Apropos of almost nothing unless they've built up the road bed a bunch the
top of the pass on the road is just a bit below 10,000. I surveyed for the
road that was rebuilt in the 60's and we had to go off the road up a slope
to find a point right at 10,000 feet so we could set a monument. Kind of
fun, but I was 20 something then.

Steep it is though. Always wanted to run it. There's a half marathon from
the bottom of the pass to the summit that I've wanted to do but never have.

Mike

On 1/11/08 3:06 PM, "David Kao" <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> Scott:
>
> I have climbed the Tioga Pass so many times. Count 5 last year alone.
> I know that grade very well. The weight and the small power plant of
> stock vanagons make it mandatory to shift to 2nd gear, no exceptions,
> to climb that slope. The summit is over 10,000 feet. If a Diesel Vanagon
> can be comfortable to climb that grade in 2nd gear it is really not bad.
> If it has to be in 1st gear then it's really a dog. I had to do 1st
> gear when climbing over Sonora Pass from the west toward eastern side.
> That's before I rebuilt the engine of my Westy. With a rebuilt engine
> it may be able to do it on 2nd gear. But I doubt it. The Sonora Pass
> is not only steep it is also very long slope. It will give any Vanagon
> a real challenge. The Tioga Pass is not that bad. The slope is shorter.
> No problems to any Vanagon I believe. But each time I climbed over
> the Sonora Pass I always saw a few cars overheated and broke down on
> road side. One spectacular scene there was seeing a few military Hummer
> going over the summit. They beat everything. The soldiers probably floored
> their pedals. They did not need to worry if the hummers would overheat or
> what. They kept going fast...
>
> I am not bragging about anything, Scott. I just happen to know well
> about the routes that go over the Sierra.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Scott Daniel - Shazam  <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
>> David, are you bragging about dismal performance, or what ?
>>
>> yeah, that Sonora Pass on the east side, a bit steep, plus altitude there-
>> not the best place for a non-turbo engine.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
>> David Kao
>> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 1:15 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: Diesel vs Gas Vanagons?
>>
>> --- Gary Bawden <goldfieldgary@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>>> I pulled Tioga Pass (the one over
>>> the Sierra Nevadas going into Yosemite National Park) comfortably in
>> second
>>> gear.
>>>
>>> Gary
>>
>> All OEM gas powered Westy and Vanagons need to shift to 2nd to climb that
>> grade
>> no exceptions. So if diesel powered one can climb comfortably in 2nd that's
>> not
>> bad at all. The Sonora Pass (Hwy 104) is worse. You may need to shift to the
>> first gear and watch engine temp goes through the popup top.
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>
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