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Cross Canada by car in December
November 16, 2008 4:11 AM   RSS feed for this thread Subscribe

Driving across Canada, in December, please advise.

How long will it take, and how bad will the snow / conditions be? I am an experienced driver, and the need is to get from Toronto to Vancouver and back. Leaving Toronto Dec. 1, and need to be back there Dec. 26.

What I want to know is how long realistically will this trip take? I can push and drive quite long days, no need for major siteseeing or tourism on the way, the aim is to maximise time in Vancouver. There will only be one driver, but I have no problem driving 12+ hours per day.

Travelling on major highways, will snow or really bad weather be a potential issue? It will be a rental car, so preparing with snow chains etc. will be kind of a hassle / impractical.

And please, any other tips or advice you think I need for such a plan.
posted by Meatbomb to travel & transportation (29 comments total)
According to Streets and Trips (which I've found to be realistic), with 10 hours driving per day (I imagine you'll want to stop occasionally, and 12 hours didn't make much difference anyway), it's about 4 days going through the US, and about 5 days going completely trans-Canada if you don't want to cross the border. I imagine you'd see less snow going the US route. There will be snow in the Rockies, but I doubt the need for chains on the highways providing your tires aren't bald. Or just fly and be there in 4 hours.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 4:30 AM on November 16, 2008


In December getting from the Alberta plains to Vancouver is going to be a real problem if you want to avoid bad weather/snow. You are travelling through the mountains. The roads are maintained and the snow crews are used to harsh weather, but you will have occasional road closings in addition to the very high probability of snow/bad weather.

There is no way to avoid the mountains unless you can make the Ontario border crossing and cross back from the US in Washington. Is that an option for you? It may be quicker and less of a hassle, as you'll be going through lower passes in the US.

I can't give you an estimate on time as I've never driven the full route in Canada. I've driven parts of it inside Canada, and the full route in the US. My best guess based on that is that how long it takes depends on you - how fast you drive, how often you stop. If you are driving the speed limit, 12 hours a day, depending on stops it will take you a good 3-4 days to drive, with no bad weather. You are probably looking at 5-6 days with the weather you will realistically face.

Someone who has made the full trip can probably tell you more. And from what I remember living in Ontario the police were rather liberal in their attitude toward speeding, if that is your driving style. I can't speak to plains provinces on that though.
posted by Nixie Pixel at 4:45 AM on November 16, 2008


Because I am travelling with someone without a US visa we cannot attempt a crossing into US, so sadly it will need to be all within Canada.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:47 AM on November 16, 2008


Do you plan on taking the Trans-Canadian Highway, or are you willing/able to drive through the U.S.? Going through the U.S. will, in all likelihood, be faster and cheaper (well, maybe not with the extra insurance... I dunno).

I would really, strongly advise against doing this solo, but if you have no other choice then you must ensure you get plenty of rest to stay alert. I would bring as much varied music with you as you can.

Regardless of whether you stay in Canada or go through the U.S., everything is going to slow down once you hit the mountains, especially in the winter.

I'd say a single person should expect the trip to take five days at best during the winter time, but also remember this number will quickly jump if you hit bad weather in the mountains. If you had a co-pilot you could probably shave a day off that. You'd also cut your travel costs in half. On the bright side, gas is pretty cheap.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:48 AM on November 16, 2008


Staying only in Canada, but you do have another driver with you?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:51 AM on November 16, 2008


Oh, by the way, you are looking at paying around $200 CDN each way in gas, if not more, not to mention other costs of road travel (and car rental, which is not essential within Vancouver itself). Air Canada has a regular flight that will cost somewhere around $500 round trip.

What is driving (pun intended) your desire to make the trip by car? With some of your stated concerns it may not be the best way to make this trip...
posted by Nixie Pixel at 4:54 AM on November 16, 2008


Ahh, sorry, I should have checked the preview - with another person flying becomes less attractive of an option. I would budget 7 days for the trip each way, and try to make the mountain crossing during daytime hours only.
posted by Nixie Pixel at 4:57 AM on November 16, 2008


Yeah, if it's just you, Nixie Pixel's estimate is probably more realistic given the time of year.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:02 AM on November 16, 2008


argh... if it's just you driving.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:03 AM on November 16, 2008


Oh, I didn't answer your last - In preparation for a winter trip over the mountains you will want to pack cold weather gear (coats, boots, warm socks, etc.), blankets, extra water, have a roadside emergency kit (flares, first aid, etc.), and have extra non-perishable food. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring a roll of toilet paper with you.

Bring a way to make heat - candles + lighter/matches actually work well for this, as they're cheap and even a single candle can heat up the interior of a car enough to save one's life.

You will need a heavy-duty ice scraper for the trip. And don't forget the importance of a good map.
posted by Nixie Pixel at 5:08 AM on November 16, 2008


I made the trip from Calgary to Niagra Falls, then down to Providence, RI in 3.5 days but we had 3 dogs with us so stops were very necessary. Vancouver to Calgary is about 4 hours longer than Niagra Falls to Providence so 4 days could be possible if you pushed it. Realistically though, I'd plan on 5 or 6.

Personally, I can drive 20 hours or more without a recharge but I'm a freak like that and probaby the excpetion more than the rule.

If you do night driving, once you get out of Winnipeg the road starts becoming a lot more challenging and it's also very poorly lit. I would reccomend pulling over the minute you feel tired because there are a lot of fast trucks to contend with and also plenty of HUGE moose on the sides of the road at night. You don't want to hit a moose as they are roughly the same size as your car.

Also as Nixie Pixel mentioned, the mountains between Calgary and Vancouver can be a weather mess, especialy in December. I'd expect that to be a potential slowdown factor as they sometimes close the roads entirely.
posted by jtoth at 5:09 AM on November 16, 2008


If I were driving (I'm in Ottawa so it's basically the same drive and one that I've contemplated before), this is how I'd break it up. 5 1/2 days. As other have said above, tack on a day or two for weather, or just to take a break.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 5:37 AM on November 16, 2008 [1 favorite]


If you're interested in just easier driving and a better probability of avoiding bad weather, and don't care about missing some nice scenery, I'd recommend Highway 11 instead of 17 for the Ontario bit of the trip. Watch out for speed traps, there are always a few. I guess four days is reasonably possible, stopping along the way somewhere near: Geraldton, Winnipeg, Calgary. I have no trouble driving 12-hour days too, but personally wouldn't want to do it four days in a row.
posted by sfenders at 5:49 AM on November 16, 2008


I live just off of the Trans-Canada in Dryden, Ontario.

This part of the highway (Winnipeg border to Thunder Bay) can be absolutely miserable in the winter months. Road closures due to accidents and weather are not infrequent (yes, the only link from one side of Canada to the other is shut down), but they usually don't last longer than about 12 hours at the very most.

The North Shore of superior can be treacherous in the winter too - think hairpin curves with 300 foot drops and narrow shoulders.

Give yourself lots of time.
posted by davey_darling at 6:43 AM on November 16, 2008


I'm an old hand at cross country American drives, and I think the 12 hour a day driving shift is very doable.
The thing that I think works best is booking a motel each morning for the coming night. It gives a realistic goal to shoot for and you are assured of a place to stay. There is nothing like getting to a town and finding all the rooms for a hour around booked because the state wrestling championships are being held or something, and you are seeing double. You can cancel your room without any charge if you do it by 6:00 PM.
And....BOOKS ON CD.
posted by readery at 6:55 AM on November 16, 2008


It will be significantly faster if you drive via I-90 through the USA, meet I-5 in Washington state and then go north a few hours to Vancouver.
posted by thewalrus at 7:10 AM on November 16, 2008


OK I didn't see the part about the US visa, so scratch that. I suggest you have tire chains, not the cheap kind, on hand for the Calgary to Vancouver drive. In particular the section from Banff through Rogers Pass until you get past Golden BC. PRACTICE PUTTING THE CHAINS ON YOUR CAR somewhere like a parking lot with no snow first.

It will be a very boring drive from Sudbury to Winnipeg. Winnipeg to Calgary will be just as boring again.

I don't suggest taking the southern route which passes through Lethbridge AB and then Nelson, BC to Osoyoos BC. It is very scenic in good weather and a fun trip to ride on a bus, but I wouldn't want to drive it in the snow unless I had a full-time 4WD car with traction control and snow tires.
posted by thewalrus at 7:15 AM on November 16, 2008


This has the potential to be a nice drive or a brutal drive; it depends entirely on the weather. Obviously you could get hit by a snowstorm at any point; if you're in the mountains it might mean a road closure, but even in the prairies you don't want to be driving in whiteouts.

Make sure you're prepared for the worst (having to spend days in your car after being snowed in after making a wrong turn), and follow the weather closely. Learn to read the long-term charts. It will make a big difference -- if you know when a storm is coming you will know when to stop driving.
posted by PercussivePaul at 9:37 AM on November 16, 2008


There will only be one driver, but I have no problem driving 12+ hours per day.

Put this thought out of your mind. It's one thing to drive 12 hours on the 401 and on US interstates. It's another thing to do it west across Canada.

I did Vancouver to Banff as a solo driver. It took me 14 hours (including stops) and I was practically hallucinating by the end. I went in May, so I was only night driving for two hours or so. But the night driving is tiring and stressful - hairpin turns, poorly lit road, weather hazards, animal hazards. Keep in mind that in December, you have maybe 8 hours of daylight to play with in the mountain areas.

Nthing 7+ days, mountain driving during daylight hours only, and chains. I wouldn't plan driving after 6 pm on any day. Make sure you have a full emergency kit - blankets, hats, shovels, kitty litter or sand, candles, flashlights, jumper cables, decent spare tire, scraper, snow brush, food, water, flares or hazard warners, first aid kit. Bring a really good shovel. Carry extra washer fluid and refill at least once a day. Remember that at night you can get stranded up to 50 km from the nearest gas station, so be prepared to sleep in the car in winter conditions. Don't make reservations for places, stop as soon as you need it. If you hit winter conditions and cannot drive any longer you do not want to risk yourself pushing for a destination.
posted by crazycanuck at 9:45 AM on November 16, 2008


I live in Calgary and regularly drive home to Victoria. Crapshoot on the weather - I've had horrible, whiteout conditions through the Rockies that scared me half to death, and I've had December trips which were sunny and clear the whole way. Be prepared for the former. Chains aren't really as good as a good set of winter tires, but if it's a rental you may not be able to control that. Try to get them from the rental place if you can.

There are some hairy sections through the Rogers Pass and also at the west end of the Coquihalla approaching Hope. Get the best rental car you can - one with proper fog lights is really good in poor visibility. The higher the angle between you and the angle of the headlights the better it is for seeing - and this has always been my #1 problem in bad weather. This is usually why the big semis can plow on by you when you can't see anything - and this is truly scary when you don't know where you are and can't pull over.

Know what the weather's doing, and know exactly where you'll be able to stop and get a place to stay, or at least sit and wait some weather out. Consider trying to time the trip from Canmore to Hope for a good weather day.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:16 AM on November 16, 2008


Echoing what they've said above about the weather. Driving across the prairies at that time of the year, the ideal scenario is sunny and fairly cool (warmer weather could lead to pavement frost, or worse, freezing rain, as well as uncontrollable skids.) But you could just as likely hit a blizzard, and it's not fun when you can't see where the sky ends and the ground begins.

Major retailers like Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart sell winter road survival kits (matches, foil blanket, candles, first aid, etc.)

Be prepared for some city driving. There is no bypass at Calgary; you'll be going through the north end on a non-freeway street. Ditto for a very short stretch at Regina until you get to the bypass. All the routes are well marked, and it's a four-lane highway.

The speed limit through Saskatchewan and Alberta is 110 km/h, but don't push it if there's ice or snow to any extent on the road. In BC your best option is the Coquihalla Highway -- it was worth the 10 dollar toll before, and that toll has now been lifted.

Having grown up on the Prairies, I've done more than my share of winter driving. But it helps when you can plan your travel around the weather. If you're lucky, you'll at least get a straight shot with nice weather before you have the mountains to worry about. That's a whole other kettle of fish, but see above for good advice.
posted by evilcolonel at 10:27 AM on November 16, 2008


I would also consider not going through Calgary/Banff, if the weather is remotely bad. Go instead through Edmonton/Jasper. It would be a bit longer, but the highway from Jasper to Kamloops is significantly nicer than the Roger's Pass route.
posted by vernondalhart at 10:49 AM on November 16, 2008


Might be a good idea not to try it without winter (rather than all season) tires on the car.
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:08 AM on November 16, 2008


I'm assuming that there are reasons why you don't want to fly, but have you considered the bus? Greyhound will get you there and back for under $500 and will easily beat a single driver car. their schedule states it will take under three days each way.
posted by Neiltupper at 12:20 PM on November 16, 2008


Five days is a reasonable time for this trip (more if you don't want to drive in the dark a bit). You might be perfectly fine with the weather, but in December, you have a pretty good chance of heavy snow on Roger's Pass (which there isn't really a good way to avoid: Highway 3 in BC is often worse and going north through Edmonton and Jasper, as suggested above, is much longer) and on the Coquihalla. Be prepared for avalanche control delays* and do whatever you can to avoid driving Roger's Pass in the dark (stay in the Calgary/Canmore area the night before on the way out and Salmon Arm/Sicamous/Revelstoke on the way back). If you can't get a car with snow tires, be prepared to travel very slowly if conditions are bad.

* When there is a lot of snowing falling, they close the road and set of potential avalanches with artillery shells. You may end up having to wait an hour or more, up to half a day if conditions get really bad.
posted by ssg at 1:09 PM on November 16, 2008


Oh, by the way, you are looking at paying around $200 CDN each way in gas, if not more,

Oh more. Much much more. Mountains drink your gas like whoa - it usually costs us nearly that much just to get from Calgary to Kamloops.

As far as time goes, while in the summer we can get from Calgary to Vancouver in 12 or 13 hours, in the winter is has taken us up to 20. One bad car accident, and the roads are closed for HOURS, and there is always a pretty good chance of a car accident in the winter in the Rockies. With that said, the new bridge has been built in the Kicking Horse pass and the highway is now twinned all the way through the mountains, so it is much safer and faster than it has been in previous years. Winter tires, for sure.

Greyhound? Pretty good for price, but a bad Greyhound trip from Kamloops to Calgary last year (unscheduled middle-of-the-night shop in Revelstoke, where they kicked us out of the bus and made us stand in the January cold for three hours) is the reason we bought a car. I would not recommend Greyhound if you have any other option at all.
posted by arcticwoman at 1:13 PM on November 16, 2008


I would not recommend making this trip. It's simply not safe to drive across Canada in December without winter tires, which as you say don't come on rental cars. Even with them, I wouldn't drive the mountains in December (cue voice of Gandalf re the Mines of Moria) unless I had no other choice.

Can you take this trip by plane, or do you really, really need to transport stuff by car? If you have to transport things, I would seriously consider sending heavy items by bus or train parcel and flying with as much as the airline allows. Bus parcel is relatively cheap and it gets there in not too many days. Taking a plane will also be way cheaper than renting a car for that amount of time and paying for gas.

If you absolutely, positively have to make this trip by car, buy a good set of winter tires and put them on the car, then switch them out when you get back. Yes, it will be very expensive, but at least it will be safe. As I said, driving is not the economically sensible way to do this, so if you're already spending more than necessary, then another few hundred dollars to potentially save your life on mountains roads is worth it.
posted by Dasein at 4:22 PM on November 16, 2008


In theory you'll need to have chains (or good winter tires for which the all seasons on a rental would not qualify) for the Calgary-Vancouver route. All BC highways are posted to that effect (with shiny new retroreflecitve signs this year). I've never heard of non commercial traffic being cited though.

Having said that, and even though I have chains (and studded winters) for my vehicles I never chain up for highway travel preferring instead to just wait it out. I never have to be anywhere that bad. The only time I've been stuck more than 18 hours the roads were closed by avalanche for 4 days.

I wouldn't hesitate to drive Calgary - Kamloops via 1 or Kamloops to Vancouver via 5 in the winter with the caveat that I'd check to make sure the highway was open and conditions weren't such that closure was likely. Of course take this with a big dose of YMMV depending on your skill and comfort at driving in fair-poor winter conditions. Compact snow and ice are practically a guarantee. Closures of 12-24 hours aren't unusual on either of those routes (though you can often re-route through Radium when 1 closes at a cost of a couple hours) and a multi day closure happens at least once each winter. IE: expect delays and plan to spend up to 48 hours on the side of the road or in some one horse town. Even a "happen'" place like Revelstoke can be pretty boring for 16 hours on a Sunday night in the dead of winter.

I'd drive at night or early morning as much as possible to avoid non professional traffic as much of the BC leg before you get to Kamloops is undivided two lane highway.

You need a winter preparedness kit. For me for that trip it would consist of:Optionally depending on my mood I'd include (but you might want to skip if you either don't already own them or don't own a car):
posted by Mitheral at 2:44 AM on November 24, 2008


I am going to add this to my "stupid ideas MetaFilter has talked me out of" file. Thank you for injecting realism to everyone who made it clear what was involved. For the cost of two flights and the extra vacation time in Vancouver it just doesn't make sense to attempt this.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:52 AM on November 24, 2008


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