Thread: Snowboarding in colorado

Got my reservation for the cabin this year. Going to monarch, anyone ever been in that area? Any places I have to check out?

Also a real concern I'm from Dallas and truth be told don't know sht about driving in real snow. the lady at that I talked to who rented me the cabin strongly recommended a 4x4 vehicle or something with snow chains. There's like 8 of us so we were thinking about renting a big 12 passenger van so we could have room to move around. I'm worried that wont do the job though. if we get snow chains would that be alright for Colorado snowy roads?

Ideally you want a heavy vehicle with a low center of gravity. There is no question you want 4-wheel drive, that is a must. A Subaru SUV like the forester or outback would be my suggestion, but that isn't big enough for 8. The best vehicle I've ever driven through winter conditions was my Jeep Wrangler, but that has very little passenger space.

I haven't driven in Colorado, but I have driven through 6 New England winters.

A couple of tips on driving through snow/ice I've learned through the years.

Keep a steady pace in a very low gear, brake as little as possible and when you do brake, do it very softly. If you start sliding, just go with it, the more you try to turn out of it, the more you will spin. Always keep a constant speed and avoid accelerating/decelerating.

That is more for treacherous back roads, but can also apply to main roads.

Never jack the pedal if you are stuck in snow. If you do, you will probably just dig yourself deeper and make the surface you are on slicker. Just put the vehicle in the lowest gear possible and see if it can get out without any gas at all.

Another fun technique is getting your passengers to rock the car back and forth while the car is in neutral (atleast one in front and one in back, naturally on in the car.) Once the rocking is strong enough, put the car in gear and try to get out.