Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[alexpops]

yeah ... the casinos used to pay to keep 50 open, but 80 used to shut down all the time.

 

[BigBlue1]

Lot of hack job towing going on in this video. All of the sierra mountains are absolutely CRUSHED by snow right now. Not sure I've seen sno above the power lines before. Too much snow to go skiing! bummer.

That's epic! Lucky bastards! I miss those days here in MN...

 

[deezler]

They used to close these passes in the 80s and 90s and I guess they forgot about doing this since they have not had heavy snows in years.
Totally mismanaged and no learning from history. Like what happened to the Donner party.

I mean, just about all the highways show as "closed" right now on google maps traffic. I think they are, but probably not barricaded off. Lotta idiots still attempting to take their ill-equipped luxury cars and brodozers through the pass anyway. I'm not sure I would have much patience for that if I were driving the road grader..... (smash).

 

[jjeff]

I like snow but admit that's just to much of it.

 

[California]

Lot of hack job towing going on in this video. All of the sierra mountains are absolutely CRUSHED by snow right now. Not sure I've seen sno above the power lines before. Too much snow to go skiing! bummer.

Yeah. Last night I sent that vid's link, to my cousin and his wife who have a 3 story 'cabin' on one of the streets shown. Like in the vid their snow can be 3~4 times the height of the parked cars, level with their second-story deck.

His wife's reply this morning:

Will definitely share this with our Serene Lakes neighbors and friends. Sure reminds us of the winter of 1979 when we had to dig out our cars before the county would come by with their plows and blowers. Five of us spent all day Christmas digging out our cars. We weren’t even sure where they were as the entire road was filled with snow.

I put in a few weekends helping my cousin build that place in 1981. Double income, no kids, they are now comfortably retired. Ski from there, spend spring and fall in Arizona, sometimes home in the SF Bay Area.

The RR plow leaves 3 ft ice berms blocking access in/out to their neighborhood. One year I found a line of cars waiting for the county to clear the berm. Gunned the Wagoneer and crashed up and over the berms on each side, inertia in place of traction. Nobody in their Lexus SUV's or mall-cruiser raised pickups followed me.

 

[ning]

Lot of hack job towing going on in this video. All of the sierra mountains are absolutely CRUSHED by snow right now. Not sure I've seen sno above the power lines before. Too much snow to go skiing! bummer.

omg
he attached the tow strap to the spoke of the wheel
and it may've been an AWD car too, that wheel turned (the opposite direction from the wrap force too)

 

[California]

They used to close these passes in the 80s and 90s and I guess they forgot about doing this since they have not had heavy snows in years.
Totally mismanaged and no learning from history. Like what happened to the Donner party.

My wife said the news last night reported 70 miles of I-80 closed, that would be about Auburn to the Nevada state line. Caltrans needs it closed so the plow trucks can work without having to go around all the spun-out SUV's. Along with the safety hazard of flatlanders driving in whiteout conditions, hurrying to get home.

It's normal on an ordinary ski weekend to see a few SUV's stuffed backward into the roadside snowbanks. Nobody buys snow tires in California. Road-skiiing on 'All-Season' tires doesn't work too well.

 

[deezler]

View attachment 786320

omg
he attached the tow strap to the spoke of the wheel
and it may've been an AWD car too, that wheel turned (the opposite direction from the wrap force too)

That part had me laughing out loud. A wheel is a strong thing to pull a vehicle from, if you can't find any place better. But then the guy has the car in reverse and is punching the gas? And the pickup is getting all jostled around from it, and no one is screaming to stop? ridiculous. Leave the idiot behind to get buried by the snow plows.

 

[jjeff]

Maybe he thought it would work like a winch lol.

 

[California]

That part had me laughing out loud. A wheel is a strong thing to pull a vehicle from, if you can't find any place better. ... Leave the idiot behind to get buried by the snow plows.

Look how far the idiot is out from the snow poles. He's blocking at the minimum one traffic lane plus the emergency-parking lane. Looks like two traffic lanes blocked. He likely stalled where he was driving in a snowy lane, lost traction, got snowed in.

The Caltrans maintenance-division guy with the pickup isn't going to risk tearing the idiot's bumper off. This isn't his first rodeo. Tying to the wheel is the only place he can't damage. (But he probably assumed 2wd). He likely has been towing idiots off the road all day, responsible for prepping so the plows can get through.

That's not an elegant solution to the blocked lane but this is all-hands-on-deck just get out there and get the road open again, whatever it takes. And using whatever you have, to tow with. Those Maintenance Division guys are proud of how fast they can get the Sierra passes open and back to safe driving condition.

 

[BigBlue1]

That poor guy in the white Ford truck that backed into the plow that was pulling him! Ouch! Take it easy on the gas, man... That's an expensive lesson.

 

[California]

And a bit of Caltrans folklore. About 1993 I was visiting Caltrans HQ equipment maintenance shop and saw several really beat-up snow blowers - huge engine in back, driving the shredder and snow-tosser in front. 4 wheel steering. I was told they were bought for the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics back when Donner Pass was two lanes, harder to keep open than yesterday's photos. But then it didn't snow all through December and January, the ski slopes were green grass. The Olympics promoters were spooked out of their minds, you can imagine. Then a few days before Opening Day it snowed like in yesterday's video. This 'excess' batch of plows, new at the time, saved the day. There would have been no access from California's urban areas up over Donner Pass to Squaw Valley if Caltrans hadn't had so many plows that they nearly had one to lead each bus. These plows would be kept for occasional use in similar severe years, they were over 30 years old when I saw them.

Another story. US 50 to South Tahoe and the casinos, was closed for many weeks after a PGE flume failed and landslides blocked the road. There was an alternate back road, several miles, so they sent out bulldozers to pioneer and open it. After a few days, good news, the bulldozers met in the middle. Bad news. The bulldozes were on top of packed snow a considerable height above the surface of the road. It was a while longer before the detour was opened.

 

[Renze]

What happened on this thread was my fault. Being the Hauling & Towing thread, I thought it would be funny to post a pic of a gas powered service van towing a diesel powered gen-set that was charging a dead EV. It turned out to be offensive, so was quickly deleted.

By whom ?

 

[alexpops]

Was that the road to Kirkwood that brings you in to South Shore on Pioneer Trail or Kingsbury? (I spent WAY too much time at the casinos & skiing Heavenly in my younger days). Would run into tourists at the blackjack tables that would go on & on about their great day on the Tahoe Queen & I'd deadpan back to them "There's a lake here?" Dealers usually got a kick by the reactions, but they knew I was joking. Some of the folks at those tables, however, weren't. Had a guy try to sell me his wife's engagement ring at the table while she was crying next to him. Told him if that wasn't a sign from God to pack up & drive back to SF nothing would be, but if he wanted to tempt fate to wait until the morning & find a pawn shop.

 

[ning]

Was that the road to Kirkwood that brings you in to South Shore on Pioneer Trail or Kingsbury? (I spent WAY too much time at the casinos & skiing Heavenly in my younger days). Would run into tourists at the blackjack tables that would go on & on about their great day on the Tahoe Queen & I'd deadpan back to them "There's a lake here?" Dealers usually got a kick by the reactions, but they knew I was joking. Some of the folks at those tables, however, weren't. Had a guy try to sell me his wife's engagement ring at the table while she was crying next to him. Told him if that wasn't a sign from God to pack up & drive back to SF nothing would be, but if he wanted to tempt fate to wait until the morning & find a pawn shop.

Pretty sure I saw Donner Pass Rd at Soda Springs & Norden (north Tahoe area) in there but it's hard to say with all the snow (particularly since Kirkwood is south of Lake Tahoe vs Donner pass the subject of the video being north of it)

 

[civilian]

Is that video current as in a day or two ago? Jon

 

[California]

Yes Pioneer Trail was that parallel detour that had to be opened to replace US 50. The landslide was about 10? miles west of Echo Summit.

Donner Summit is the highest point on modern I -80. Where the eastbound rest area is.

Donner Pass, old US40 is parallel to new I-80 and a mile south of it. Now just a scenic 2 lane winding county secondary road. Still where the transcontinental railroad crosses the summit. And the UC snow reporting station is there, at Norden.

 

[California]

CORRECTED:

Video posted Tuesday 2/28 afternoon per the YouTube version. Presume filmed up to that time. The storm was continuing after that time.

 

[civilian]

Video shows up to Sunday mid day, posted Sunday afternoon, storm continued after the post.

Thanks, Jon

 

[cqaigy2]

View attachment 786320

omg
he attached the tow strap to the spoke of the wheel
and it may've been an AWD car too, that wheel turned (the opposite direction from the wrap force too)

Probably front wheel drive, and they have the tow strap, basically pulling straight back on the wheel, not the spoke.