Donner Summit on I-80: Is Donner Pass Open?

Chain Controls

This highway information is the latest reported as of Sunday, November 15th, 2026 at 05:56 AM.

Weather

Before You Drive Over Donner Pass

Live road conditions for I-80 over Donner Pass, from Kingvale and Soda Springs, over Donner Summit, and down past Donner Lake to Truckee. The status above is the live Caltrans picture for the pass, with the chain controls, cameras, and advisories for the Donner segment below it.

The Summit Itself

Donner Pass is where Interstate 80 crosses the Sierra Nevada crest, the high point of the whole run between Sacramento and Reno. The summit sits above 7,000 feet, between Kingvale on the west climb and Truckee on the east side, with Soda Springs and Donner Lake tucked under the crest. Everything on this page is about that one stretch: the few miles where Sierra weather decides whether the corridor moves or stops.

That geography is why the summit gets a page of its own. Sacramento can be dry and Reno clear while the top of the pass is in falling snow and chain controls, because the crest catches weather the valleys never see. The Donner Summit camera, at about 7,221 feet, reads the crest itself, and the chain checkpoints below it read the climb one stage at a time. For the corridor wide picture, all of I-80 from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe and Reno, the I-80 road conditions homepage carries the full answer. This page goes deep on the top.

Chain Controls: The Ladder Over the Top

Caltrans does not control the Donner stretch from one booth. The checkpoints form a ladder up both sides of the crest, and the live list on this page shows every rung with its level: Cisco Grove at 5,649 feet and Rainbow at 5,734 feet, low on the west climb; Kingvale at 6,069 feet; Soda Springs on the upper climb; Castle Peak at 7,247 feet, the holding point at the crest; the Donner Lake Interchange at about 6,400 feet on the east descent; and Truckee at 5,905 feet.

Kingvale is the name most eastbound drivers know. It is a regular chain control checkpoint west of the summit, close to where eastbound traffic slows, chains up, and gets screened before the final climb. Westbound, the screening happens on the Truckee side, and the descent runs past Donner Lake and the Castle Peak point before Kingvale. Whichever way you are driving, the level that applies to you is the one posted at the checkpoint you are approaching, so read the whole ladder, not just the top.

The levels themselves are California law, and the chain guide on this site explains them in full. In short: R-1 requires chains or snow tires on the drive axle, with chains carried in the vehicle. R-2 requires chains on everything except four wheel drive with snow tires on all four wheels, which must still carry chains. R-3 requires chains on all vehicles, no exceptions, or the road is closed. Carry chains on every winter crossing, whatever the forecast says: controls can be posted while you are on the climb.

The Cameras: Read the Climb Before You Drive It

The Caltrans cameras on the Donner stretch are all on this page, and the webcams section leads with the three that matter most: Donner Summit at the crest, Castle Peak just west of it at 7,165 feet, and Soda Springs EB at 6,692 feet on the climb. The camera tour below them walks the rest, including Kingvale and Donner Lake, in driving order.

Read them in order and you can see the shape of a storm before you leave: whether snow is sticking at Kingvale, whether the crest is blowing clear or white, and whether the east side at Donner Lake is already drying out. Each camera also has its own page, starting with the Donner Summit camera and the Castle Peak camera, with its facts, what the view shows, and the cameras either side of it.

Donner Summit Weather

The forecast that matters here is not the valley forecast; it is the summit own. The Donner Summit weather page carries current conditions and the seven day forecast for the top of the pass, with an hourly view. Read it together with the live status at the top of this page: the forecast tells you what is coming over the crest, and the status tells you what Caltrans already has on the road. When a storm is on the way, the storm alerts signup on this page puts the warning in your inbox before it reaches the pass.

Timing, Queues, and the Days That Cost Hours

On a clear day the summit is a non event: up from Kingvale, over the crest, and down to Truckee in one steady climb and descent. The days that cost drivers hours are the transition days, when controls go up or come down around them. A checkpoint queue forms behind whichever point is screening, and the climb that runs free at speed turns into a line of cars and trucks at chain speed, all doing the same slow work over the top.

The working rules are simple. Check this page before you leave, not at the on ramp. If controls are posted and you are not in a hurry, waiting for the level to drop is often faster than joining the queue at its worst. If you go, carry chains and the patience to fit them, and check the status again at the last town stop, because the level at Kingvale can change while you are driving to it.

If the Pass Closes: The Long Ways Around

When the summit closes, it closes to everyone, and there is no short way around it. The through alternatives are the other Sierra crossings: south to US-50 over Echo Summit, by way of South Lake Tahoe and back up SR-89 or SR-267 to Truckee, or around the east side on US-395. Each is a long way around, and in the same storm each runs under its own chain controls, which this site tracks on their own pages.

That is why experienced Donner drivers usually wait. A closure ends when crews have the road cleared and the storm eases, and the live status at the top of this page, with its Caltrans timestamp, is the first word that the pass has reopened. Sit it out in Truckee or down the hill, keep the status open, and go when the verdict changes.