Tire Chains for Tahoe: What to Buy and When You'll Need Them

When a storm sits over the Sierra, Caltrans can impose chain control on I-80 and US-50 with very little warning. At a control point, traffic stops and vehicles that don't meet the posted requirement get turned around. Your reservation, your lesson booking, and the lift ticket already on your phone don't enter into it. What's required varies by storm and by vehicle, and the requirement in force is posted at the control itself.

That's the whole case for the chains on the packing list. They spend most of the season in the trunk doing nothing, and then one Friday night they are the difference between skiing and driving home.

Where controls commonly go up

These are the areas along each corridor where chain control is commonly enforced in winter. They're not a live status, and not a promise about where you'll be stopped on any given day.

• I-80 over Donner Summit: Kingvale is the common checkpoint. If it's snowing on the summit, plan on chains going on somewhere around there.
• US-50: Twin Bridges, near Strawberry, is the common control area on the climb toward the south shore.
• Caltrans QuickMap (quickmap.dot.ca.gov) is the source of truth for what's actually in effect right now. Check it before you leave, and again before you commit to the drive home.

Buying a set

Chains are sold to fit a specific tire size, so read the numbers off your sidewall before you order anything, and check what your vehicle's own manual says it can accept. A set that doesn't fit is the same as no set at all, and you'll find that out in the worst possible place.

Our two picks are on the packing list. The Security Chain Super Z6 is a low-clearance Z-cable design with built-in tensioners, so there's no re-tightening stop after you get moving. The Konig CB-12 is the heavier-duty alternative for cars with more room in the wheel well. Either way, match the set to your tire size and to what your owner's manual allows.

Throw a headlamp and a pair of work gloves in with them. Installing chains means kneeling in slush, in the dark, in traffic, and you won't want to do it in your ski gloves.

The other thing in the trunk

A folding snow shovel goes in the trunk on the same days as the chains. Think plow berms, not avalanches: the berm the plow left across the end of your parking spot while you were skiing, the two feet of fresh sitting on your car after a storm day, the wheel that spun itself into a hole at a trailhead lot. Our picks are the Black Diamond Transfer, which comes apart to ride flat in a trunk, and the Black Diamond Evac 7, with a bigger blade for moving a lot of snow fast.

Chain control questions