Mountain Driving Tips

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I asked my father, John Hansman, an engineering professor at MIT and an accomplished opinion-giver on a wide range of topics he does and doesn’t know much about, for advice on driving to the hill. He came back with some hard physics, tips on how to load a ski rack, and a bona fide excuse for skipping work. Thanks, dad.

When you're driving to the mountains, uphill on the way there and downhill on the way back, what does it do to your gas consumption? Does it equal out eventually if you're coasting on the way down?

You can’t drive well enough to get all the energy back (writer’s note: this from the man who taught me how to drive). When you go up the hill, you gain potential energy—it’s like putting gas in your tank. The problem is that when you come down the hill you ride the brakes, so you lose energy. In a perfect world with no friction you would gain all of the energy back, but not in the real world, so you burn some gas on the downhill.

What about my ski rack? Does that kill my gas mileage?

Roof racks increase the drag. They create turbulence in the air. It’s like when you’re skiing down a hill into the wind with your arms out. The bigger you are, the more drag you create. Anything you do to increase the drag is like having your foot on the brake. It’s normally not a big deal, it’s like a mile a gallon, but you should definitely take the rack off when you’re not using it. Skis act similarly, but it depends on the shape of the ski. Tips disturb the flow of air and your bindings are bad too. You’re better off putting the skis on upside down. It keeps the shape smoother.

What else do I need to worry about?

You get worse mileage in snow. So you want to drive up to the mountains when it’s dry, have it snow overnight, (writers note: great, I’ll get right on that.) and then stay up there until the roads are dry again.

-Heather Hansman

#7 Carpool to the Ski Area

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