Do I need chains to get to Sugar Bowl right now?
No, there is no chain control on the drive from Sacramento to Sugar Bowl right now. Checked (Caltrans).
Read every five minutes from Caltrans chain control (cwwp2.dot.ca.gov), for the direction you drive up. The signs on the road are what you are bound by: confirm at roads.dot.ca.gov or call 511 before you go.
Storm alerts
A notification on this device when chain control starts, changes or lifts, or a road closes or reopens. Pick your roads:
An alert is a heads-up that something changed, not a road report, and it can arrive a few minutes after the change. Before you drive, check Caltrans QuickMap or Nevada 511 (nvroads.com), or call 511. A few alerts a day at most; no account, no email, and you can turn them off here any time (what we keep).
Do you need chains to get to Sugar Bowl right now? Live Caltrans chain control on the I-80 climb from Colfax to Soda Springs, checked every five minutes.
The drive from Sacramento and the Bay Area
Sugar Bowl is just off I-80 at the Soda Springs exit, west of Donner Summit, so the drive up from Sacramento never crosses the summit itself. From the Bay Area the route is the same once you reach Sacramento.
The answer above reads Caltrans's eastbound checkpoints on the climb from Colfax through Gold Run, Emigrant Gap, Cisco Grove and Rainbow to Kingvale. A control further east, at Castle Peak or the Donner Lake Interchange, is on the road past your exit and is left out of the answer; the Donner Pass answer has it.
The highest Caltrans checkpoint on the way is Kingvale on I-80, at 6,076 ft; the lowest is Applegate, at 2,020 ft. Snow at the top of the drive is not snow at the bottom, and the checkpoints in between are where the level changes.
Where Caltrans sets chain control on the way
I-80 east from Colfax to Soda Springs
- Kingvale · 6,076 ft
- Yuba Gap · 5,770 ft
- Rainbow · 5,734 ft
- Cisco Grove · 5,649 ft
- Nyack · 5,393 ft
- Whitmore · 4,770 ft
- Drum · 4,333 ft
- Baxter · 3,897 ft
- Alta · 3,480 ft
- Gold Run · 3,188 ft
- Colfax · 2,421 ft
- Applegate · 2,020 ft
These are the eastbound checkpoints, the ones you pass on the way up. Coming home, Caltrans's checkpoints in the other direction apply, and they are not always at the same level: read them on the road pages before you leave.
Donner Pass cameras
I-80 at Donner Summit · live video
I-80 at Donner Lake · live video
I-80 at Castle Peak · live video
I-80 at Soda Springs - Eastbound · live videoAll 5 cameras at Donner Pass: I-80 at Donner Summit · I-80 at Donner Lake · I-80 at Castle Peak · I-80 at Soda Springs - Eastbound · I-80 at Kingvale - Westbound · every pass camera
What R-1, R-2 and R-3 mean on the drive to Sugar Bowl
Caltrans sets chain control at its control points, in three levels:
- R-1
- Chains, traction devices or snow tires on the drive axle of every vehicle except four-wheel and all-wheel drive, which must still carry chains.
- R-2
- Chains on every vehicle except four-wheel or all-wheel drive with snow tires on all four wheels. Those must still carry chains.
- R-3
- Chains on every vehicle, no exceptions.
Trucks and trailers have rules of their own at every level. Both states' rules, side by side, are on chain control levels R1, R2 and R3 explained.
More for this trip
- Sugar Bowl opening day, lifts and snow
- Do I need chains on Donner Pass right now?
- I-80 road conditions and cameras
- What to carry for a Sierra winter drive
The drive to another resort: Heavenly · Palisades Tahoe · Northstar · Kirkwood · Boreal · Sierra-at-Tahoe
Chain controls and closures: Caltrans (cwwp2.dot.ca.gov), read every five minutes. Nevada Explorer is not affiliated with Caltrans or with Sugar Bowl. Always confirm at roads.dot.ca.gov or call 511 before you travel.