"This Car DIDN'T Climb Mt. Washington"

I don't know enough about the transmission to comment. However, after having been to the summit of Mt Washington there is no use taking any chances on the way down or going up for that matter.

In talking with the rangers they said that quite a few people after reaching the summit refuse to drive back down. In that case the drivers of the tour vans take turns driving their cars back down for a price, with most occupants on the floor of the back seat so that they don't have to look out at the drop offs.

It is a neat place to visit, either by driving up or taking the cog railroad.

 

Hi Happy...,


Whelp, they do not let Hummer H1's or H2's on that road either, or any pickup trucks with extended cabs, and/or dualie rear ends. Seems like poetic justice!

Here is a link: http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/Page-23.html

Seems like many Prii have done Mt. Washington. Here is another link:

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=2...92;.+Washington

One driver recommended full AC to get additional braking.

 

Ridiculous!

I have driven Pearl on the "Duffy Lake" portion of highway 99 in British Columbia with no problems. It has 18% grades and a total of about 3500 ft of elevation change over 10-15 mi. Just use the "B" mode and it's fine going down. Had no problem going up either. Ditto for a few other mountain passes. For example, highway 3 from Princeton to Hope. Not as steep but two passes to go over.

It's the driver who has the problem, not the car!

 

Let's see if I understand this.

You drive forward up the mountain. Then you have to back up the entire way back down?

No thanks. I'm not disappointed I'm banned.

I'm sure there's some sort of tour when I can pay someone else to take me up and bring me back if I *really* have to see the top of the mountain. Which I don't.

 

but isnt Mt Washington only like 6000ft? DH & I took our Prius up Sandia Peak in NM (10,000ft) & had no problems what-so-ever. maybe Im missing something

 

I've been up it many times - usually via Cog Railway, but have hiked it more than once (both methods are excellent experiences). Great place, a staple of my childhood.

I've gone up in cars a few times and only attempted the drive once. Got about two thirds up and my wife (fiancee at the time) couldn't take it.. she's pretty much fearless but she was actually shaking. Never saw anything like that from her, before or since. You see, there's not much of a buffer between you and the drop, which is huge in some places. There are spots where there's a few feet of road and a sheer drop without anything but some bushes to keep you from falling. Much of it has a side rail of sorts, but not all.

You don't drive down backwards - but you often see cars pulling over to let their brakes cool. Even in low gear it's brutal.

Not sure they should ban cars, but I wouldn't suggest anyone drive up it - the Cog is just so nice.

Highest recorded winds on Earth (around 230MPH), 6200+ feet, the place is amazing and dangerous. Here's a concise list of deaths since 1849 in the area, just to brighten up the thread:

Surviving on Mt Washington

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HappyPig @ Sep 9 2007, 06:07 AM) [snapback]509483[/snapback]</div>

You've got to be kidding. There are several streets in San Francisco that are close to or over 30% grade and tens of thousands of vehicles drive on them every day.

I would have thought that with the steep downgrade, engine braking would be an issue, and maybe Prius drivers weren't putting their cars in "B". Or maybe they were, and the Prius could use some additional dynamic braking like on a diesel-electric locomotive (giant fan-cooled resistors for the motors to dump current into). After all, the battery can only soak up so much energy.

BTW, I can't find any mention of the Prius on the Vehicle Limits page.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Sep 9 2007, 01:19 PM) [snapback]509609[/snapback]</div>

No, that's not it. You drive up and you drive down, forwards, just like any road.

I rode up it on my motorbike a few years ago. I did it on "bike day" when it was a huge traffic jam the whole way up, and I never got out of first gear. I was worried about my clutch. Riding back down was much easier, mostly 2nd or 3rd gear.

It's a scary drive, and not for the timid.

It would certainly be "B" all the way down in a Prius.

Harry

 

Well, this isn't exactly pertinent to the discussion, but it's still such a priceless example of how NOT to do a long grade that I'm going to post it anyway. Enjoy.

This 42 second video is on YouTube.

 

What horse crap. The supposed blog post was made back on Aug 8, and
I cannot find any mention of "prius" or "hybrid" in their present
Page-23. Someone must have smacked them upside the head and pointed
out that the Prius is just as safe as any other car on the downslope.
It's very tempting to call in this week and find out what the real
story is/was; I've been thinking about doing the mountain a couple
of different ways at some point ... been years since I hiked up it,
so it would be kinda fun to conquer it again with both my car and
my legs.
.
_H*

 

I did a little searching at found this via google cache:

• As of 8/1/07 Toyota Hybrid vehicles with CVT transmissions are not allowed - this may be a temporary measure while we evaluate their braking capacity.


The current vehicle limitations page, as hobbit notes, no longer has this limitation. I'd guess a little homework was done....

 

I was able to find This YouTube of the drive down. It's hard to get an idea of the steepness but you definitely get the picture of how gnarly it is up top. Personally I refuse to make my first trip up Mt. Washington in a car. I'm waiting till I bag it in boots first.

 

The B on the Prius has nowhere the deceleration or braking power of L on a regular automatic transmission or first gear on a standard transmission. If the grade is very steep you can only rely on the brakes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Sep 9 2007, 10:41 AM) [snapback]509620[/snapback]</div>

I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly. I drove to the top of Mt. Washington and back down in 1987 in a rented Hertz Ford Tempo. I will never want to subject a car that I own to such a drive. It is quite long, extremely steep at points, very windy and full of gigantic potholes.

 

Hey, we have regular highways that look like that.

I would have thought the Prius would be better on the way down than most cars. I've warped many a front disk descending mountain passes, and I think these electric brakes are wonderful.