forget drinking water. Of course you can drink snow, IF you have a way to melt it first. Easier to bring liquid water in case of getting stranded.

I rotate between gray, orange and amber tinted sunglasses depending on light conditions. 100% snow cover and cloudy bright is a great match for amber. Broken clouds/sun with snow gets orange, bright sky gets gray. YMMV and this is probably fussy for most people, but I find it very helpful to avoid squinting and eyestrain.

Enjoy the ski trip!

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Yeah we are supposed to get 4-6" overnight here in Northern Idaho. It’s kind of slushy right now, but if that freezes the commute will be terrible in the morning.

Be safe out there!

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I put studded Nokian 7 Suv winter tires on my wife’s AWD car. I was flabbergasted by the superior handling the winter tire had over quality all season radials in ice and snow covered roads. You should consider a winter tire for your storm driving