Coquihalla highway

[ferniesnow]

By law you must have the proper rated tires to travel the Coq,..............

and most highways through the interior of BC. Highways out of Kamloops also require winter tires with the "snowflake".

 

[iceman5689]

wish you all the luck

 

[Stompin Tom]

and most highways through the interior of BC. Highways out of Kamloops also require winter tires with the "snowflake".

You bet, frankly every highway north of Hope they should be required, if they are not already.

 

[Stompin Tom]

So on Friday Feb 20 hubby and I are driving a mustang from Vancouver back home to Edmonton. What is this highway like at the moment. I have been watching the future forecast for Chilliwack, Hope and Kamloops and it is looking good, rain but about plus 10 for friday and saturday. Car has new all seasons ( we just bought it) and everyone knows it is real wheel drive so we want to stay out of the bad stuff. Neither one of us have ever been on these highways. Was wondering if taking the old highway 5A would be better than the Coq?

To answer your questions, first its a little early to determine the conditions on the Coq, the weather reports are favorable and it has a solid chance of being fine but things can turn on a dime in that area. I suggest you follow Drive BC website for better information. There are 3 routes you can take, the Coq which is by far the best and fastest route but a very high mountain road. Highway 5A is the worst and slowest in my opinion and then there is Highway 1 through the canyon. 5A and 1 are very old highways, lots of corners and hills but Highway 1 gets the least amount of snow but has some very hazzardous spots. Then you have to travel from Kamloops to Valemount which is no picnic either. I would also consider following the Merrit weather forcast, it is a closer to the actual conditions as Hope and Kamloops weather varies dramatically from the Coq's.

By law I do beleive all 3 routes require winter rated tires to travel, its is not an option to carry chains. You may be "just fine" with all seasons, but you are taking a very serious liablity issue. As stated before if you get into an incident on these routes with allseasons on and they can prove the tires may have been a factor you insurance can be voided and you live yourself wideopen to law suits if in an accident. You can assure yourself even if you dont have ICBC insurance but are in a two vehicle accident ICBC will sue your a$$ off for any and all costs, they are viscious when trying to recover money.

After March 31 winter rated tires are no longer required. If you dont want to spend the money to buy winter tires it may be your best option to delay the trip until after that date.

 

[LUCKY 7]

I won't go ANYWHERE without winter tires on my truck and or the wife's car. The roads can turn so quick and living in Sparwood I have seen plenty of wrecks due to not having the proper tires on. MY life and my families life is worth a few sets of winter tires

 

[Snowdin]

Hey stop in on your way through. We would like to see your new stang. If you don't die on the way and if it can't make it up the drive way let me know and I'll pull it up with the RZR

 

[rubirose]

If you run the old hwy most likely a better chance of staying out of the heavy unpredictable snow storms that can hit at the high elevations of the Coq but is a very cool drive if you don't hit the weather. Saying that the old hwy will be much slower if the weather is good as you can rock it hard on the Coq. So I would say keep a close eye on the weather and pick your poison when the time comes. It's 350km to Kamloops from Vancouver. And on the Coq in good conditions it flies by.
From Kamloops to Edmonton can be very nasty also. And as far as that goes i'd stay away from Rogers Pass. hwy 1. High elevations and more unpredictable weather. Stay the way on hwy 5 through Blue River then to Jasper. Can be nasty weather conditions through there also but less likely as it doesn't have the elevation of hwy 1. Good luck and drive safe!!

Yeah were planning highway 5 all the way from Kamloops to Jasper to home

 

[rubirose]

I drove for 30 years on all seasons between northern and southern BC during all weather conditions and never once had an issue.
If you know how to drive all seasons are fine. Most all seasons are M+S.

We know how to drive, that's not the issue, but why push your luck. And we are in no hurry to get back home so taking the longer slower safer way home would be the smarter thing to do.

 

[rubirose]

Hey stop in on your way through. We would like to see your new stang. If you don't die on the way and if it can't make it up the drive way let me know and I'll pull it up with the RZR [/QUO

Funny Dan, you are a bit out of the way on the home trip. But I can text you a photo. We might take a joy ride out one day when the weather is warmer. Or you could come to our place again with your little beast

 

[tripster]

Form sledding up there for years If is 9c or higher in the lowermainland it pretty well a sure bet it is above freezing on the hwy. There are also sign boards with road conditions on the #1 at hope so you can stay the #1 if the coq looks bad.

 

[rubirose]

We know how to drive, that's not the issue, but why push your luck. And we are in no hurry to get back home so taking the longer slower safer way home would be the smarter thing to do.

So the best thing besides getting winter tires put on would be to see in Hope what the road is like when we get there?

thanks everyone. Don't really want to see ourselves on Highway Through Hell show.lol

 

[niner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5jvd-6gvHE&sns=em

just watch need for speed before you go and brush up on your drifting techniques and have a helicopter hook on to you before you fly off the mountain......

 

[rzrgade]

Have you looked at trading it in on a BMW X Drive.....just sayin.....

 

[Mike270412]

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/DownloadA...2700A0C4&filename=wintertiresinbc_handout.pdf

 

[somethingnuw]

Yeah were planning highway 5 all the way from Kamloops to Jasper to home

The Coast just got hit with something called sunshine... its on a 5 day forcast for the same... you may get real lucky and sail all the way home on salt

 

[canadiancon]

and most highways through the interior of BC. Highways out of Kamloops also require winter tires with the "snowflake".

Legally all all is needed is a tire marked with the snowflake OR M+S And have 3.5 mm or more of tread, but there are lots of tires marked M+S that wouldn't do much good on a rwd vehicle in the crap conditions.

 

[Riverjet]

B.S. on that quote. Just for an example I checked out Goodyears website, they had 41 tires with the allseason rating stamp on then, of those 41 only TWO also had the proper winter tire use emblem.

I travel the same roads you claim to have 30 years incident free, over 2,000,000 km's under my belt, and I have come across far to may accidents where people who were "just fine" with their allseason tires that were sitting on their lids in the ditch. Very poor advice on your part. As somebody who is on these roads all day every day I want the other vehicle to be as prepared as possible. I am tired of having to miss them or worse yet come across the scene of yet another accident.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even if many like yours, are assumptions.

 

[Riverjet]

maybe you just got lucky? i 'm thinking she should buy better tires or have the car shipped. As previously mentioned, if she is askin, she already knows the answer.

Yup, 30 years of lucky. Pffft!

 

[rubirose]

So we had a good road trip with the mustang. Vancouver to Kamloops over the Coq. Only place we saw snow was on the " Smasher ". Road was wet, but did not have to slow down. No real snow at all. The only bad roads was on Saturday from just west of Jasper to east of Hinton. For those of you looking to go sledding in BC, don't waste your money. We talked to sledders in Valemount(no snow in town) and they said all the snow sucked, very hard, crusty snow, what little there was. Inn keeper said the same, they would get a dump of snow then the next day it would rain.

 

[LUCKY 7]

that's great you made it safe and sound. nice looking car

So we had a good road trip with the mustang. Vancouver to Kamloops over the Coq. Only place we saw snow was on the " Smasher ". Road was wet, but did not have to slow down. No real snow at all. The only bad roads was on Saturday from just west of Jasper to east of Hinton. For those of you looking to go sledding in BC, don't waste your money. We talked to sledders in Valemount(no snow in town) and they said all the snow sucked, very hard, crusty snow, what little there was. Inn keeper said the same, they would get a dump of snow then the next day it would rain.