Surviving a Record-Breaking Snowstorm in a Van | (8ft/2.5m) Extreme Blizzard Camping

it is not a good time for travel it is not the opportunity extreme winter storm impacts are still expected but this is such a strong powerful storm that it's influencing our weather all the way down here we've got a strong upper we are going to get absolutely dumped on in the [Music] Sierra this is nuts this is insane [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right these two are [Music] done the storm is going to reach us scale of Epic Proportions in the next couple hours so I need to prepare to hunker down for at least the next two nights because just tonight it will snow upwards of 60 Ines making it impossible for even the plows to get up here I'm going to go ahead and make my dessert first so that I can cool down outside of my little natural fridge all right let's go put that outside to uh freeze up a lot faster than it would in my fridge oh my [Music] gosh I think I'm going to write out the snow dep markers just so I can get an accurate measurement in the morning [Music] doing my best to keep the floors dry it's crazy to think that this windy albeit relatively tame start to the snowstorm is going to turn into potentially one of the snowiest days in the history of the world it's hard to believe but hey I'll believe it when I see it I can hear the storm picking up some steam outs side tomorrow is going to be completely insane but in the meantime while I'm locked in here I have some good food to make take it not the right tool for the [Music] job [Applause] [Applause] [Music] can hear the wind just absolutely howling outside all right the storm's definitely here I'm going to make a run for the bathroom wow I forgot about these poor strawberries forgot about these they're a little snowy but I'm sure they're still good right as I just came back inside the uh plowing crew is just clearing the heck out of this parking lot right now so they're trying to keep up with this which is very impressive I'm going to enjoy eating the rest of these tomorrow is a crazy crazy day so I'm going to get this all cleaned up get the bed set up and see you guys tomorrow morning good night it's crazy to think that this is less than half of the snow that's going to fall just today oh my [Music] goodness good morning guys the snow outside is coming down at an unbelievable rate and the forecast is saying that it's going to snow 40 Ines today and 40 more inches tomorrow that to me sounds completely unbelievable but I guess we'll see [Music] oh I can hear the snowblower he's the most important guy on the mountain his job is to make the uh edges of the snowb bank along the roads and parking lots uh even and straight so that the insane amounts of snow we receive every year here we can actually continue having a place to put the snow it's amazing machine and there's not many of them in California so they are put to good use plan for today is to break out those back country bindings take advantage of the fact that I'm the only person on the mountain and enjoy this insane powder day before the uh 60 inches of snow comes down tonight probably should have seen that coming [Music] we're really starting to get buried now this is this is where it gets real for at the top of this hill I'll be able to ski down through the powder and enter one of the most beautiful seoa Groves anywhere in the state and this time of year with these conditions it's going to be just me I can't wait for it's time to enjoy all right got myself a path there's more snow than I realized already and this is only a third oh my gosh all right I think it's time to head back in oh man that's a mess I have let in a lot of water have I mentioned that this is probably the first snowstorm I've ever camped in where I'm legitimately a little bit nervous it's intense out there no other way to put [Music] it they must be picking up really fast cuz I no longer have cell service in here which means I'm going to have to go dig out my antenna that'll be quite the adventure you guys may have noticed that Donner Party hungry for change air freshener I have in here um it's a story I've talked about on the channel before one of the tragic stories but a humbling tale of what hundreds of inches of snow can mean if you're unprepared but unfortunately for them very few of them made it out alive and they all had to spend nearly the entire winter season up at Donner Summit luckily for me the modern snow clearing infrastructure makes it much less likely that I end up stranded for more than you know one day we don't know exactly how much snow fell in that winter back in the 19th century but we do know that that first storm probably looked a heck of a lot like this outside so if you're planning on getting stranded in a winter storm of epic proportions I would recommend doing it like this in pretty much the best circumstances you can possibly get before I set up for bed I'm going to Brave one quick run to the bathroom it has been coming down so unbelievably hard outside I can hear Snow slamming against the van the wind is shaking me around I've never been in a snowstorm quite like this before let's see what we're working with outside the snow will drift this way meaning there should be a small Gap so I can force this door open but I might lower the window just a tad so that I can force it down in the morning if I have to but given the ice that might be impossible let's see all right there we go this way I can at least pull that down if I have to in the morning it'll mean some snow gets in here but that's no big deal as usual oh my goodness look at the rate that that's falling at this is completely nuts wow I mean look at that rate hly the wind and the snow is just ludicrous this is crazy you guys hear that how much digging you think I'm gonna have to do tomorrow to get out of here now that I think about it after looking at the weather forecast it seems like there's a possibility that I might not even be able to so hopefully the road clearing goes well and I can drive out of here tomorrow and not have to spend an entire other day and night because I'm not sure I have enough power or propane to keep me warm so wish me luck good night guys I'll see you tomorrow and hopefully fingers crossed I can get out no problem it's I can fit oh my gosh holy it's a good thing I woke up early so I can clear this this is Monumental I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before Oh my God this is nuts this is insane look at all of this none of this was here yesterday the stacks all the way up to the Ed crazy [Music] o the accumulation is not slowing down at all anything speeding up since this morning so I need to get out of here because it could be a while before they clear this lot I can only drive through so much snow look at how much I've dug out since this morning should be enough to move just into this space at least and then I can take of everything else after that this is relentlessly [Applause] exhausted what an insane storm so far on this road a couple miles and I've yet to see a single vehicle or plow or anything but luckily the wind is keeping the snow aside from the drifts off the middle of the road visibility is pretty much 0% and I definitely have a newfound respect for donor party after just spending you know 30 to 40 minutes outside trying to get myself out of here in the freezing 18° wind update from the weather station in tamarak here on the mountain pass they officially recorded 8 ft of snow in the last 30 hours and up to 210 mph winds which would be an alltime California record for wind speed and I'll have to look into it but possibly a record for most snowfall ever in a single day in March with the insane winds it drifted around like crazy so luckily it wasn't the end of the world to think myself out but what a generational storm there was no snow at all at this altitude when I drove up here two days ago look at all that snow on the banks

Channel: Traveler's Tale

Views: 1,712,462

Keywords: winter camping, snow camping, camping in snow, solo camping, car camping, winter van life, hot tent camping, winter hot tent camping, hot tent winter camping, snow storm, camping in the snow, living the van life, camping in winter, van life winter, cold weather camping, van life, winter storm, tale of two travelers, travelers tale, winter survival, van life snow, truck camping, camping in a snow storm

Id: Kq8mtJKizCo

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 04 2024