Road conditions Lake Louise-Jasper in January?
 

I've got a dual centre Lake Louise/Jasper ski trip booked for January 2007,
using a hired 4x4 picked up from Calgary airport.
Its a bit difficult working out what the road conditions could be like,
bearing in mind that there are 2 passes at 2035m and 2069m along the route.
I have skied before at Lake Louise and have experienced some extreme
conditions there. I have also driven over Rabbit Ear Pass in Colorado
during a blizzard and that was a bit hairy!
Has anyone any advice on the Louise - Jasper section? How bad it might get
etc?

Bill Morgan
Crickhowell, UK

Road conditions Lake Louise-Jasper in January?
 

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:07:01 -0000, "WILLIAM MORGAN"
wrote:

I've got a dual centre Lake Louise/Jasper ski trip booked for January 2007,
using a hired 4x4 picked up from Calgary airport.
Its a bit difficult working out what the road conditions could be like,
bearing in mind that there are 2 passes at 2035m and 2069m along the route.
I have skied before at Lake Louise and have experienced some extreme
conditions there. I have also driven over Rabbit Ear Pass in Colorado
during a blizzard and that was a bit hairy!
Has anyone any advice on the Louise - Jasper section? How bad it might get
etc?

When I did a dual centre Jasper-Lake Louise trip in March a few years
ago, there was a huge snowstorm on the day we were traveling between
the two. We really couldn't see any of the supposedly spectacular
views.

But the road never even looked like becoming unpassable, and we were
in an MPV (driven by somebody else).

I had talked to the driver on the way up from Calgary, and he said he
had never known that road closed for more than a couple of hours. They
are a bit better at clearing road in Canada than in Wales :-)
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
If money could talk, it would say goodbye.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

Road conditions Lake Louise-Jasper in January?
 

Replying to my original posting, I can report on my personal experience
driving northwards up the Icefields Parkway on Jan 25th and returning
southwards on the 29th. We used a Jeep grand Cherokee.

The conditions on the 25th were described as "poor winter conditions" and
for most of the time the surface was packed snow, with grit [and salt?] on
the steeper pass sections. There was very little in the way of traffic and
around 60kph seemed the right speed for the conditions. Around half of the
vehicles travelling were not 4x4s. We spotted a young wolf, who obligingly
posed for a photo.

The return journey was described as fair winter conditions for the northern
section and poor for the southern one. The 1st half was very safe, as by
now, the road was clear of snow or had tarmac tracks. The southern section
consisted of sheet ice, with variable gritting and needed a lot of care on
bends and shaded sections. We came across one recently overturned pickup
truck but it looked as if no injuries were involved.

I really enjoyed both trips, which added to the total ski trip experience.
This must be one of the most spectacular World drives [and I have driven a
lot in the Alps, Afghanistan, Nepal & Peru]. Having a hired 4x4 on this
occasion was not essential. It would have been a different story if we had
done the trip a week earlier as I note from the traffic website that the
road was closed for snowploughing and avalanche clearing for periods.


Bill Morgan

"Alex Heney" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:07:01 -0000, "WILLIAM MORGAN"
wrote:

I've got a dual centre Lake Louise/Jasper ski trip booked for January
2007,
using a hired 4x4 picked up from Calgary airport.
Its a bit difficult working out what the road conditions could be like,
bearing in mind that there are 2 passes at 2035m and 2069m along the
route.
I have skied before at Lake Louise and have experienced some extreme
conditions there. I have also driven over Rabbit Ear Pass in Colorado
during a blizzard and that was a bit hairy!
Has anyone any advice on the Louise - Jasper section? How bad it might get
etc?

When I did a dual centre Jasper-Lake Louise trip in March a few years
ago, there was a huge snowstorm on the day we were traveling between
the two. We really couldn't see any of the supposedly spectacular
views.

But the road never even looked like becoming unpassable, and we were
in an MPV (driven by somebody else).

I had talked to the driver on the way up from Calgary, and he said he
had never known that road closed for more than a couple of hours. They
are a bit better at clearing road in Canada than in Wales :-)
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
If money could talk, it would say goodbye.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom