Camping In Snow

It's doable but you don't want to make this trip when a major storm is due to hit the area. This would have been a good week to make the trip as there is no major weather passing through and overnight temps in Ruidoso stay above freezing. You will need to have full-hookups, plenty of propane, disconnect hose and use water from FW tank if overnight temps breach 32 degrees.

Even with a 4 seasons RV and a 4WD tow vehicle it is best to travel when roads are clear and they do a pretty good job of keeping them open for travel. You could make the roughly 20 mile trip daily to the ski resort and ski to your hearts content, currently they still have a few feet of snow with most of the trails open. Have a great time in Ruidoso, RvParkReviews.com has some pretty reliable info on the parks available in the area.

hmmmmm......12 seasons of pulling my ski hut up to the mtns, nary a scratch!

Chains for the truck and trailer will be needed. As noted, more for the down trip than up. ALtho with a rwd rig, probably more up and down than those of us with 4wd rigs. These are chain chains, not cables! A decent all weather/at tire will be fine.

Heated tanks are not an issues. As heated tanks back in the early 90s and before where not common. Only issue I had, was once or twice thinking my black tank would be drainable, was a chocolate fudge cycle! anyway, a day or two later, usually thawed, and I could drain it. If it was below freezing during the week and next trip. We did not fill it weekly. we could go 2-3 weekends before HAVING to drain the tank. Have kids go in the area buildings if possible.

Battery bank. LOTS. I could go thru two size 27s in 24-36 hrs in sub 20F temps, just from the heater running. Much less kids turning on a tv/vcr combo! 3-4 hrs the batteries are drained. SOME area's have electric hookup, a lot do not! NO ONE that I know of has water or sewer hookups. Lots of battery and a generator will be needed. At my area, unless it was new years, generators were off at around 9-10pm, did not turn on until 6-7pm. If you used it during this time, you would get LOTS of stares in the AM, or folks wondering why the genset was on all night.

If you can get the enclosed roof vent covers, that allowed your vents to stay open, keeping the moisture from breathing, running the fridge on LP, heater etc to a minimum.

If you have a slid, be carefull on its use. I have seen one or two have issues with heavy snow falls, ie breaking and bending. If you have an awning cover, take it in with the slide, or it will break under the weight of the snow if you get a lot while there. Same with awnings over ANY of the windows, keep them in.

I had 1 10 gal tanks, worked better than the std 2 7.5 gal tanks. I would typically use .75-1 10 gal per friday 3-4pm until sunday at 6pm when I headed for home.

ALWAYS take off and get there with a full tank of water. This is helpfull to be heated, or inside the trailer as mine was.

Manual drains may freeze, stopping water from going farther than that spot. Try not to worry about it if your first and maybe only trip to the mtns. If you go a lot, remove the drains and your freezing issue like this is over. I got use of the toilet after this. Shower was used to store ski boots over night. Rarely used for a weekend. a week was a different story.

Driving, go slow, do not get in a hurry. I would not do studs personally, as the dry driving is way worst than the few times, you need them for black ice etc. If it is that bad, you usually have chains on any how.

I have seen over 150-200 rvs at one area I frequent, 50 in the electric hook up, another 100 or so depending upon weekend in the genset area. DO NOT use a genset near the electric hook up area........you will piss folks off, and they will forcably send you to the area with the gensets! Do not ask me how I know this....... With over 150 rv's in the area, they range from TT, to 5w, to type A, B and C motor homes, campers in pickup beds, the majority are rwd only! RWD folks usually have a traction tire, and chain option to get to the parking lots. Take a shovel to remove snow from the front of the rig if it is snowing, other wise you may find yourself high centered. A WELL BUILT push broom is also good for removing snow from the front windshield and hood, along with the slide and its awning if out and snow on top.

Enjoy the time on the hill. I will not trade in ANY of the 12 yrs of 10-15 weekends a season I spent on the hill with my kids. We had a much fun using the TT as a ski hut as we did in the summer. Oh, the license on the trailer was "skiht46" Then again, the license on my trucks since 1990 is my handle name.

Marty

Do you mean like this?


We used this as our shake down trip to make sure everything was working. We had a water jug, an electric space heater and we dry camped using the heated washhouse.

This was at a local State park in Indiana. A week later we left for the Everglades. We were able to add water and clear the anti-freeze when we reached Tennessee.

Drive slow and be extra careful. You will pick up a lot of snow and slush

BillB800si wrote:
See my signature below? Last Feb 2014 we flipped the trailer and totaled the 2500 Megacab diesel on black ice ( Going South on I-75 at the Michigan- Ohio border).

Right now we are negotiating a Rockwood 3029W trailer. I can guarantee you it will never be driven on snow/ice. We didn't see the black ice until to late. Police & semi's also slid all over the place that day. Very scary but thank God no one was hurt.
Happy trails,

Glad you are okay.

Trailers and ice / snow are very scary. I only tow in the snow when there is no other option. I towed my travel trailer out of a campground after the snow had fallen during our trip (very early snow that year) and it was a little bit scary. I just kept my speed low and gave lots of room for stopping. I downshifted on the hills to keep from speeding up too much and avoided the brakes as much as possible.

See my signature below? Last Feb 2014 we flipped the trailer and totaled the 2500 Megacab diesel on black ice ( Going South on I-75 at the Michigan- Ohio border).

Right now we are negotiating a Rockwood 3029W trailer. I can guarantee you it will never be driven on snow/ice. We didn't see the black ice until to late. Police & semi's also slid all over the place that day. Very scary but thank God no one was hurt.
Happy trails,

It attempted to pass me in several corners, and I had to hammer down the gas to pull it back behind. I had no chains on the trailer, but I have good tires.

Exactly..That's the only way but the problem is, most not familiar with it do the opposite which leads to catastrophe.

I have spent days and even up to a week in a pullout at the bottom of a snowy grade waiting for the conditions to improve before tackling the snow covered grade with a large RV.My 35ft Jayco fifth wheel pushed my F-250 around at will on snow.I even had to stay in Boise for tweo weeks to come home as it was a solid snow floor from Boise to here with several grades to climb and more importantly,descend.Going up is usually easy,coming down can get down right scary!

Pickup campers and smaller motor homes are far safer and easier on snowy roads than pulling and getting pushed with a towed unit.

If I was going to camp in the snow with a travel trailer like I do in the summer months,I would own something like a Lance 1685 and my 4X4 and have studs all around(trailer included) with chains for all on board.

It's just dangerous even for the experienced!

jaycocreek wrote:

0 experience pulling a rig in snow

I've done it a lot but I drove in the snow for a living.Chains/chains and more chains!A 4X4 is a big help but chains are still needed in steep mountain roads.The trailer will push your tow vehicle and pass you on corners and the trailer brakes alone will put the trailer into a slide without chains.

The WDH hitch is your enemy on a solid snow packed road!

If you decide to do it(I recommend not too with a travel trailer) use chains on both the tow vehicle and trailer even if it is just one set on the trailer and even consider one on the front tire.Studs all around would be better than nothing.

Loosing control is multiplied 10X+ pulling a heavy travel trailer on solid snow packed mountain roads and I see wrecks even with snowmobile trailers way way to much from lack of towing experience on snow packed roads and people to lazy to put chains on!

Get a smaller Motorhome and stud it up for driving and camping on snowy roads.There much safer and easier to use in those conditions.

I lived 40 years in Idaho's Tahoe(McCall Idaho)where it snowed almost year around.

I 100% agree with this post.

I also tow in snow, and almost always opt to use no trailer brakes. That can cause major issues if your trailer is too heavy (all travel trailers are too heavy to disconnect brakes)

I towed my 12 x 6 enclosed utility trailer around all weekend in the snow, and it weighed 2300 lbs fully loaded. It was not too heavy for the truck brakes, but I had to allow lots of braking distance. It attempted to pass me in several corners, and I had to hammer down the gas to pull it back behind. I had no chains on the trailer, but I have good tires.

My personal advice, don't tow the travel trailer in the snow too much.

Ruidoso is pretty far south; we stop over there at least once a year. Until you get up into the mountains, snow is not generally an issue. There are several major highways into the area, so they are probably kept clear...unless you drive there DURING a major winter storm. If you stay at a campground along one of these highways, it should not be a problem.

I don't know what the road up to the Apache Ski area is like, so you may need chains. I would be more concerned about THAT part of the experience with 2WD than towing into an area RV park. Maybe their website (or the Ruidoso Chamber of Commerce website) has answers, or at least a phone number for you to talk to someone.

If you have heated tanks, then you'll probably need to turn on the tank heater at night. Just remember to disconnect and drain your water hose at night and just go off your onboard fresh water tank.

jandjbaums wrote:

SteveAE wrote:
DO IT!
It's great fun.

What to bring....a positive attitude. Everything else will fall into place. If you want specific hints, feel free to PM me and we can discuss it.

Steve

p.s.; if you can arrange it, please send Oregon some more snow so we can get back out snow camping ourselves....before the season ends.

Im sorry to say but I think our season is about done. Our rockchucks have woke up and running around. Gunna be bad this summer.

I had to look up Rock Chuck. We don't have them around here. There kinda cute.

It seems like a lot of one-time items to warrant this trip. If you were to stay in a campground how about renting a cabin?