tweed_wearer

We are looking to drive from Vancouver to Vernon to spend Christmas with my wife's aunt and uncle there.

The wife is getting nervous about the drive, the roads being quite bendy and the weather being unpredictable. Is she being silly or is it really a road of death?

For info, we will be using a rental car, so no doubt it will have all weather tyres at best, and certainly not winter tyres. I have never driven in snow before.

Am I taking my life into my own hands?

JonboyE

Then once you know what kind of car you will have get some chains. You may not be allowed on the Coquihalla or the Connector without them. Slow and steady is the way. Lots of people do that drive and survive.

mbgirlfriend

I hope you mean Vernon BC? There are a few places with that name in Canada?

How long of a drive is it?

I am an experienced winter driver. I grew up in Manitoba. But I would not commit to any winter road trip over 3 hours long.

If you are going to plan on it also plan to back out if road conditions are even a little bad. Do not risk it.

printer

The road that is most used and the shortest is also the most publicised and the most dangerous. There are frequent closures and extreme weather events on both the Coquihalla and the Connector. Discovery channel has made plenty of money out of the series Highway Thru Hell
which is based on winter up on the Coq, between Merrit and Hope.
There can be a foot or more of snow in a short time, there can be avalanche risks and possible closures and sheet ice and blowing snow for miles, but many people travel it regularly and it may well be perfectly ok in December. I drove it in late December years ago before we immigrated in a hire vehicle and it was fine and i also travelled to Van and back 4 times during Jan and Feb last year. I have also had an accident on it on black ice on a bridge deck and wrecked our then Jeep Liberty which didn't have winter tires on at the time so in general watch the weather forecasts and check DriveBC before you travel and drive carefully.
Contact the car rental company and ask about tires, they should be supplying at least tires with mud and snow rating or the snowflake symbol, its the law on most highways and mountain passes for sure

neilg14

I wouldn't drive that run through choice in the winter but if you do decide to, by far the best but not the shortest route would be to go to Hope then take HWY1 (Fraser Canyon) to Kamloops then Kamloops to Vernon.
Only a few steep inclines and mostly snow free.

withabix

Chains are only required for large commercial vehicles.

You only need M+S tyres now as of this year (you would have to try quite hard to buy anything less anyway in BC), although I wouldn't attempt it without tyres without the snowflake/mountain symbol personally. The rubber is softer in cold temperatures, the sipes in the tread also help and these tyres provides better grip as a result.

I wouldn't recommend a RWD car unless you are familiar with its behaviour in the snow.

I did the Coquihalla and the Connector (the latter of which you wouldn't use to go to Vernon anyway) many times last winter in a Nissan Frontier with snowflake tyres including when it was closed due to the amount of snow (I was already between the closures when they closed it).

I passed many people with their cars embedded in the snow bank, particularly in the Portia Peak section. Victims of using their brakes rather than steering, gearbox and engine speed.

At the coldest point (usually at Brenda Mines on the Connector) it was -30C.

Last winter was the worst weather for decades on the Coq.

The Kamloops to Vernon road can be quite icy and snowy too.

Slow and sensible is the way. The speed limit isn't a target.

Juggernaut1064

Im a trucker and been over those mountains more times than i care to remember and many times in winters own version of hell
As the post suggest try to stay off the brakes, dont tailgate as sudden braking is the biggest cause of spin outs in the winter. Go easy on the gas pedal too if it gets bad.
Theres just as good a chance that the road will be clear edge to edge and you can hammer down & go BUT that can change very quickly up there, carry blankets etc in case you do spin out and get stuck or break down, dont let the gas tank drop too low either.
Snow chains etc as said are only mandated for commercial trucks and my opinion of them as an experienced trucker is this "if i need them to get going or keep going i park up till i don't need them" !!!! If its that bad then don't go !
if your not experienced in severe winter driving i can assure you that the Greyhound Bus Drivers ARE and maybe you should look into going by Greyhound ??? less stressful and much safer for you !

HGerchikov

I don't know the roads in that area myself, but based on all of the comments above, I think your wife has a point. Is there another way of getting there? Juggernaut above suggest Greyhound, maybe worth looking into.

Lychee

Another option is to fly into Kelowna, hire a car at the airport, and drive north to Vernon, which is a short drive and a much safer option.

Juggernaut1064

Flying is a good option but again renting a car and driving, Those Greyhound drivers know their stuff and likely you'll get there in one piece, they have toilets on those buses too and make regular stops so if you smoke or need a drink ? Your aunty and uncle could pick you up at the greyhound stop or hop a cab for the short ride to their place.

https://www.greyhound.ca/

If you book tickets online and print them off yourself you save lots ! Ive used greyhound a lot for getting truck drivers to orientation when flying isnt an option, never had any complaints.

caretaker

How much further is it to take the 3 to Kaladen junction and go straight up 97? Manning Park is nice, you get to see lots of the Okanagan and don't have the faster traffic on the Coq. There's always the off chance of a storm on 97 but generally it's ok. That's how I would normally do it.

JonboyE

There are more places to fall off Hwy 3 than the Coquihalla.

printer

And its way longer, especially to Vernon! But pretty

withabix

The attached photo is from Manning Park on 19th February, taken using the dash cam I was trying out at the time....

That was on a straight bit too!

caretaker

Withabix that's nothing, once while riding the bus I saw so many cars in the ditch on #1 between Chilliwack and Vancouver I only counted those with all 4 wheels in the air and quit when I got to about 27 (love being on Greyhound when the road is like that!). Lots of times the land beside the Trans Canada will be bare to Chilliwack and as soon as you turn onto #3 there's snow (literally a mile from where people are still golfing) and on entering the park it's piled up 10' high beside the road but they do plow it asap and keep the equipment right there. That's what the highway hotline is for, also the electronic signs over the road. Way longer is sort of the answer I was looking for, especially to Vernon is a bit more detailed, but not very..... I used to go visit my relatives in Kamloops, Penticton, Oliver, then out to Van winter and summer and that's the main hwy. I just don't like the Coquihalla because of the speed. I nearly got squashed by a semi going 90 or 100 mph there once and still don't like it. Sometimes I take the old #1 through Hell's Gate to Van instead - it's only 2 lane but seems to have half the traffic it used to thanks to the Coquihalla.