Killer Hills !
 

Killer Hills
By Andy Haraldson


Loveland? Vail? Monteagle? Western slopes rank as the most challenging, especially in snow.

Where are the toughest hills? Mostly in the West, where engineers have paved grades of 8 percent and higher. While truckers differ in their choice of the most challenging inclines, they agree that weather, equipment and experience can make a big difference in how you handle any hill.

“Most of your worst grades in terms of putting strain on the equipment or working on the driver’s nerves are off the interstate system,” says owner-operator Robert Dubonnette of Lemoore, Calif. “Especially in the winter, not because they’re tough, but because they’re less traveled, don’t have runaway ramps, and aren’t as plowed and salted as the interstates.”

Take Colorado’s Loveland Pass, the 12,000-foot U.S. 6 hazmat bypass around Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. U.S. Xpress driver Michelle Wolverton of Oklahoma City recalls her first trip over the narrow, two-lane pass. “Everything was fine until I got above the tree line and looked down over a sheer drop-off. I swear, it looked like it was 50 bazillion feet straight down,” Wolverton says. “That’s when I noticed the edge of the road getting crumbly. I think I screamed out loud right then.”

Loveland is second on Michael Millard’s list of worst hills. “I did Loveland Pass for Klein tankers, taking fuel from Denver to Dillon, Colo.,” Millard says. “I also pulled hazmat loads from Los Angeles to Denver with placards that required the detour over Loveland.” For Millard, now a safety specialist with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration near Chicago, the worst hill is another in Colorado: 11,000-foot Red Mountain Pass on U.S. 550 between Silverton and Ouray. “Monarch and Wolf Creek are long and tedious,” Millard says. “However, Loveland and Red Mountain are bigger hills.”

Monarch, the 11,312-foot pass where U.S. 50 crosses the Continental Divide in Colorado, is “a pretty grueling ride, even in good weather, especially going west,” Dubonnette says. He says Monarch’s west side has a 7 percent grade for 9 miles with two hairpins at the end. “It’s challenging in the winter,” says Dubonnette, who pulls a tanker for Quality Carriers with his 1997 Freightliner Classic.

One of the most infamous hills is Wolf Creek Pass, at 10,850 feet, where U.S. 160 crosses the Continental Divide through southern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. “I remember old Wolf Creek Pass, before it became an eight-lane highway,” says Flying J company driver Dan Galligan of Pomona, Calif. “Back in the late ’60s it was two very narrow lanes of tight curves — not quite switchbacks, but tight nonetheless.” Other hills demand your close attention, he says, “but none compares to the old Wolf Creek Pass.”

Not all the toughest hills are in the West. “I’ve been on two-lanes in the Appalachians where you’d swear you were looking at your own trailer lights when you rounded a curve,” says owner-operator David Hein of Good Thunder, Minn.

“I’ve heard Fancy Gap is a good hill,” says Dubonnette, referring to a 7-mile, 7 percent grade on I-77 in Virginia just past the North Carolina state line. Uphill, Fancy Gap is a strain. Downhill it’s long, steep and curvy, and the North Carolina scales are at the bottom.

Two other infamous eastern hills are Black Mountain, a long grade of 4 percent to 5 percent on I-40 in North Carolina, and Tennessee’s Monteagle, which is 6 percent for 3 miles eastbound on I-24. Both hills have brake-check stops and decreased speed limits for big trucks.

Interstate hills will strain a max-loaded truck, says owner-operator Ramona Nelms of Cullman, Ala. “I’ve climbed all of them fully loaded, and on each one I get down to 25 mph or less,” Nelms says. Her list of tough climbs includes Soldier’s Summit on U.S. 6 east of Provo, Utah, and Tehachapi Pass on California 58 east of Bakersfield.

Nelms takes her Kenworth T600 up Tehachapi every week. “You wear yourself out changing gears,” she says, and California’s 55 mph truck speed limit doesn’t help. “You start out slow at the bottom, and you’re going to be at 25 miles an hour by the time you get to the top. That’s extremely rough on an engine.”

Her list includes Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, about 50 miles east of Seattle; Cabbage on I-84 in Oregon, east of Pendleton; and Oregon’s North, Middle and South Sisters west of Bend, each higher than 10,000 feet.

Nelms says she almost regretted one shortcut across Highway 242, about 5 miles from North Sister. “If you make a mistake on these, you’re going over, and there’s nothing but a big drop-off.”

Wyoming has its own set of widely respected Sisters, though they don’t compare to Oregon’s. “It’s three grades, one right after the other, on I-80, east of Evanston and west of Fort Bridger,” Galligan says. “They’ll tax a motor, and if you run flatlander gears, you’ll hate those hills, but they aren’t that bad.”

Sherman Hill is farther east on I-80, between Laramie and Cheyenne. Parley’s Summit is farther west, in Utah, before the I-80/I-84 split.

“I personally hate Vail Pass,” says C.J. Norris, a former Dick Simon Trucking company driver who’s now a student in Bradenton, Fla. “But any mountain can be scary if, for one reason or another, the driver loses control, whether it’s mechanical failure, driver error or Mother Nature playing with humans.”

Even with good equipment, weather can turn a tough hill into a nightmare. Owner-operator Hein refuses to run his 1995 Pete 379 in “the mountains at night during inclement weather,” he says. “During the day, I’ll only run them if the roads aren’t too slick.”

Weather, more than grade, produced the scariest hill experience for owner-operator Brian Alden of Harley, Ontario. He recalls descending Montreal River Hill on Ontario’s Trans-Canada Highway 17 between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay. He was driving his 1980 Freightliner cabover down a 6 percent hill in heavy, wet snow, hauling a 100,000-pound load of uranium, when he discovered his trailer brakes had frozen.

“The tachometer and speedometer needles were both buried at the top end as I flashed by another truck,” says Alden, who has 27 years’ experience. “The driver asked over the CB if I’d gone nuts. I said my brakes were gone. He radioed ahead there was a runaway and for everybody else to clear the highway. I was scared half to death: cold sweats and the works. On one side was Lake Superior; on the other was rock face. I decided I’d have to take the truck into the rock face to stop it, which was better than taking that uranium into the lake.”

The four-lane road had only mild curves and no divider, giving Alden room to maneuver.
“Using the whole road, I eased way wide for the curves and, like a race car, took the straightest possible line through them, drifting out very wide again on the way out of the curves,” he recalls.

“It worked out OK, but it still gives me the shivers.”



TIPS FOR TACKLING THOSE TOUGH HILLS
BEFORE YOU DRIVE

* Do a thorough pre-trip inspection, and complete safety-related repairs before rolling. Are the trailer brakes frozen? Will the moisture in the brake lines freeze at higher altitudes? Do the brakes or steering pull? Do the cooling fan thermostat and the windshield defroster work? Are the wipers good?
* Know your route in detail, down to the road surface.
* Know the weather where you are and where you’re going at the time you’ll be there.
* Know your load’s weight and stability.
* Know your truck’s capabilities in relation to your load and the hill. At what rpm does your engine produce peak torque?
* Know how to chain up. How-to manuals make it seem easy, but practice if you’ve never done it.



CLIMBING

* Downshift as needed to keep engine speed at peak torque output.
* Communicate with CB and lights. Use four-way flashers under 40 mph unless otherwise posted.
* Be courteous to other drivers climbing faster with lighter loads.
* Frequently note coolant, oil and transmission temperatures. Ease up, if necessary, to avoid overheating.
* Keep moving. Starting from a dead stop on an upgrade is dangerous and strains equipment.



DESCENDING

* Plan your descent according to your truck’s limitations and capabilities.
* Communicate with CB and lights. Use four-way flashers under 40 mph unless otherwise posted.
* Adjust brakes before starting down. Don’t trust auto-adjusters.
* Never come down a steep grade in high gear. Downshift before starting down.
* Use the transmission and engine brake as much as possible to maintain a safe speed.
* Stop at the first sign of smoking brakes and be ready to grab your fire extinguisher. Very hot brakes could burst into flames upon stopping.
* Notice the weather, traffic and terrain. Have an emergency plan.
* Maintain extremely long stopping distances in traffic.
* Long slopes are deceptive. Make sure you really are at the bottom before grabbing higher gears.





DOING MURPHY’S PASS WITHOUT AIR BRAKES
February 2000: my first day at a new job. I discovered an air leak before leaving the terminal and told mechanics and the dispatcher about it. They were not concerned. Not wanting to cause a fuss so soon, I took the truck out — and soon learned a vivid lesson.

It was a cool, sunny evening. I was at 78,000-plus in an International cabover without Jakes, hauling 7-foot roll stock. East of Buena Vista, Va., on U.S. 60, I came to Murphy’s Pass, with 8 percent grades for 8 miles, 15 mph hairpin curves and jagged rock or drop-offs hugging the white lines.

I chose sixth gear, crept around hairpins, worked the brakes and forgot the air gauges. Two-thirds of the way down the hill the dash buttons popped. The truck was a runaway.

There was a shoulder at that point, so I rode it, smacking branches and bouncing around, but the truck still went faster. Another hairpin, especially with oncoming traffic, meant ditching into the woods and 22 tons of roll stock breaking loose.

But the hairpins were all behind by then, and there was no traffic. I bumped and wrestled the truck around a few wider curves and rolled to a stop in downtown Buena Vista, brakes smoking heavily.

Worried about fire, I raced the engine, got the air back up and rolled slowly off. The lone traffic light before the I-81 get-on ramp mercifully stayed green. I rolled up the ramp and kept on trucking.

Mechanics and dispatchers do not deal hands-on with runaway trucks or with the possibilities of killing others and being killed. These are realities for drivers, who cannot afford to shirk responsibility for their truck’s mechanical condition.



ARE CANADIAN HILLS THE TOUGHEST?
Owner-operator David Sanborn of British Columbia says his truck is made for pulling hills. And well it should be. “Winter trucking in British Columbia is not for the faint of heart,” he says. “Eight percent is what I’d call a standard grade.”

P.K. Kwatashin of Lyle, Wash., once used prayer and coffee to haul transformers up a 15 percent grade on a mining road near Kitimat, British Columbia.

“I got halfway up and broke traction,” Kwatashin says. “There I sat, past active logging areas and 70 miles from the mine site. I sat and prayed, ‘Lord, no human power will get me up this hill. It’s up to you.’ I put the transmission in low-low and slowly let the clutch out and eased up the hill. Sat back and poured a cup of coffee and enjoyed my 30-minute ride to the top.”

Sanborn drives a 2000 Sterling with a 500-hp Cat 3406E, 1850 pounds-feet of torque, an 18 double-over transmission and 4.11 rears.

Sanborn says the steepest grade he’s ever heard of is on Highway 20 going into Bella Coola, British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast. “It’s 4 miles and 21 percent,” he says. Sanborn says drivers hauling “super B trains” — a standard tractor with a 32-foot, three-axle lead and a 28-foot, two-axle pup that Canada law maxes at 140,000 pounds — drop the pup atop the hill, deliver the lead, then go back for the pup.

Sanborn says Canadian law requires snow tires during winter, and officials are hardly overzealous about posting notices about chains or grades. “There’s 6 or 8 inches of snow, and they won’t have the chain light on,” Sanborn says of Rogers Pass, a two-lane road not to be confused with Rogers Pass in Montana. He says Canada’s Rogers Pass, just east of Revelstoke, British Columbia, on Trans-Canada Highway 1, is 8 percent for 2 miles on the west and 6 percent to 8 percent for 5 miles on the east.

“They won’t even post a grade unless it’s 5 percent,” Sanborn says. He says one hill, on Highway 93 near Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, is posted at 11 percent on both sides.

Killer Hills??

The last 250 feet before my driveway. :shock: :shock: :shock:

Unreal how high those passes are in Colorado are :shock:

They would be snow covered year round in B.C.

I found this, it's Rocky's hill.... :lol:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../RoadSign3.jpg

Colt...would you mind resizing your image?
You hyper-extended my thread page.
Since this is a large text file...no one will want to read it now.

Could you explain why? I ask because I've started from stop on a fairly steep up-hill, and I just took it very slowly, and it went alright. Do you mean it's dangerous to the engine, or just generally risky?
:?:

He is talking about "heavy loads" 80,000 lbs. is considered a very light load among experienced drivers.

Heavy loads can't be "lifted" very easily on anything but flat dry ground.

I have 4.33 rears, and the previous driver blew them both out....

Sorry about the large pic.

Sorry man,

I lost my resize software, Any sugestions... I hate to download a whole software program from my camera software just for a resize program in vista...

I work too much to fight with it.. :wink:

It can dangerous and hard on the equipment.
You have to be careful you don't slip your clutch.
It is very dangerous merging back into your lane on steep grades.

Especially in fog/rain/snow, any low visibility.
People can misjudge how slow you are going.

More on that clutch and driveline.
If you hit some ice and spin, then find a dry spot...
you may cause some damage to the equipment.

When heavily loaded, especially when on any upgrade,
you should start in the No. 1 position on a 9-, 13- or 18-speed,
or the No. 2 position on a 10- or 15-speed.
An 18-speed’s splitter should be in the lower position, too.


Your engine will easily do the job if revved up above idle
speed because the torque more than doubles from 600 to, say,
1000-1,100 rpm.

huh?

Take a look at the G.V.W. stickers on Canadian trucks....

36,0000 kg. is 80,000 lbs.

When I grab a tridem trailer legal for 102,500 lbs. The other drivers call it a "baby" trailer :lol:

80,000 lbs. is a light load... My unit weighs 55,000 lbs. M/T :lol:

Trucks are tough

Indeed.
The engines tend to have high horsepower, and the trans and
differentials are geared to manage all that weight.

Most highway Tractors are smaller engines and set up geared to go...
faster speeds, and better fuel economy. When Tractors like this
engage a steep grade, they can look out of wind and grunting
like a pig to make it to the summit.

Some of those Rigs getting in your way... are probably highway Rigs,
if their nuts are sucked up tight, and the headlights are bulging.
They will fart like a mule...but they will still make it.

Your right Hog, different trucks.

Our yard truck for the mechanics has a M11, nobody else would drive it :lol:

Teal green 378 with a bunk, lots of chrome....

Do you have the same length restrictions as US Tractor/Trailers coming into Canada?

I think in BC we are limited to 244" on the Tractor, but we can permit to run longer.
Not sure about other Provinces.

Weight limits for us is usually not a problem, as your limits are higher than ours.
No problem with tandems or sliding spreads, but fixed spreads might be trouble. I'd check first.

One reason I don't sleep most nights is due to my husband dedicated route that takes him basicaly down all of these passes twice to three time a week with a freakin student.

Sometimes I go to bed holding my breath. This last week when WY was shut down for two days, Babe is in Aurora and so backed it up and went the US 40 Berthound, Real white knuckles.. But he made it safe and sound.

I forgot to mention he runs light loads so that sucks even more, 3000lbs might as well be flying a kite behind him.

Re: Killer Hills !
 

Great post Roadhog. I like reading about stuff like that.


I think Fancy Gap, Black Mountain and Monteagle are cake compared to Sandstone. East Bound I-64 in WV is my pick for toughest hill in the East. I'm not very religious but I have had many conversations with God while driving worn out Roadway equipment down Sandstone. :lol:

Sandstone is one of the scariest hills to come down if you have never been on 64 East. It is easy to get suckered into rolling down the other side in way too high a gear. If you make the first 2 curves you have a runaway ramp on your right that is straight as an arrow to hit. If you miss that one, your screwed because you ain't making the right hand turn at the bottom where another ramp is. Your more likely to flip over than make that curve or turn into the ramp. I see trucks smoking the brakes all the time coming down that hill only because when heading eastbound, you do not climb up Sandstone. When you hit Beckley, WV, your already on top of the mountain plateau. Signs are there for the mandatory brake check, but you always get a cowboy or two that rolls out of the check like a hot rod. Surprised nothing major has really happened there with how easy it is to get into the wrong gear and get going too fast, especially with rookies.

Who you talking to Hog?

I had to go, but you did an excellent impersonation. That's what I would have said. :lol:

Colt, I know you too well. :P

I have my own Killer Hill ! right here at home. I'm sure many of us have a few of these. It is a 2 lane Principal Road, but it it is a bugger both ascending, and descending. Lots of accidents on or near this monster when it's icy.

I run frozen fruit from a Processor here, to a local Freezer Storage. I have this hill to climb loaded heavy. After you load, you have to remember to slide your tandems all the way forward, or you won't make the corner at the bottom of this hill. Right away you are grunting up hill after the turn in 1st gear. She goes from about 4% up to 10%. You do have a chance to gain a few more gears. It's about 3 miles long, so it's not a major grade, but you still have to respect it just the same.

At the bottom, straight through the intersection is Lake Michigan. Someone always finds it necessary to see if they can reach the water.

More than once, I've had to chain to get out of my flat parking spot... :evil: That sucks!

And in the bush.... I could tell stories :shock:

20 yrds. of 20% in the wrong place when weighing 140,000 lbs. is enough to get you in trouble... Grrr...

I've chained up for a 1 min hill climb.... Honestly

I sometimes will load at an oil rig, and I have to chain to get up their driveway, then I can make it without... Thats why I chain up so fast.

Just yesterday a guy was pulling a small cat on a trailer (a 1 ton truck) on a bush road, spun-out and slid backwards into the ditch, unloaded the cat, pulled it up the hill, reloaded it, and did it again on the next hill....

He must have been mad as the next hill was right there, 1/4 mile at most.

A word about the Sandstone grade. That section of I 64 from Beckley to Sam Black Church didn't open for traffic untill about 1990 or so. The first week it was open they had a record number of runaways. When you came off I77 onto I64 there wasn't much of an uphill pull and guys would think its not gonna be much of a hill. When you broke the top of the grade there was a flashing light and sign that said truck speed 45mph. Guys thought at 45 it can't be that bad of a hill. Then once you started down the grade you seen the sign that said 7% grade next 5 miles. If you are close to 80.000 lbs thats way to fast for that length and grade. Those escape ramps got a lot of use the first two weeks and there were quite a few wrecks where guys tried to ride it out. Its a steady 7% all the way with no leveling out and a right hand curve at the bottom. I took a wild ride off of it the second day it was open. Luckily the tractor and trailer had new brakes and I was able to keep it under 80 and ride it out. Next trip across it was a 25 mph hill for me. Fancy Gap, Black Mountain and Monteagle were a piece of cake after that.

Those 6 and 7% grades don't sound so bad. Get off the interstate anyplace in PA and start on some 12 to 14% grades and see what steep is all about! I'll admit, really steep for a mile isn't the same as kinda steep for 20 miles, but they both give me the willies. My truck has a piece of crap engine brake, and I tell my dispatcher I won't take those long grades with this truck. I just don't feel safe.

US322 East of State College, PA is PITA going up. It doesn't look like much, but it's a fairly long (for the east) pull. Going down is a piece of cake.

I-64 is a blast.

I40 through the Smokies is just a long PITA.

Any of the few East/West roads through VT and NH are a long PITA.

Haven't trucked out West. But I trust the worst is Snoqualmie and Donner is no joy ride.

Fifteen years ago my wife and I were on a "no particular destination" vacation in Colorado/New Mexico. One road in particular had my nutz in my throat. It was going to or from Aspen. It was either route 82, 24, or 91. Just a bitty 2-laner stuck on the side of the mountains with sheer drop offs. Seems like Silverton had something funny going in or out.

Must suck to be a driver supplying the ski resorts - mountains and snow. Yahoo!

77 can be tough with a max load of paper
the stop at beckley is good

Re: Killer Hills !
 

o-O wow I remember Sandstone. If you were running for Roadway the winter of 2000 I was probably one of the K&K Trucking Co., pulling mail that passed ya each morning. Yeah that could be a tough long hill alright.

102,500lbs? Or 46.25 tonnes? Few years ago I would,nt have got out of bed to move that. Wouldn,t have paid enough you see, paid on the tonnage then I was.

I know Sandstone all too well, I was up and down that all this past summer, I went down Black mountain once or twice I don't remember. I tell ya what run 501 from Lynchburg to I-81 and you'll have a blast, it's mostly mountains with alot of hairpin curves too.