Originally Posted by
bocastephen
I have to strongly disagree - this can be very dangerous advise for someone who has never driven to the summit before. People have died on the way down due to their brakes overheating.
A regular car is fine if driving to the visitor center, but a 4WD with 4-LO gear is essential for safely driving to/from the summit. When I was up a couple months ago, I saw a couple in an older sedan try and drive up after picking up two foreign tourists at the visitor center - they were having a very tough time getting up the inclines and had to pull over frequently which created a hazard for everyone else. I didn't witness their trip down.
When going up their is less and less air which causes the car to loose power. If the car for example was underpowered and/or too heavy I do agree with you that they likely didn't make it all and were a hazard for everyone else. Going down though their really shouldn't be a problem if you put the transition in a low gear. Last time I went their we had some friends who's daughter wasn't feeling well (was sick) so they rushed back down to the visitor center. They only used their breaks and they were fine as well.
This is the road for anyone interested:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=b...,84.9,,0,15.36