tips for towing in snow

[AnnKeith]

Hi could anyone give me tips for towing in the snow please? we should have gone to west ayton cc site today but with snow decided not to make the trip as A64 didn't look good; i rang the site they said there was a lot of black ice coming along the A170.
So could anyone give me any tips as i've never towed in these conditions; as we would really like to get away this week before mad rush starts at work.
Thanks Ann

 

[Damian]

The safest answer in this kind of weather is DON'T. The Police and all the Emergency Services have said quite clearly, IF You Do NOT HAVE to make a journey,,,,,,dont.
Whatever "tips" that may be forthcoming, NONE will stop you having an accident if it is going to happen, and more likely it will be someone else that starts your crash off by their actions.

 

[joeby]

the best advice for towing in Britain is to stay at home , we had over 500 miles of towing through snow in France last December it was a nightmare , but at least the French keep the motorway moving , while britain came to a standstill , the front of the van had snow 4 inches thick chucked up by the car wheels ,the hitch was full of snow and the wheel arches were caked full and the roof was covered god knows what the van weighed , the wipers were getting clogged in ice even with the heating going full blast on the screen ,so at every service area we got a broom out and cleared as much as could off ,and banged the wipers against the screen to clear the ice , we were going to pull off and find a site ,but i am glad we didnt , because we spoke to caravanners who came in a week after us who did pull off , and they said once they got off the motorway they got stuck because the side roads had been cleared , but as we came near to Montpellier the snow cleared , but even approaching Barcelona at 8,am we had temperatures of minus 8 F , but at the moment i am in sunshine in Australia , and what a lovely lifestyle it is here , but if you do go in the snow take water with you for hot drinks , and make sure you have plenty of propane gas , also a shovel and broom ,warm clothing , keep the car in 4 wheel drive if you have it ,anti freeze screen cleaner , we were lucky we had a small ladder in the van ,because we awoke one morning in the services and a lorry had parked so close we couldnt open the caravan door ,so i had to lower the ladder out of the window and climbe out and then pull forward to let my wife out , ,any wat thats our experience of it

 

[Collin]

Anne, take Damian's advice - don't even think about it...!!

 

[Lutz]

If towing in snow is unavoidable (lots of Continentals take their caravans for winter sports in alpine regions, so towing in snow is possible) then at least be well prepared and take things easy. Winter tyres are a 'must' on the towcar and preferably on the caravan, too. Take chains as well to be on safe side, a shovel, plenty of blanket for everyone in the car in case the going gets tough and thermos flasks with hot drinks. And remember, take things easy, don't even attempt to drive at speeds normally permitted. If necessary, move over to let traffic pass if you think you are holding traffic behind you up, rather than driving any faster. Also, avoid sudden movements of the steering wheel, even more so than when driving solo. A front wheel drive car will probably also be out of its depth if there are any hills to negotiate.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I would endorse the don't do it as age and prudence take over

When I worked in Berlin in the 60s I learnt the hard way about towing in the snow
I was asked to collect a caravan from Hamlin by a friend
We set off down the 110 mile "corridor" through East Germany and the autobahn was covered with deep snow but then people didn't let that stop them as snow was present several months of the year
The British Government didn't recognise East Germany so we were as military employees forbidden to stop on that autobahn or have contact with East German authorities
We did break the rule and stopped to inform a traffic policeman that a car had gone off the road
It appeared in my rear view mirror but not the offside one rather the nearside one as an overtaking manoever resulted in it going off the road backwards
We stopped and tried to fit snow chains but the car slid on the ice and in our ineptitude came off the VW jack and this was before we collected the caravan
We did get back to Berlin safely if not a little stressed
Poor old Brian who I took to collect his van was a nervous wreck
Its not surprising as his previous autobahn trip had resulted in him upside down hanging from the seat belt after a rear end collision
It really was the cold war that day in more ways than one
Its hard to believe that Berlin was isolated and how diplomatic relations were or how much paperwork and security was involved to go out of the city
But enough digression
Avoid towing in the snow if you can
Its snowing now!!

 

[Steve L]

Well the obvious thing for all to say while sat round their cosy wood fire, is to say don't do it.

But if you have to and the roads are open then there might be a case to go out.

We had no choice on 7th Jan but to move our caravan 15 miles to our winter site, as our current site closes 7th Jan every year. We had to contend with 7 inches or 18cm of snow, but as the main roads were all open with no major issues we pressed ahead.

Once we'd got the caravan towed off the pitch by tractor after spending 3 hours in the snow taking down the awning and packing it all away, we then carefully drove down the nu-cleared site road and out onto a country lane that had been ploughed. by taking it steady and being prepared for all the people who haven't ever driven in snow crawling everywhere at 10Mph we got to our site in 4 times the normal journey time.

Then we had to shovel snow off our new pitch 7 inches deep and 20ft x 20ft plus 10ft x 20ft for the caravan & awning and car to sit upon. We then spent 3 Hrs errecting the awning and siting the van.

So if by now I haven't put you off, then have a go but be carefull and be prepared for the worst case.
Load your car with:-
Shovel,tow rope, hand winch, wind up torch, high viz winter coat, wellies, thermal hat, gloves, a couple of blankets, de icer, ice scrapers,at least 1 fully charged mobile phone, a flsk of hot coffe & basic energie foods (mars bars etc). Make a plan of your route and leave that with a friend just in case the trip goes pear shaped. Have an ETA and an ICE ( incase of emergencey) plan.

Make sure the tyres on the car have plenty of tread depth, make sure the anti-freeze is strong enough (50% is best).

What I do is to prepare for the worst case senario of getting stuck miles from any help and having to rescue yourself. Then if nothing happens you feel just a little bit more confident. But don't loose sight of your abilities to cope without help. to be quite honest what I did in January was at the top end of what I've coped with in the past and had I of had the alternative to stay another night or two I would of.

I have 33 years of driving everything from a Morris Minor complete with starting handle, to driving HGV class 1 Lorries, and I drive an average 40K miles per year, of which 50% involves trailers of one description or another and as I already said last January was enough for me.

 

[Surfer]

Advice is don't. We got caught out once and left the caravan on site rather than risk towing. Besides more than likely in the event of an incident your caravan insurance may decline to pay for any damages etc as you were warned. IMHO I think the OP is a wind up as no one can be that daft!

 

[WatsonJohnG]

One reason I don't go on winter rallies is the uncertainty of the UK weather when getting to a port
My friend got caught out last year and had to drive 250 miles to the port in snowy conditions luckily he made it
Personally I wouldn't with a disabled wife want to be in position of leaving the outfit even in good weather but the prospect of wheelchairs in the snow doesn't bear thinking about

Standard 8 and A35 van with starting handles
Quicker than the emergency services if the battery goes flat !!
Thumb to the right !!

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I consider myself as a fairly experienced driver having driven emergency vehicles in all weathers for 30 years but I wouldn't even entertain the idea of towing in snow unless it was a matter of life or death. It's just not worth it and it's no good being sorry and regretting it after the event. As has been pointed out, the police are telling people only to travel if it's neccessary and to my mind going off in the van isn't classed as neccessary.

 

[LMH]

Don't even attempt it. Towing a caravan in these conditions is just asking for trouble.

We tried to get home yesterday (solo, no caravan) and had to turn back. The bypasses were closed. We couldn't have even got up the hills, the roads were that bad. We're not even attempting to get home today.
Lisa

 

[OmOnWeelz]

Stay at home. Most two wheel drive cars can stuggle with a build up of snow under the wheels and you'll not be going very far trying to pull a caravan. With 4X4 you have a better chance but you still can't drive through other cars that skid and block the road, We had a similar trip to Joeby coming back from Spain last year. Nice big capable 4x4 that broke down in the ice and snow, waited three days for it to be fixed due to the weather. So that's another problem a lot of cars fail in bad weather and with the worst timing

 

[AdifferentJim]

My caravan is to be collected following repairs at a fairly local (12 miles) workshop. I was due to collect it Saturday morning after it had snowed for most of Friday from noon. I phoned to tell them it'll have to wait 'till next Saturday, weather permitting.

The guy on the other end seemed suprised that I wasn't going to pick it up. Probably hoping for some more repairs as a result.

 

[Steve L]

There are two significant reasons why in this country the slightest drop of snow causes total gidlock.

1/ All the transport infrastructure sectors are too bussy fire fighting day to day problems and paying top executives ridiculas salaries to actually plan for success and execute the plan. They then call in consultants on super inflated wages to tell them it's snowing!!

2/ We the public don't think ahead and plan for survival ourselves.

I can recall my sister-in-law who lives on the top of the clee hills ringing us 16 miles away in Leominster to say she had a foot of snow and had run out of logs for the fire, gas for the super ser heater and hadn't got bread. When I said I'll bring you supplies, she said "you won't the roads are closed". Two hours later I had delivered 1/2 a ton of logs in a trailer behind my Renault 18 estate 2WD, two gas bottles and 4 loaves of bread. Plus a huge pot of stew that the wife had made while I cut and split the logs.

I'd already got my snow safety kit in our car all packed in a holdall for easy use as we had 2" of snow at home.

All the supplies were whta we had at home just incase we needed them.

So as I've said before plan for the worst case and surviving a week of snow is easy.

What a lot of people have said this week about the generalised "don't go out unless you have too" comment on TV is, does that necessarily mean they can refrain from going to work?
Well of coarse some will take that as an excuse for a day off, but then it depends on your employer doesn't it!!
I used to comute 30 miles on the A44 to Worcester working 3 shift pattern and my boss had no sympathy for weather conditions. But on the otherhand he had the luxury of working from home!! So was he "pot calling kettle black"? Too right he was, but I got my own back when we had to work 24/7 to fill an urgent customer requirement. I put the shopfloor guys onto weekends and nights and then comondeered the office staff to run the machines on days in the week for 4 weeks. My boss thought he cold still drive his desk until he saw me training the MD on how to run a CNC milling machine producing door hinge assemblies for the Lotus Elise. Derek (MD) soon wiped the lookoff JB's face and threw him an overall. That made my day to see a pompus ass brought down to reality.

 

[Philspadders]

well , on my way to work this morning aftyer negotiating 2' 6" of snow outside my front door i found the biggest obstacle to my progress was the number of HGV's stuck on the roads. On my way to the M1 jn 31 i had to weave thorugh 35 hgvs stuck, and the opposite sied of the road was totally blocked with 58 HGVs- going nowehere ( that will take some clearing).

The m1 northbound at 7.0am was empty apart from me but the Sothbound had stopped. On the Southbound carriageway running to J31 there is a slight incline . The HGV at the front of the que had stopped and was sliding everywhere. Now the all the southbound traffic stopped.
So, unless its absolutley necessary , keep the roads clear for those can use them, and also so that the gritters and ploughs can clear them. Here in S Yorks we are forecast to have another 5 to 12 inches of the white stuff so the same thing will happen again.rg.

 

[Philspadders]

well , on my way to work this morning aftyer negotiating 2' 6" of snow outside my front door i found the biggest obstacle to my progress was the number of HGV's stuck on the roads. On my way to the M1 jn 31 i had to weave thorugh 35 hgvs stuck, and the opposite sied of the road was totally blocked with 58 HGVs- going nowehere ( that will take some clearing).

The m1 northbound at 7.0am was empty apart from me but the Sothbound had stopped. On the Southbound carriageway running to J31 there is a slight incline . The HGV at the front of the que had stopped and was sliding everywhere. Now the all the southbound traffic stopped.
So, unless its absolutley necessary , keep the roads clear for those can use them, and also so that the gritters and ploughs can clear them. Here in S Yorks we are forecast to have another 5 to 12 inches of the white stuff so the same thing will happen again.rg.

 

[HenryB1]

We have just spent the last 5 days with our van on a Rally near Thursford in Norfolk where we attended the Thursford Spectacular Show. When we arrived it had just started to snow and it snowed every day with a total of around 6 inches. We managed to get around without problems although the site was at the end of a 3/4 mile single track road. The rally ended yesterday and we had the prospect of a 140 mile drive back to Sevenoaks area via M11 and M25. The weather forecast for Norfolk indicated little snow so we decided to leave along with the other vans. Our journey should have taken 3 1/2 hours. We set off at 10 am and finally arrived home at 8 pm. Our trip through snow covered Norfolk went without a hitch and we thought we were doing well until we hit a traffic jam just after joining M25. It took over 2 hours to get to the Q E 2 bridge. Traffic stationary for most of the time. Also during this time it started to snow and we heard reports on radio of snow on M25 and slow traffic. When we finally crossed the bridge, near side lane closed due to ice, and got near to junction 2 we found the major problem. Lorries parked on the hard shoulder and lorries stuck on hill prior to slip road to A2 M2. In their attempts to pass each other the lorries had blocked 4 lanes plus hard shoulder leaving only outside lane operating. All lanes were very icy and we had to use outside lane in order to get past lorries that were stuck. We also passed a number of other caravans parked up on the motorway. I had put our Sorento automatic into low ratio on the Q E Bridge and kept it that way until we arrived home. Spent this morning using 3 trees and a manual winch to get our van into a position to let our Sorento out of the drive (Motor mover totally iced up). Not a journey we would have undertaken if we had known what the weather conditions were likely to be. Having said that only about 2 to 3 inches of snow appeared to have fallen on M25 but during our journey we did not see a single gritter or police vehicle. The Highways traffic 4 x 4 was on bridge shutting on lane and also they had a couple on hill at junction 2 and at junction 3 where they had shut exit. Glad we managed to press on as we now have around 9 inches of snow at home. We were resonably well prepared for a long trip with food etc and of course the van with loo etc which other travellers do not have. However I would not attempt winter trips without a 4 X 4.

 

[ShadySadie]

I can recall my sister-in-law who lives on the top of the clee hills ringing us 16 miles away in Leominster to say she had a foot of snow and had run out of logs for the fire, gas for the super ser heater and hadn't got bread. When I said I'll bring you supplies, she said "you won't the roads are closed". Two hours later I had delivered 1/2 a ton of logs in a trailer behind my Renault 18 estate 2WD, two gas bottles and 4 loaves of bread. Plus a huge pot of stew that the wife had made while I cut and split the logs.
I'd already got my snow safety kit in our car all packed in a holdall for easy use as we had 2" of snow at home.
All the supplies were whta we had at home just incase we needed them.

We're visiting friends who have a moorland farm.Yesterday we took a small trailer of emeregncy feed out to his friends ponies, half a mile from the farm we turn on to a hill. A Defender pickup had skidded on snow and ice another local farmers Subaru had gone off the road backwards avoiding the pickup. We ended up spending over eight hours towing cars and ferrying people back to the farm. for hot drinks and food.
The hill is suppose to be closed, but know it alls who know the area ignore the warning signs and try and save time. David and Geoff ended up helping over twenty drivers.including the local police. We called the police to warn them about what was happening, they came out and put another sign at the bottom of the hill and then tried to drive up it

even though they were told cars were blocking it. They eventually got towed out as well, in darkness!
If the warnings are to stay at home and you're told that roads are closed, why go out? Four local farmers who have to try and keep working lost most of their day due to idiots, most who could have stopped at home. That's animals lives at risk and peoples.

If someone is stupid enough to live in the sticks and not prepare for winter emergencies let them sort themselves out or call the emergency services.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

We have just spent the last 5 days with our van on a Rally near Thursford in Norfolk

See this link Henry to win £25 ....

http://www.practicalcaravan.com/forum/uk-parks-touring/been-touring-snow

 

[OmOnWeelz]

We have relatives in Finland and they have a similar one to the Unimog in the video, ex military ambulance that is now a sort of extreme winter motor home come work vehicle. Meredes Unimog 1300.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss9uX_IwmT4
If I had to go camp in a snowy field I'd want one