Anyone driven north of Vancouver in April before?

leaskovski

leaskovski

leaskovski

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Hi all,

Not sure if this is in the right place or not. Maybe it should be in motors?

Anyway, I'm off to Canada for the first 2 weeks of April and I was wondering what the roads are like during that period. Basically the Mrs and I are going to hire a motor and go to Vancouver Island for a few days, and then after that we are going to head up to Whistler to get some important skiing done (well for me anyway).

I'm trying to figure out if the roads are likely to be bad at that time of year and thus if I need snow chains, or even need to go for a 4x4. Maybe the rentals might have winter tyres fitted... who knows.

Anyway, if anyone on here has had experience in that neck of the woods, your advice would be welcome!

Cheers
 
The majority of us are British, and I will be surprised if you get a honest reply :(

Have you gone a good old google?
 
Only ever done it in the summer so can't give you any solid advice.

What I will say is highway 99, which is the route I assume you will be taking is a pretty major route on the west cost so doubt you will have any problems at all.
 
I'd be very surprised if you needed chains on the 99 highway. I went down it hundreds of times during my two years there and never needed chains. he road was always clear. Possibly once you get to Whistler, depending on the snow.
 
Used to live in Vancouver, and Whistler, travelled between them both year round.

You don't need a 4x4.

As per http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/SeasonalDriving/winter_chains.html you need to either have winter tyres or snow chains from Oct 1st - April 30th.

However I've driven the route probably 20 times and never been stopped by a checkpoint. Therefore you may decide to risk it, getting a heavy snow fall in April is low probability - nevertheless possible.

Check their twitter account for regular updates: https://twitter.com/hwy99
 
if you are hiring a car, tell them you are planning on driving to whistler and surely they will make it legal - I did that trip a good few times and even when it was cold and snowing the roads were good enough for my friends ****** impala!
the other option would be to take a bus!
(other option might be to take public transport and then rent on the island, then do the same on the city side) would save a bit of cash missing the ferry costs
 
hehe, that'll be me in a months time!

We were planning on doing it all public transport, but it just mean't additional costs, plus the added bonus of having to make sure we lugged all our stuff about as well. It also means we can give a friend a lift back from whilster as well saving them $50 on a transfer.
 
Just remembered reading that Greyhound run a bus service as well as Pacific Coach Lines which is the only bus company listed on the official Whistler website. Stupid site! Turns out you can get a return for $32pp. That would be cheaper than taking the car up there and it doing nothing for the 5 days skiing.

Damn, I just poo pooed my idea that I was using to convince the Mrs for us to just hire the motor for the 11 days in total instead of 5.
 
Figured this is better in here rather than a new thread.

Anyone done British Columbia in October? Is the weather likely to be a bit rubbish?

Planning my next trip and flights are circa £200 per person lower in October than they are in September, my preferred month.
 
Depends which part your in tho.

EDIT: What are you actually going there for? just looking through the date stamps on some photos a friend sent me from 2012/13 and the weather was fair but quite rainy around the middle of October and the first proper heavy snowfall was somewhere around the last 2 weeks of November and started to clear around the start of the second week in Feb.
 
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