Ski car or ski truck?

Peter Minde wrote

Harvey wrote

Peter I lost my phone, and that cool shot of your car coming over the horizon!

This is a drag.  The photo can be repeated, but the inconvenience of losing a phone.  I don't know what I'd do.

We didn't ski today.  The triple was down at Plattekill, and I needed a new phone, we decided, last minute (Exit 20) to call it.  I'm poorer, but got another phone.  That pic was so cool.

Bangin avatar!

Truck.

With these.

“The Falken Wildpeak A/T3W is a completely different animal than the previous model,” Howlett said. “Key changes are an aggressive tread pattern true to the all-terrain category, severe snow rating, deep tread with full-depth sipes and grooves creating consistent performance throughout the life of the tire, and thick aggressive upper sidewall features that offer a rugged design as well as off-road functionality.”

Those tires are awesome! I put them on my truck last winter..

Harvey wrote

Peter Minde wrote

Harvey wrote

Peter I lost my phone, and that cool shot of your car coming over the horizon!

This is a drag.  The photo can be repeated, but the inconvenience of losing a phone.  I don't know what I'd do.

We didn't ski today.  The triple was down at Plattekill, and I needed a new phone, we decided, last minute (Exit 20) to call it.  I'm poorer, but got another phone.  That pic was so cool.

Bangin avatar!

Avatar:  that wasn't staged.  Ran across that in the woods in Rockaway.

JTG4eva! wrote

TheGreatAbyss wrote

No offense JTG, but the Atlas is too high IMHO.  I watched them attempt to put a cargo box on the roof of that thing at a VW dealership and no one could get up there.

My crossbars arrive Tuesday, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Access to the Thule rooftop box on the Atlas is no more/less difficult than with any other SUV I’ve had it on.  

My winter cars in order since 2009 when I started working full time and had the means to own an extra winter car:

'04 Subi WRX Wagon (194k), '01 Subi Outback(150k), '05 Subi Forester (225k), Current one: '09 Subi Forester(195k and counting).

Total cost of all vehicles since '09 $10k.  Minimal repair costs, maybe $3k collectively.

There were some weepy headgaskets, transmission clicking, fluctuating coolant temps...but in the end...I never missed any skiing because of a car failure.  Had a good run.  Trying to not roll the dice as much these days, doing major overhaul of my '09 currently, and should get another 75k out of it for minimal investment.

The headgasket issue is now a thing of the past, as they have finally moved on from the EJ engines to the FB.  I'm sure they have their own quirks, but the headgaskets are a EJ2.5 issue.

JTG4eva! wrote

Access to the Thule rooftop box on the Atlas is no more/less difficult than with any other SUV I’ve had it on.

I'm assuming that means you have to climb on the door-ledge/tire?  

I can get things into the box on my Alltrack without any climbing, but I'm too short to get anything out without stepping on the door ledge.  With my old Escape I had to stand on the tire to do anything.

I've thought about replacing the cross bars that came with the car with a lower profile set to lower the box a couple of inches to make it even easier.

Why not throw a small folding step ladder in the back?

TheGreatAbyss wrote

JTG4eva! wrote

Access to the Thule rooftop box on the Atlas is no more/less difficult than with any other SUV I’ve had it on.

I'm assuming that means you have to climb on the door-ledge?

Yes, I open the door and step on the door ledge.  I had to do that with both the XC-90 and the Wrangler too.  Not a big deal.  Price of admission for having a 7 passenger vehicle.  When/if I can’t step up on the door ledge I might as well hang up the skis!

PeeTex wrote

Why not throw a small folding step ladder in the back?

With 5 adult passengers and ski gear, clothes, and foodstuff...no way there was room to fit a step stool in the car.  The door ledge is a built in step stool, so no need.

Agreed - Last thing I want to deal with is more gear and a step stool in the freezing cold on icy, muddy, uneven ground.  

The E Lot at Gore this weekend was almost an off road course.

Re: Johnnyonthespot,

The Falken Wildpeak A/T is without a doubt a great tire. Not technically a "Snow" tire but most respectable All terrain tires are M+S rated with the three mountain peak label located on it somewhere. That's a designation that originated by Canadian engineers BTW. I run the New Cooper Discoverer A/T3s on my truck which are also M+S rated, and I find that they grip extremely well in snow. I also added a 2" lift to the front, and 1" in the rear to maintain a slight rake in my truck, which makes for a modest upgrade in ground clearance while still keeping the vehicle looking stock(ish) Also helps to support the extra weight of the 500# blade.  All terrain tires do not work well on Ice unfortunately, and that's where studded snows come in but their a PIA on normal roads. Basically the only thing you "need" a studded tire for is for driving on ice.

Best ski Vehicle? This works well for me. If the snow gets too deep, just drop the blade, angle to the shoulder, and keep going. I Haven't had to do that on a ski trip yet, but I'm sure one day I probably will. Just add a nice cap to this thing, and a really good sleeping bag and now you can go anywhere, and still look like a totally normal person.




I find it funny that "Blizzard" and "Fischer" are both Company names that make snow plows, and there are also companies with those names that makes Skis.

I've used to think that my Nissan Xterra with M&S rated all terrain tires would be good to go in snow. Then I moved onto a very steep semi plowed road outside Moravia NY. I put a set of 4 Nokia snow tires on my wife's Solara.  I observed that it had no trouble going up AND DOWN the hill in 4-6 inches of unplowed snow. The Xterra had no trouble going up the hill in 4WD. But going down the hill the X was frigging scary. The road has a curve with a double pitch -- towards a ditch 10 feet deep. Applying the brakes on that curve would result in those ATV M&S tires losing grip and a rather frightening skid. Towards the ditch. This year I have a 4wd Frontier and a set of Nokia snow tires. On all wheels. Similar vehicle, much better in snow.

My conclusion: 4WD will allow you to get going in snow. But you need 4 SNOW tires to make sure you stop when you have to.

Ethan Snow wrote

 
Best ski Vehicle? This works well for me. If the snow gets too deep, just drop the blade, angle to the shoulder, and keep going. I Haven't had to do that on a ski trip yet, but I'm sure one day I probably will.

You leave a 500 lb plow attached to your truck when you go skiing?

How's that thing do with gas mileage?

Snow tires are great if you live in the Daks and are mainly driving to the mountain, but since I live in Jerse and 95% of my driving is not on snow I elected to go with winter tires as I still need to be able to stop on dry pavement when the GSP comes to an immediate halt.  I went with the Falken EuroWinters for my wagon:  https://www.falkentire.com/tires/car-tires/eurowinter-hs449-tire

Not sure what a good winter tire feels like but they are fine on the highway and get me to the mountain when there is a couple of inches of snow on the roads.

Dougski wrote

I've used to think that my Nissan Xterra with M&S rated all terrain tires would be good to go in snow. Then I moved onto a very steep semi plowed road outside Moravia NY. I put a set of 4 Nokia snow tires on my wife's Solara.  I observed that it had no trouble going up AND DOWN the hill in 4-6 inches of unplowed snow. The Xterra had no trouble going up the hill in 4WD. But going down the hill the X was frigging scary. The road has a curve with a double pitch -- towards a ditch 10 feet deep. Applying the brakes on that curve would result in those ATV M&S tires losing grip and a rather frightening skid. Towards the ditch. This year I have a 4wd Frontier and a set of Nokia snow tires. On all wheels. Similar vehicle, much better in snow.

My conclusion: 4WD will allow you to get going in snow. But you need 4 SNOW tires to make sure you stop when you have to.

Nokians are the best.  Been on them over 20 years.  Prolly wouldn't have gotten to North Creek without them last weekend.

My buddy with a shop is putting Kumho Crugens on my XC-90.

My truck is the shit. 'Nuff said.

Those Falkens are great modern tires.  While designed for snow,  they can be good on bare roads. They have the small zigzagged sipping, which is always on modern snow tires (and not on most M&S rated AT tires and  hardly ever on all season tires).  All season tires are really 3 season tires which can give some traction on dry fluffy snow and/or hard packed snow covered roads. They are not so good on wet hard pack and are useless on ice. The Falkens are not the best for very cold snow traction because the rubber is a little harder. But they are also quieter and get better gas mileage than my Nokias!

Wow thanks for verifying my purchase!  You know more about my tires then I do!  I just bought them based on Consumer Reports ratings with very little thought or insight.