That's a lot of weight for Colorado mountain passes!   To have lasted two weeks you must have been VERY good friends. 

I've driven some in Colorado with my 85 (manual tranny) and have spent a few miles in 2nd gear.  I think the trick is to relax, use a lower gear, and keep it around 3500 - 4000 rpm.  Don't accelerate and gear up till you crest the hill.  The auto tranny will take care of that for you, but if it tries to upshift while still climbing, you may wish to manually keep it in lower gears.  Should work fine if you take your time. 

Karl Wolz
Sent from my electronic umbilicus

On Oct 16, 2012, at 8:35 AM, Spencer Allen <spencervw@AOL.COM> wrote:

> After reading Ken Wilfords great trip report of his travels across the U S of A I started thinking about the trip to some of the same areas my family took in our then new 1985 GL. There were 4 adults and 3 kids with the van packed for 2 wekks of travel. We flew across the flat lands but when we hit the mountains of Colorado we were almost rolling backwards by the time we crested some of the steeper mountain roads. We were in the truck lanes and even they were honking at us to get out of the way. This was a manual trans so I was constantly stirring the stick to find the right gear. I want to go back to Colorado next year in my 85 auto trans Westy but am worried about a climbing those mountains in a 1.9 auto trans. Can you guys share your westys in the mountain driving experience. Thanks.
> Spencer