Driving from Milpitas to Medford, Oregon (Ashland: spring break, home, college)

[soarswitheagles]

We had friends with family in CA who got stranded on the pass twice(both times they closed the highway). Bring warm clothing, water, and snacks if you have to sit for a while.

[Parnassia]

As for buying chains but never actually needing them, some places will let you return them at the end of the season if it is obvious they are unused. Keep the receipt! Even if you don't take them out of the box, there are sections of major highways where at least carrying a set is required.

[ejisme]

Also check your vehicle's owners manual. Many newer vehicles will not have the clearance to allow installation of chains, and it will say so in your manual.

As mentioned above, if you slow down... really slow down, then you should be fine. That doesn't mean slow down from 85 mph to 70 mph. Nothing wrong with driving 15/25 MPH if the roads are badly iced or snow covered, as long as that is the predominant speed of other travelers. Slow and steady is great. Just get in line with other drivers in the slow lane and move along with them, with LOTS of extra space between you and the car in front.

[Metlakatla]

They're requiring chains when driving over the pass right now. I don't see that changing before the 4th. Even if it does, it'll just go down to requiring that you're carrying the chains, as Parnassia said. The forecast is calling for rain and snow, which means ice on the road.

When I said to find another way, I meant find another way like flying.

There's nothing that dangerous about driving that particular pass; it just seems that something always happens to close down that route for hours when it snows, especially when Mt. Ashland (skiing) is open.

You may see tire chain installation services on the Oregon side; I don't think you will on in I-5 California.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

They're requiring chains when driving over the pass right now. I don't see that changing before the 4th. Even if it does, it'll just go down to requiring that you're carrying the chains, as Parnassia said. The forecast is calling for rain and snow, which means ice on the road.

When I said to find another way, I meant find another way like flying.

There's nothing that dangerous about driving that particular pass; it just seems that something always happens to close down that route for hours when it snows, especially when Mt. Ashland (skiing) is open.

You may see tire chain installation services on the Oregon side; I don't think you will on in I-5 California.

Which pass is that and do you have a link? Because I can't find any such restrictions currently on the ODOT or Caltrans websites for I-5.

For the record, neither Oregon or California ever require chains on vehicles under 10,000 pounds GVW. Never, never, never. The most you are ever required to have is traction tires.

[Metlakatla]

BS.

https://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/Mini...n-Requirements

In very bad winter road conditions all vehicles may be required to use chains regardless of the type of vehicle or type of tire being used. This is known as a conditional road closure. A conditional road closure may occur on any of Oregon's highways and are frequent in the winter on Interstate 5 through the Siskiyou Pass south of Ashland.

You can be turned around and sent back at the inspection point if you don't have chains on. The OP can learn more about driving the Siskiyou Pass in winter here:

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/MCT/Docu...skiyoupass.pdf

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

BS.

https://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/Mini...n-Requirements



You can be turned around and sent back at the inspection point if you don't have chains on. The OP can learn more about driving the Siskiyou Pass in winter here:

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/MCT/Docu...skiyoupass.pdf

Your second link is not relevant to the OP. That is for truck drivers.

Thanks for the first link. I do not believe that is a common occurrence. It sounds to me like they are talking about situations where a road is closed, but they may allow some vehicles though if they have chains on. I don't even know how that would work. These days they use unmanned gates to block highways. So I have no idea how vehicles with chains would get though. Either the highway is open or it is closed.

Anyway I don't know why you are confusing the OP with this. A normal Chain Law means trucks must chain up. Other vehicles must have adequate tires. Chains for cars is not a normal thing. Yes, some people like them, but they are not required and the vast majority of drivers don't have or use them. As ejisme pointed out many cars do not have the clearance for chains. Chains can cause damage to your car.

Anyway in 45 years of driving I have driven over many mountain passes when Chain Laws are in effect. I have never seen the police telling people to put chains on their cars. Never once. Not that I think it would be a bad idea, but that is just not something that happens.

[Metlakatla]

That isn't how it works.

Conditional closures happen with some regularity in the mountain passes (other than the Coast Range). It means that the road is closed to those who don't have their chains on. Can't make it any clearer than that. Seen it many times myself as someone who has actually lived near one of Oregon's passes. The reason I mentioned it here is that these closures happen frequently in the Siskiyou Pass. Again,

In very bad winter road conditions all vehicles may be required to use chains regardless of the type of vehicle or type of tire being used. This is known as a conditional road closure. A conditional road closure may occur on any of Oregon's highways and are frequent in the winter on Interstate 5 through the Siskiyou Pass south of Ashland.

One of my vehicles is a Subaru and doesn't have the clearance for chains; there are alternative traction devices for these. Under some conditions, the state says you have to carry them even in an AWD.

I don't know why you're confusing the OP with falsehoods.

For the record, neither Oregon or California ever require chains on vehicles under 10,000 pounds GVW. Never, never, never. The most you are ever required to have is traction tires.

https://tripcheck.com/Pages/Chain-Law

As applied to snow zones, a Conditional Closure may be used when the defined chain restrictions are insufficient for the current conditions. For example, a typical Conditional Closure on Interstate 5 through Siskiyou Pass south of Ashland is “Chains required on all vehicles excluding four wheel drive vehicles unless towing.” This means that chains are required on all vehicles except four wheel drive unless the four wheel drive vehicle is towing. The use of traction tires is not sufficient. This is one example, the actual Conditional Closure will vary with road and weather conditions.

The Siskiyou Pass isn't the best place for an introduction to winter driving. The OP should buy some chains and practice putting them on and taking them off and give themself plenty of time for the trip.

[texasdiver]

Those conditional closures are fairly rare I think. At least for most of the other passes in Oregon and I-84 in the Gorge.

More often they just require chains OR traction tires. Which means snow tires with the snowflake emblem on them. If they are actually doing checks (which they usually don't) the cops will check to see if your tires have the snowflake, or visually check that you have a set of chains in the car. They usually won't actually make you put them on, just check that you have them.

So if you don't have this snowflake on your tires then you will need chains in the car and it would be foolish to set out without one or the other



And yes, learn to put them on in a warm dry garage before you have to do it in the dark on a slushy icy side of the highway.

Also pack a blue tarp to lay down in front of the tire so you have someplace clean to kneel while you fuss with the chains, and pack a spare pare of gloves to wear while putting on the chains and taking them off as they will get dirty and grimy. Also a big pair of plyers or channel lock plyers is a good tool to have for getting that last link closed and that last bungie cord stretched across on most sets of chains.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Those conditional closures are very rare I think.

I wonder why ODOT say they're frequent in the Siskiyou Pass. They must be lying for some reason. They didn't seem to be rare when I lived near the Willamette Pass, but it depends on the year.