Would You Cancel The Trip? (snow content)

My wife, our two pugs and I are scheduled to take our 2010 Gen III (17" rims) and head up next weekend to Washington state (from SoCal) for Thanksgiving.

However after checking out Oregon's TripCheck site for weather/driving conditions over the next week or so, I am getting cold feet (pun intended).

The forecast calls for snow and rain showers all along Interstate 5 in the Siskiyou Pass northern Cal/southern Oregon (Ashland etc) area.

I have the stock tires on my Prius (Bridgestone Turanza EL400 - P215/45R17) and they are in good condition.

I plan on getting SCC Z chains for the front two tires (although I have heard considerable conflicting information about using chains on Prius with 17" rims from dealers in SoCal, Denver and Medford).

Our route calls for us to be on Interstate 5 all the way up so . . . should I go or cancel and just plan a trip in the spring?

Rent a car for the trip.

Less hassle, worry, potential road issues with your car, save miles on yours, etc etc.

What does the forecast show for predicted day and night temps when you are traveling? If the weather is / has been warm, snow showers will melt when hitting the pavement. Heavy snow will stick (at least for a while) during the early season.

Your car will do fine, it is the other idiots that you have to worry about. When I lived out that way, I never had a problem if I crossed the border at noon. I strongly suggest you try Autosocks, if you do not have experience chaining up.

Why? I've never understood the logic of doing that unless one had a lease car with mileage limit issues, a car that would be totally inappropriate for the trip (or a garage queen), or a car that simply wouldn't make it mechanically. I've always bought my cars to enjoy on long trips. Maybe I'm missing something? Frankly, most all cars I've rented when out of town on business I wouldn't want to use for extended travel, except a Cadillac DTS.

I would not want to rent a car for a trip through snow. because if there were an accident I'd have to deal with paying for the damage to the rental, or else buy that costly rental car insurance up front.


I recently bought a 2011 Prius and I hope it drives well in the snow. I'm a little worried about that with winter coming in Baltimore. My 2003 Honda Civic which I no longer have was great for snow driving.

It seems too early to put much faith in our forecasts that far out. But as one meteorologist here suggested, check the forecast daily to get a feel for d(model)/dt, which gives a reasonable measure of confidence.

When considering winter performance of A/S tires, 'in good condition' is meaningless. How many miles are on them / how much tread is left? All my A/S tires on recent cars felt nearly worthless in winter before the tread was half worn. They were demoted to 3-season use as I got a fresh winter-only set.

My winter Cascades experience leans towards WA and northern OR. With only a single (and uneventful) winter crossing of the Siskiyous in a different car, I can't help much, other than to say numerous folks without much winter driving experience go to great lengths to avoid it in winter. Have good tires and chains, and be prepared to wait out bad roads.

The Cascade passes don't get snow 'showers', they get 'dumps'. Compared to your inland weather, the coastal range snows are wet and heavy, and not fun. A multi-vehicle crash in this stuff closed eastbound Snoqualmie Pass for several hours yesterday.

This might bring fresher tires, but won't change the other winter Cascade pass issues.

I live in Oregon.

And the weather can change quickly. But as it is right now? I'd guess we are talking primarily rain showers.

Whether you cancel your trip or not all depends on the importance of the trip immediately to you, and your comfort level in driving in potentially snowy conditions, through at least a portion of your trip.

Your profile suggests you have a Prius V with advanced technology package, so I'm assuming you have navigation.

Personally? I wouldn't cancel the trip, if I wanted to take it. But I would consider being flexible in adapting your route, travel time, and even destination goal, in response to changing conditions.

Just stay connected. If you hear conditions are more than you want to face in a given stretch? Wait or re-route.

If you at all foresee this not being "fun" or enjoyable? Wait until Spring.

PS.

I'm also somewhat adverse to the Car Rental idea. This is my logic. When it comes to "safer" driving? I think a lot becomes familiarity with the vehicle. Going through a snowy pass in ones own vehicle can be daunting enough. But I think it's potentially worse if you are driving a vehicle inwhich you are totally unfamiliar. I've never had too much trouble in any conditions, but I've also always been pretty familiar with my vehicle. I don't take whatever vehicle I have, out into conditions I feel it can't handle. I wouldn't want to be in an unfamiliar vehicle, with unknown maitenance, and unknown tire quality, and trying to get over a snowy Oregon pass...

I suppose the only exception might be if you considered renting over the top...that is a 4 wheel drive, super all conditions mamamoth...then perhaps you would have advantage.

Used to live in Idaho, and once or twice cancelled a road trip to Seattle in the winter because of snow--even with a Subaru. But that was going over the Cascades on I-90. I'd be much more likely to go up I-5 in a Prius without worrying too much--unless the day before the trip things looked really terrible.

I'm new to Prius, but I've made this drive in snow in our old RWD Previa, which sucks in ice/snow. Ashland area was the worst, but it was mostly just slow going. We never even stopped to put the chains on.

I'd stop in Redding and buy chains at Les Schwab. They have a policy where you can return chains if you don't use them, so you could easily stop on the way home and get your $$ back if the trip goes well.

This trip is a bit of a crapshoot, but I think you'll be fine – 10 day forecast has plenty of temps in the 40s, and if you time the trip to hit Ashland before dark then your odds are pretty good.

Strongly agreed here.

Disagree here. Drivers accustomed only to cars will find the handling characteristics of a mammoth 4WD truck extremely unfamiliar, especially during adverse weather. Remember that in the early part of the SUV era, winter conditions found SUVs seriously overrepresented in the ditch while their drivers were re-learning how to drive.

Also, if ODOT manages Siskiyou the same way WSDOT manages Snoqualmie, it normally will be closed to all traffic before a mammoth 4WD is needed.

You must be thinking of the other 99% of I-5. From the stories I've heard (it is not part of my normal winter travel), conditions on I-5/Siskiyou (elevation 4300) can be quite similar to I-90/Snoqualmie (3000 feet).

Like Electric, I wouldn't cancel the trip yet, but would be flexible and ready for rapidly changing conditions. But I'll be taking I-90 to Idaho -- in a Subaru.

I'm the OP. Thanks for all of the responses - lots of good info. If we do go (and we probably will.) I will be getting a set of SCC Sure Grip Z cable chains (SZ331) for the front tires and a new set of shoes as well (Michelin Primacy MXM4 all weather). By the way, Oregon's TripCheck is a pretty good travel site. I only wish it had a mobile app for my iPAD.

http://www.tripcheck.com/Mobile/pages/RCDetails.aspx?station=71

Thanks JimboPalmer

There is a decent free app for Android, though not officially affiliated with ODOT or TripCheck. Looking forward to giving it a try when we head South on I-5 for turkey day.

Take the chains. Practice putting them on.

On the trip, if you do see the road icing up, you may wish to pull into a shopping mall parking lot and 'play' with the vehicle. Do sudden stops, erratic steering, anything to force it to slide. This will give you the 'feel' for the vehicle and how it handles on ice. This is how we taught each of our children to drive on ice.

If you get to a 'chains required' sign, then put your chains on.

Otherwise, have fun.

Bring blankets, a gallon of extra fuel, food [usually candy bars are plenty], a snow shovel and a tow strap. [a bottle of flavored syrup and cups make for great snow cones if your ever stuck in a snowbank waiting for a tow]

Snow is not the end of the world. I live in Maine. You will be fine.

IMHO I wouldn't worry about it. There are no steep grades at Siskiyou summit, and since I-5 is a major road it will get cleared pretty quick. Even if it snows safe bet you won't need chains but it is good to have them as a backup.

However there're many sections on I-5 which could turn into parking lot if weather is bad and there is an accident. Just give yourself extra time, avoid rush hour and be careful, do not drive in bad weather in the dark, esp if you have no experience good luck.

BTW you can always go alone the coast by US101, it is a beautiful drive, but you'll have to make decision in San Francisco as 299, 3 and US199 isn't the place you wanna be with snow.

There are no shopping malls anywhere near the pass. If the road starts icing up at the distance and elevation of the nearest shopping malls, the pass itself will have a high probability of being closed, especially this early in the season.

Ooops, I have lived in Northern California and later in Western Washington. But that was many years ago. I just do not recall what specifically was at that pass.

Mnt Shasta?