Camping In Snow
Hi All, My family and I are looking ahead to next year and planning a ski trip. We are from the South (Houston Area) and we were thinking about going to Ruidoso, NM because we have never camped in...
Forum Discussion
It's pretty difficult down here to get experience driving on snow. We get it maybe every 5 years and when we do get it, it's just enough to scrape up to make a snowball.
10 years back, with little experience towing anything, I pulled a large 4000lbs cargo trailer from Houston to NS and back with a 2wd 1500 4.7L RAM. My experience with winter weather was pretty minimal. I had never driven on any significant snow before and had little experience with ice. Due to my awesome planning, I ended up in that big blizzard that year that dropped 3ft of snow over the northeast. I ended up riding through that thing from Virgina to NS. Never seen so much snow in my life. I hit all kinds of conditions. Gusts, heavy snow, thick ice, soft fluffy stuff, hard pack, and lot of snow showers (when big rigs pass).
I learned how to drive in those conditions on that trip. It was pretty much a trial by fire. I learned how to do it just how I learned to do pretty much everything else, by actually doing it. Here's some of the things I learned:
• Learning how to drive on snow/ice really isn't hard. It's not rocket science. Just take your time.
• The speed limit is a pipe dream.
• Chains are really handy.
• How to read what's on the road. Didn't know different types of snow existed.
• Weight is your best friend.
• In a blizzard, a shovel is your new best friend.
• If you find a plow truck beyond Bangor, ME then he's your new best friend.
• Waiting 6 months to wash your undercarriage is way too late.
• If you're from Texas then expect to get lots of strange looks and questions about guns onboard from the Canadian border guys.
Did I endanger any lives? Hardly. Sure I made a lot mistakes along the way, but everything is much more forgiving when you're driving appropriate speeds. Sure it would've been nice to have better tools, but I learned how to use the tools that I had and the 2wd pulled just fine. I don't have much use for a 4wd in this neck of the woods.
10 years back, with little experience towing anything, I pulled a large 4000lbs cargo trailer from Houston to NS and back with a 2wd 1500 4.7L RAM. My experience with winter weather was pretty minimal. I had never driven on any significant snow before and had little experience with ice. Due to my awesome planning, I ended up in that big blizzard that year that dropped 3ft of snow over the northeast. I ended up riding through that thing from Virgina to NS. Never seen so much snow in my life. I hit all kinds of conditions. Gusts, heavy snow, thick ice, soft fluffy stuff, hard pack, and lot of snow showers (when big rigs pass).
I learned how to drive in those conditions on that trip. It was pretty much a trial by fire. I learned how to do it just how I learned to do pretty much everything else, by actually doing it. Here's some of the things I learned:
• Learning how to drive on snow/ice really isn't hard. It's not rocket science. Just take your time.
• The speed limit is a pipe dream.
• Chains are really handy.
• How to read what's on the road. Didn't know different types of snow existed.
• Weight is your best friend.
• In a blizzard, a shovel is your new best friend.
• If you find a plow truck beyond Bangor, ME then he's your new best friend.
• Waiting 6 months to wash your undercarriage is way too late.
• If you're from Texas then expect to get lots of strange looks and questions about guns onboard from the Canadian border guys.
Did I endanger any lives? Hardly. Sure I made a lot mistakes along the way, but everything is much more forgiving when you're driving appropriate speeds. Sure it would've been nice to have better tools, but I learned how to use the tools that I had and the 2wd pulled just fine. I don't have much use for a 4wd in this neck of the woods.
