Forum Discussion
rk911
Jan 21, 2023Explorer
freewayrandy wrote: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.
there are. i forgot about Vail Pass (west of Eisenhower @10,600') and a 5-mi descent into Mt. Vernon canyon (7800') east of Eisenhower.
the first time we drove east on I-70 from CA was in the mid 80's in a 25' class A. wife was driving in those days. she took it thru the tunnel and down the mountain. it was September and bright sunshine on the west side of the mountain but as we exited the tunnel it waa snowing and, further down, raining. she did a great job getting us down safely but it was nerve racking for a pair of Illinois flatlanders. in those days we were young and stupid. our motto was...how hard could this possibly be? lolol
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