I was up the mountain going through some big piles of snow, than I guess snow built up around my brakes/sensor and my anti-lock light came on and my ABS stopped working. Murphy's law... it will go bad exactly when you need it. I had to drive down the snowy mountain without ABS. That was bad. Once I got down to warmer temps the snow melted, and the ABS was fine.
My question is how do I prevent this in the future since I am going skiing often.
Can I apply the brake and give it gas to heat up the brakes? Is there a solution for this?

 

Were the brakes pulsing when there was snow or was it just pulsing and still sliding? What kind of snow tires do u have?

 

So did you check which wheel the snow built up on...or are you assuming it happened that way...

I' m curious to see if it happens again... But like you would like to resolve it before it happens again....


Has the sensor ever gone off before?

 

I've never had that happen before, and I've been thoroughly snow bound, pushing through drifts high enough to come over the hood (and getting stuck every 100 yards because my wheels couldn't reach the ground).

An exterior, non-electrical, cause of the ABS sensor light to go solid on is probably the wheel speed sensor. Of course, there's four of them, and without plugging in to read the values while it's happening, you'll probably never know which one it was. I'd just inspect the sensors and hubs to be sure nothing funky is going on. Make sure the wires are routed correctly, etc. It is plausible that packed snow could prevent it from working, so I wouldn't worry about it too much unless it shows up in other conditions.

I would not make the motor work directly against the brakes - that will stress the entire drivetrain - but cycling the brakes could shake/melt it out. Or just drive carefully and modulate the brakes yourself. Take the opportunity to sit down and learn next time it happens - it's a good skill to have, and hard to get these days.

 

You got the ACD in Snow?