Hows the drive from Van to Calgary?

[j0nblayz]

hey guys, planning to fly up to vancouver to pick up a car real soon here, but just wondering hows the highway from van to calgary? especially around the mountains? As soon as my wife's ford escort is sold, i'm gonna book a flight to van, hoping to fly up there this week. But kinda worried driving back, checked the forecast and seems to look good on the highway, but wondering has anyone driven back from van lately?

[InLoveWitRSX]

i drive to van and back at least like 5 times every year.. and its actually pretty good. and with the good weather lately it should be good

[Kloubek]

As long as the Coke doesn't have a ton of snow, you should be ok. It gets pretty nasty sometimes - especially near the summit.

[Speedy]

Are you picking up a new car?

I have driven it more times then I can remember and its an awesome trip...The weather can change so fast, if you don't know the history of the car and are thinking of putting some new tires on when you get back you might want to consider putting them on down (I think you can get out of the PST if you can prove you out of province) there at the very least I would invest in some new wipers and a big thing of washer fluid the Coquihalla can go from rain to snow back to rain on each corner or it can be dry as a bone.

The rogers pass can be a bit treacherous at times too but if you take your time you should have no problems, they are usually pretty good at clearing the roads.

[bennyhanna]

Your Answer

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/bchighwaycam/index.aspx

[2BLUE]

The coke is easy to drive....Rogers Pass can get sketchy sometimes.

[Canmorite]

When its dry (summer) it only takes about 10 hours from Calgary. ~120-130 with a few stops.

[Maddog55]

I just drove the pass on Friday (15th) and came home on Thursday (21st)

The trip there, (15th) the roads were brutal. snowing like crazy, visibility of about 100 ft max and slippery as hell. 20 to 30 kmh going thru the summit.

On Tuesday (19th) hwy 1 was closed east of Golden from avalanches. When we came thru on Thursday, roads were bare and dry, but the road was down to one lane and they were still clearing the avalanche debris. But averaged over 90k the whole way from Salmon Arm to Calgary. 6 hour drive.

But the conditions can change within a few hours...so it's pretty much a crapshoot.

[del-lude]

You're better off shipping the car back if you don't want it to get chipped up bad. When I went last winter, it was so nice in Calgary but when I got to the Kok highway, it was just brutal snowing like crazy and gravel all over the place. Had to repaint the whole front end of my FX35 and get a new winshield when I got back. Never again will I drive there during winter months.

[Kona9]

IT'S COQ FOR FUCK SAKES!!! Not Coke, not kok, not cock. COQ!!

/ end rant.

[Maddog55]

Originally posted by Kona9
IT'S COQ FOR FUCK SAKES!!! Not Coke, not kok, not cock. COQ!!

/ end rant.

^ LOL...I hear ya. Startin to sound like me.

Anyways here's a good list of live-feed web cams of all hwys in BC

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/bchighwaycam/index.aspx

[kerry]

Agreed. If the Coke doesn't have snow it's a WICKED drive. Probably one of the nicest drives we get to do here in Canada IMO.

Lots of nice roads, nice view.

Hope you get some nice weather for the drive back!

[j0nblayz]

im hoping it will be a nice drive too. I arrive there friday morning with my sister's husband, if everything goes well, should be on the road by 3ish, we'll drive til 9ish, pull over anywhere and stay over night and drive rest and stop at banff to meet my wife and sister, stay at banff one night and drive back to calgary.

[alloroc]

I did that in 2000.

On the drive back it was sunny and warm everything was melting - including all the snow that fell the last 2 days.

Every time a bigrig passed by in the oncoming lane the car was showered with rocks. Apparantly they use rocks on he BC highways - and I mean ROCKS! not pebbles or sand but big assed friggin ROCKS! Even slowing down to like 30kph and pullin over to the right as far as I could when they passed I got dents in the hood and a cracked windshield.

[j0nblayz]

whoa.. hopefully they changed that since 2000..

[ZorroAMG]

3M your whole front end if you plan to drive it in the winter.

When I moved to Van and drove Enzo out, It salt & Peppered my whole front bumper.

I'm getting the whole front end re-sprayed and windshield replaced this spring.

[asp integra]

its a nice little drive fer sure! i was just driving from kelowna to calgary 4 days ago and rogers is fine, no snow, it had all melted, and they do a good job of clearing the roads so it shouldnt be a problem

[adam c]

Originally posted by Canmorite
When its dry (summer) it only takes about 10 hours from Calgary. ~120-130 with a few stops.

9 hours max if the weather is right (Calgary -> Van)
10-11hours (Van -> Calgary)

last time i drove down there (October) the roads were complete bs, it took me 14 hours from calgary to van. it rained the entire way, and if it wasnt raining it was snowing. the worst road conditions were just after kamloops where it was shear ice. it was all ice and snow up until a few km from the toll booth

[j0nblayz]

thanx guys but my drive has been delayed til next friday, so hopefully the weather is still good next week!!

[iamkorean]

why don't you forget the drive, and just ship the car.?
cheapest is mcgil car carrier, for 375 if jdm add another 75 or something... but they can be busy.
so i used car carriers from cremona, they did it for 575 total.
it saves time, hassle, and money maybe.
hey who knows if storm goes thru ?