We’ll pass, unless there’s a snowmobile option. Imagine ice and snow, on a 20 percent downhill hairpin, with no guardrails, no cell service, and the nearest hospital is a couple of hours away. Even if you were able to drive these passes in the winter, you would probably not succeed. Ebbetts Pass and Sonora Pass both have grades that exceed 20 percent. The standard for US Interstate Highways says that the maximum grade should not exceed six percent, or seven percent if the speed limit is less than 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour. A few haven’t changed much, other than being paved, because the tough terrain didn’t allow it. Several have been improved and re-routed multiple times to accommodate modern vehicles and travel patterns. Most of today’s mountain pass highways started out as primitive routes for wagon trains during the Gold Rush that started in 1849. The Sierra Nevada range is high and rugged. Read on to learn about road closures in the Sierra Nevada. We really hope the first time you learn about our winter Sierra mountain pass road closures isn’t on your vacation of a lifetime when you had planned to drive your rental car through Yosemite National Park in April. Sierra road conditions can change suddenly. The time from the winter solstice until the spring equinox. If you are from another part of the country-or the world-you might assume that “winter” means winter on the calendar. The first time you look at a California road map you might be quite surprised to see “winter closure” on several of the Sierra Nevada mountain pass roads. Estimated reading time: 6 minutes When is Winter?
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