I drove over this west from Staunton, VA about 5 years ago en route to West Virginia. Would not recommend, very steep and a lot of switchbacks. I was in a Kia Soul with 4 large adults and perfectly packed luggage for all of us. I didn't see it for myself, but my assumption was that my rotors were glowing red. I stopped and rested afterward.
EDIT: Wrong range and valley, but my point stands.
down shifting, it's called down shifting
Relevant place on Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7230414,-78.4374319,7353m/data=!3m1!1e3
You can see buildings in this picture that you can see on maps, the winding river makes it easy to reference.