Reno to North Lake Tahoe road conditions: Mt. Rose Highway or I-80

From Reno, Mt. Rose Highway (NV-431) is the short way to the Mt. Rose ski area and Incline Village; I-80 west to Truckee is the way to Northstar and Palisades, and the lower way to the lake in a storm. The NV-431 and I-80 chips above show what is posted right now.

Which road for which resort

• Mt. Rose: NV-431 from south Reno. The ski area sits on the highway itself, high on the mountain near the summit.
• Diamond Peak and Incline Village: NV-431 over Mount Rose Summit and down the far side into Incline Village. The lower alternative is I-80 west to Truckee, SR-267 over Brockway Summit to Kings Beach, then NV-28 east along the shore, which is much longer. From Carson City there is a third way, US-50 over Spooner Summit and NV-28 north.
• Northstar: I-80 west to Truckee, then SR-267 south.
• Palisades Tahoe: I-80 west to Truckee, then SR-89 south.

In good conditions each of these is roughly 45 minutes to an hour from Reno, with the Mt. Rose ski area the closest. Storms, controls and holds change that quickly; see the drive-time section below.

Two agencies post the controls

The Reno side is Nevada DOT territory: NV-431, NV-28 around Incline Village and Crystal Bay, US-50 over Spooner Summit, and I-80 from Reno to the state line. NDOT posts its own requirements with its own wording, on nvroads.com and 511. From the state line west, I-80, SR-89 and SR-267 are Caltrans roads with the familiar R-1, R-2 and R-3 levels, on Caltrans QuickMap (quickmap.dot.ca.gov) and 1-800-427-7623. Snowy Roads shows both on the same page, each in its agency's wording, so a Reno to Northstar route reads NDOT first and Caltrans after the state line.

Mt. Rose Highway in winter

NV-431 leaves I-580 in south Reno and climbs past the subdivisions along Thomas Creek Road and Timberline Drive, then onto open mountainside to Mount Rose Summit at 8,911 feet, far higher than Donner Summit or Echo Summit. From the summit it makes a long, steep descent into Incline Village, where Diamond Peak is, and meets NV-28 at the lake.

That height is the whole story. NV-431 is a year-round highway, but the upper miles collect snow and wind when Reno is only wet, NDOT chain requirements are common on storm days, and the summit stretch can close in a strong storm. Drivers heading down the Incline side should use low gear; the cameras along it include a brake check area and a truck escape ramp for a reason.

The NV-431 page lists NDOT's segments with cameras along the whole climb: Thomas Creek, the Mt. Rose ski area, the summit, the brake check area and Diamond Peak. If the summit camera shows snow blowing across the road, the I-80 and SR-267 way round to Incline may be the calmer drive, though Brockway Summit gets controls of its own.

I-80 west to Truckee, then SR-267 or SR-89

I-80 west from Reno follows the Truckee River canyon past Verdi to the state line and on to Truckee, well below Donner Summit. The usual westbound Caltrans control runs from Truckee or the Donner Lake interchange over the summit to Kingvale, most of it west of where Reno drivers turn off for SR-267 and SR-89. Caltrans also has checkpoints east of Truckee, at the state line, Floriston and Boca, and a bigger storm can put those under control. A full I-80 closure matters too: Nevada holds westbound traffic on its side of the line until Caltrans reopens. See the Donner Pass guide.

From Truckee:

• SR-267 climbs past the Truckee airport and Martis Creek to Northstar, then over Brockway Summit to Kings Beach. It is often under control when I-80 is. SR-267 page.
• SR-89 runs south along the Truckee River to Olympic Valley and Tahoe City, with its own controls. SR-89 page.

Cameras worth a look: NDOT's I-80 cameras at Mogul, Boomtown and Gold Ranch, the Caltrans cameras at the Truckee scales and the Truckee bypass, then Brockway Summit on SR-267 or Olympic Valley on SR-89.

How long is the drive right now?

On each resort page, tap the "via" pill at the top to choose the Reno route: westbound on I-80 for Northstar and Palisades, southbound on NV-431 for Mt. Rose and Diamond Peak. The travel-time card then shows the current drive time from Reno and whether traffic is typical or heavier than usual. Tap its location button to get the time from where you actually are. CHP incidents near the route appear underneath it.

What today's forecast means

The Chains outlook row under the current status puts the forecast for the selected route in a sentence, with seven day chips; tap a day, or two for a range of up to three days, to see the chance of chains on your trip, and open "Next 72 hours" for the hour-by-hour view. It is a Snowy Roads forecast built from weather data, not an NDOT or Caltrans notice, and it only appears where the forecast covers the route well. The weather card adds expected snow and rain at the resort for three days and any National Weather Service alerts. On NV-431, a forecast that is marginal in Reno can be a real storm at 8,900 feet. Requirements change without notice, and always carry chains.

Get an alert instead of checking repeatedly

Living 45 minutes from the lifts means watching the mountain all morning to pick the moment to go. The iPhone app watches for you: it knows what you drive, tells you whether you need chains on your route under the requirement posted now, NDOT or Caltrans, and notifies you when it changes. Widgets keep Mt. Rose Highway and I-80 on your home screen. See chain alerts for Mt. Rose and North Lake Tahoe on iPhone.