There has not been a year like 82/83 since.  Well over 6' fell in less than 11 hours on Donner Summit.
Couple of pictures, the aftermaths of Sierra Storms --  
The photo of the "Modified" was a nice sunny day, cleaning up -  Carrier was FWD Chassis with 6v53 Detroit and 3 speed auto, high/low transmission - Blower powered with 12v71 Detroit through a torque-converter.  "DEAFENING" combinations. 
The second photo -- US 40 E of Kingvale --- note the pickup in front of the loader -- multitudes of lodgepole pine down in the roadway, blower was a Sno-go with IH powering the FWD chassis and Climax K powering the rotary, both gasoline engines.  Climax ran at 1100 RPM without load, double disc dry clutch.

 

a number of years ago i drove thru Donner Pass in a heavy snowstorm--it as a zoo with all the trucks and cars that had slid out--many into the guide rails

That rig with the twin Detroits must have had locktite on every bolt! lol

CTS some of us cannot imagine what it was like working at Kingvale/Truckee in that white stuff. Myself, I was more of an I-5 person running thru Dunsmuir/Mt. Shasta and Hebron keeping the chip potatoes going for Frito-Lay and others. Hanging "iron" was not what I had signed up for, but to earn income it was necessary. Ahhh, the memories. I can laugh about having to chain up 5x one day...it was not so humorous at the time. JM

can you imagine the noise from those gm diesels. for best performance you got keep around 1800 to 1900 revs for peak torque. nothing turns fuel into noise quiet like a 2 stroke with a rootes blower.

Noise -- you can only imagine the smoke in our 'barn" when firing up 13 graders with 4-71's and 13 rotary plows --- only two of those thirteen rotaries were powered with other than Detroits! The hearing losses we all suffered from those 12 plus hour days in those machines haunts us forever!

Donner remains and will always be an area demanding respect and preparedness - "MOTHER NATURE" has the upper hand, and no amount of human effort will deter her wrath.
"Sierra Cement" is much different than snows of the colder climates - those massive pileups and traffic jams are caused by in-attention, in-experience and expecting to travel during all conditions --

There is a huge history of the "summit" and the perils of winter - Nearly forgotten now - but the reality is - IT CAN HAPPEN TODAY!
If interested - look up some information on the "city of San Francisco" - the train that was "stuck" at Emigrant Gap, Disney made a movie - A Storm Called Marriah" about the 1952 storms. At that time there was no freeway -- US 40 was closed for 28 Days - SR 20 closed for 35 days!

Juiceman -- hanging iron - ha ha - I think we both understand that only too well - it was not just hanging the iron it was repairing it and keeping extras on the equipment too!
Those "lost" chains sure raise heck with rotary plows - good thing they were and are equipped with shear flanges and shear bolts. Acetylene Torch often required to cut those from the blower reels, and fans!

Stay safe!

On the bright side, there were no reports of cannibalism on the Donner Pass in 1082-83.

AMEN.....never has there been a more efficient noise maker mass produced than the Jimmy Diesel 2-stroker.....maybe kids with drums but doubtful

-also very prolific at leaking...at least they're tough and reliable and maybe not as hard on fuel as possible...
-i still advise to run, run, run Forrest ! !

Latest news update on the cities of Detroit, they are still alive! The Plumas Co. Road Dept in Quincv Ca. is still using these Cal Trans hand me down relics including the antique gas powered Climaxs. Hard to emigine their fuel cost with two 2" zenith carbs feeding the monsters plus truck engine.

Kinda funny but my wife and I went from west MN to Vegas this past Feb to see our son who lives there. We drove down. On the way we detoured off of I80 at Cheyanne Wy because 80+ MPH winds had closed the interstate. We found a 2 lane highway with a flashing sign that read, NO THROUGH TRAFFIC, and used that to get into Larimore. Wife wanted to see that big darned hole in the ground on the way back. So we went to the Grand Canyon and saw that I was right. It was a spectacular spectacularly large hole in the ground. Then being a modern man I allowed the GPS to guide us back home dipping south of Denver hoping to miss significant weather. Should of known better.....darned GPS took us through Wolf Creek Pass...in a blizzard! We got through the pass and stopped for gas in Pegosa Springs and while we were there they closed the pass! Going through the pass there were cars and trucks spun out all over the place and even one of the tandem plow trucks stuck pretty good. Them mountain passes are nothing to play with.

Rick