1 year ago
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FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - The bedewed and snowy upwind continues to make headaches and information for drivers connected their mode up Fresno County's Highway 168.
It's peculiarly hazardous from the four-lane conception East of Prather and up toward Shaver Lake and China Peak.
That was the unfortunate realization for a radical of friends from the Central Coast Friday morning, arsenic they attempted to caput up into the mountains to spell snowboarding successful their Toyota Tacoma.
A motortruck we stumbled upon crashed.
"We didn't enactment chains on, we decidedly should have, and it was conscionable ace atrocious conditions and conscionable mislaid control," said Chaz Stemper, 1 of the snowboarders wrong astatine the time.
Stemper, who was sitting successful the rider spot astatine the clip of the collision and felt the brunt of it arsenic the airbag slammed into him connected impact, says erstwhile they realized their mistake it was excessively late.
"We were sitting determination saying, 'Maybe let's propulsion disconnected close present and enactment immoderate chains on,'" helium said. "We're coming astir the country close down present and adjacent happening we cognize we're conscionable inactive sliding, not catching the road, and conscionable close into the mountain."
Luckily, speech from immoderate backmost pain, helium and his friends are good and were capable to locomotion distant from the scary scene.
He was conscionable thankful it wasn't worse.
"We're great, I mean, conscionable a small much disquieted astir the motortruck but I mean, trucks tin beryllium replaceable," Stemper said. "I'm gladsome we're each harmless and getting backmost location safely."
It's conscionable 1 illustration of wherefore drivers who caput into the mountains during oregon aft wintertime upwind should ever beryllium acceptable for the treacherous conditions.
"You person to person chains erstwhile you spell into the mountains, truthful instrumentality the chains with you. Make definite you cognize however to enactment them on," said Larry Johnson, Caltrans nationalist accusation serviceman for District 6. "You've got to person your telephone charger; you've got to person everything successful moving order. Have the other clothes, the blankets, immoderate you need, due to the fact that if the roadworthy gets unopen down oregon there's an incidental and you're stuck up determination you privation to beryllium prepared for it."
Those who program to marque the trek up into the higher elevations this play are encouraged to cheque the updated Caltrans QuickMap or telephone 1-800-427-7623.
