In the west of the United States the Rocky Mountains stretch from New Mexico to Canada. One road in particular crosses it: Interstate 80, one of the most dangerous in the country. The extreme weather conditions make the mountain ranges particularly difficult. In winter, blizzards and snowstorms quickly make the roads impassable. To help them, roadside professionals like Joey, work around the clock. Another man of action in the region: the firefighters from Station 97. Among them are Jameson and Nathan. Right in the heart of the mountain range and covering an area of 1,600 km, they have to be ready to intervene in situations as perilous as they are varied. But their missions would be impossible without the help of the Californian Department of Transport. At the head of the local branch is Pete Labrance. He is responsible for closing the roads in the event of heavy snow. Despite the extreme conditions, there are those who will brave any danger to get as close as possible to dangerous areas. These are the storm chasers. The Rockies are one of their favourite hunting grounds. Like Tod and his son Michael, long-time enthusiasts, many of them get behind the wheel as soon as heavy snowfalls are announced in the region. Their aim: to get the shot that will be seen around the world...

My son drives this route every night. From Reno to Cali for FedEx. It’s been a snowy season. Safety and Gods Blessings for all these drivers!

I spent a lot of time over the years on this stretch of I-80 when I lived in Sacramento and visited Truckee, Tahoe and Reno often. This was a well-made documentary! Thank you.

I’ve driven over Donner Summit on I-80 since 1977. The storms in the 70s were far worse than they are now, but the people driving now are far worse than in the 70s. It doesn’t get any better 30 miles east of there in Reno. I know a lot of these guys in this video. I went to school with many of them. Used to work Tahoe Nordic Search And Rescue up there too.

Born and raised in Reno, go to tahoe and donner lake all the time, the problem is that people think because they have awd or 4x4 that you're unstoppable, you're not, slow down and respect the roads.

I've been commuting over I-80 between Reno and San Francisco for work every week for the past 6 years. Some years are defiantly worse than others. This year wasn't too bad, but last year I did hit a patch of black ice and spun off the road coming down, close to the Alta exit. Fortunately there was no damage to the car, and I just had to get towed out of a ditch. Glad this was my final year to have to make that commute, I'll be retiring in a couple of months!

I lived in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountain's for 35 year's that is the only thing I don't miss is the Winter Driving! Remember just go slow!

I'm a professional truck driver driving in Canada coast to coast. I when ther is blizzard roads are snowed. I pull it over in the closet town and stop. Way too many truck drivers and other people think they can push through a snowstorm like that and get in big trouble... It isn't even worth it to drive. In the snowstorm when you can hardly see.!!!

The very first time I drove over the Sierras on I-80, I had to stop in Truckee for about 6 hours because 80 was closed due to snow. And this was in May. Once the road was open I stopped at the checkpoint and they asked me if I had chains... I said I did but didn't know how to install them. The guy looked at my tires, which were fairly new Mud & Snow A/T tires, and told me I didn't need to put on chains if I kept it (my 4Runner) in 4WD. I went down the mountain (Donner Pass) at roughly 35mph for about 40 miles. Now I carry chains and cables and know how to install them (chains on the rear; cables on the front tires) just in case I have to cross the mountains in the snow. Also I have learned that... if I am forced to pull-over to the side of the highway due to an accident ahead, to pull WAAY off as far as possible because cars that can't stop will slide into you.

I was there during the big blizzard, around 8ft of snow fell and it took me about 20 hours to get back to the SF Bay area, but the reality was most people who don’t know the area may need to stay for 3-4 days in a blizzard even around the major routes. People die on a regular basis if they are in their weekend cabins, because they don’t have supplies/medication/power/heat/communication. Most city dwellers have no clue what it takes to survive a winter like this anymore. They come for a weekend with AWD or 4WD, but have never learned how to drive in these conditions, They normally don’t have winter tires and drive way too fast. I aired down my tires to 5 PSI on a very low clearance AWD, and destroyed almost every plastic panel under the car and ripped some electrical systems, but had skills and tools to fix it on the go, as well as I had winter camping and survival gear.. When my friends and family from Europe visit they are always shocked how much and what kind of gear we take on road trips until I stop on a side road in the middle of the desert and tell them: imagine the car broke down - what would you do and would you survive 3-4 days without all this stuff?

I've driven this! It can be awesome and scary at the same time!

These are crazy weather conditions with lots of hazzards. It's an informative and a fascinating documentary.........watching it all the way from East Africa.

Real deal, thanks for the video.

The makers of this film missed showing snow removal equipment on the backroads where the snow accumulates over the powerlines. Neighborhoods where houses are under thirty feet of snow and there is no place left to put the snow so it has to be blown by snow blowing heavy equipment and pushed away by using large loaders that can ramp thousands of tons into huge piles, that melt in the spring.The real challenge is in the extremely steep, winding roads in isolated or remote neighborhoods where you operate on the edge of steep drops and cliffs. Where your loader equipped with four chains and four wheel drive is sliding backwards down a hill while all four wheels are spinning furiously in forward to mitigate the lack of control on the ice. This is when loaders end up in someone’s living room.

3:19 Wow !! That is like Himalayan winter. Gosh, i thought Cali was all about warm weather beaches. Never knew it had artic side to it....

49:55 GrandMa is so glad her " baby is out and safe " 😂❤🎉. Love ya Grandma

Used to live there! Fun seeing this 20 years later…those were some wild times in the old family station wagon with rear wheel drive!!😅

Donnars Pass is one of the worst places around. I was at the bottom of the mountain and it was 45 degrees. The chain check said the weathers changing and I better get off the mountain fast. I made it half way up before it was a white out and I had to stop cause the road was gone. The weather changes in an instant

All those red stains in front of the truck is not blood. It's transmission fluid. Don't worry.

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