I'm going to be nice this time! You have no idea how deep and heavy coastal snow is up there on Bear Camp Rd. I have 4X4 diesel trucks that I wouldn't even think of traversing that road in the winter. The only thing I'd use is my Polaris snowmobile and go with a buddy on his, along with our bug out bags.
At Crater Lake, the snow averages 550 inches a season, and for you, that means over 45 feet of snow with a snow load equal to Lake Tahoe's which is 220 pounds per square foot at the lake level....
I have been on that road in the winter and turned back when confronted with a solid wall of snow on the north face completely blocking the road. The road cut had been completely covered...
I went through a snow drift in early June two years ago on Bear Camp Road!
I'd never try to drive up it in winter...
Ed
Assuming the TV reporter who was conducting the on camera report was correct ... From the overheads that showed up on my TV from the helicopter, half or more of the road was bare dirt, so obviously the snow wasn't that deep. I assume you also saw the shots, they were on all day. I only lived in CA for 15 years and did quite a bit of travel to the sierra's, Oregon and other places on the coast. At times we had snow so blinding you couldn't see the road and had to just stop and wait it out. I assume that if the snow were so deep that the people in question couldn't go forward they would have turned back as well. For some odd reason, they did not, so it obviously wasn't that bad when they started out.
I fail to see your point, either the snow was too deep and they couldn't go from the beginning, or the snow as seen on the TV screen was deep enough to disable their car and prevent them from getting back out of a bad situation that they themselves got into. If as you say, they plowed head on into way too deep snow, well that falls into the category of ... I heard nothing in any TV newscast that said the area was hit by huge snow depth storms in the hours it took for them to get stuck. Since the road is only a few miles long, the transit time IN I am assuming was hours not days or weeks.
Been in snow so deep that the snow accumulated under the vehicle raised the undercarriage and wouldn't let the wheels touch the ground, and the snow was literally piled over the hood.
So be nice when you accuse others of not knowing. I guess the unanswered question you might have is why did they try to go forward in what was basically a car, if as you say the snow was so deep that ... Just because I don't now live there does not mean I don't understand Oregon coastal snow.
BTW, I didn't say I would attempt to traverse the road through coastal snow depths in winter either, regardless what I was driving.
Be safe. The idea is to increase your chances of surviving with proper clothing and equipment, but you can't guarantee it no matter what you do.