Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassplayer
Sorry to jack this thread, but they make you put snow chains on?!? Why!?!? I'm from North Dakota and have spent a great amount of time in the mountains of Montana and I've never heard of such a thing. I don't think that semi-trucks have to use them either, and some of the passes in Big Sky country are ridiculously terrible when snow falls.
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I live in the mountains of southern California, where, believe it or not, we do get snow (we had two snows over 3' this last winter). I also lived in Alaska for 4 years. There is a huge difference in the snow conditions.
In AK (and ND), the temperature tends to stay below freezing, and packed snow for the most part doesn't get too icy. Here, the temperature can easily swing 20 degrees across the freezing piont between day and night, with constant thawing and refreezing that makes for treacherous road conditions. The other difference is that where you are, people probably put on winter tires in the fall. Most of us did in Alaska. In CA, it's difficult to even find winter tires, and because even those of us who live in the mountains are often in lower elevations on dry roads, keeping winter tires on isn't very practical.
I've watched dozens of cocky midwesterners end up in ditches because they knew they could drive in snow better than stupid Californians. Well, they might be better (certainly than most Californians), but not on the snow conditions we often get here. I commute off the mountain every day, and in the winter I (usually) avoid the chain requirements because I drive a 4WD CRV in the winter. I still have to carry chains (cables) and occasionally am required to put them on.
I had chains for my 2WD cars in Alaska, but never once in four years did I need them, even when driving in the mountains. I also drove the Alcan in early winter (1200 miles of gravel, back then), and I didn't need chains there, either. Here, sometimes I have, even with 4WD. It isn't that we can't drive, the conditions really are different.