best route, West to East?
Headed to Illinois in July from NorCal and wondering which route would have the least grades to climb the Rockies, I-80 or I-70?
Forum Discussion
rk911 wrote:
I-70 thru Denver has the Eisenhower Tunnel climb and descent. I-80 has the EB climb over Donner Pass and the EB climb over Parley Summit east of Salt Lake City. all are very doable and there is a much easier bypass around Parley Summit.
we headed back to Chicago from San Jose in August of '21 using I-80 in our 40' class A gasser towing our Jeep SUV. the EB climb up Donner Pass was a lot easier than the WB descent a few months earlier. the RV's cruise control actually held a steady speed going up. and the EB descent from the summit was a total non-event. but in hindsight I should've taken the I-15 bypass for Parley Summit. we made it to the top but at a crawl.
a lot will depend on the weather, road conditions (construction delays, etc).what you're driving and your experience driving that vehicle. you might want to get a copy of the Mountain Driving Directory https://mountaindirectory.com/.
I have that book and it seems that there are afew more grades to climb on 70 than 80. Thoughts are US50 to Fallon then 95 to 80.
