Getting to Revelstoke --> With the road closures - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Qwerty · 06-20-2013, 10:33 AM

Hey guys, this rain for the last few days has caused me some troubles.

I need to drive to Whistler by Friday night, so the plan was to drive today and stay at a friends place in Revelstoke and then do the rest of the journey on Friday.

With all the road closures (Canmore--Banff), is there any experienced drivers that could recommend an alternative route?

Thanks,
Qwerty

ken0042 · 06-20-2013, 10:35 AM

Maybe go through Crowsnest Pass?
http://www.google.ca/maps?saddr=Calg...t=h&mra=ls&z=8

undercoverbrother · 06-20-2013, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwerty

Hey guys, this rain for the last few days has caused me some troubles.

I need to drive to Whistler by Friday night, so the plan was to drive today and stay at a friends place in Revelstoke and then do the rest of the journey on Friday.

With all the road closures (Canmore--Banff), is there any experienced drivers that could recommend an alternative route?

Thanks,
Qwerty

You could go south, via fernie, kimberley and north up 95, or stay on 3 west to the coast.

Hopefully someone has a better suggestion, cuz these add time to your trip.

J epworth · 06-20-2013, 10:48 AM

Going south through the Crowsnest is really your only option, and going back north to Revelstoke after going that far south is really couterproductive. Maybe try the whole journey tomorrow in one day? I've done highway 3 all the way to Vancouver in one day and it's not too bad (I find the road more fun to drive anyway). I know Whistler is that much further so it would be a big grind and you would need to get up early to make it, but that's what I would suggest.

Either that or do Hwy 3, but stay in a cheap hotel in grand forks or osoyoos.

guzzy · 06-20-2013, 10:50 AM

be careful on hwy 3 because blairmore is flooding as well. the potential exists they may close why 3 as well.

calumniate · 06-20-2013, 10:51 AM

^^

http://www.cheapflights.ca/flights-to-Whistler/Calgary/

Frequitude · 06-20-2013, 10:52 AM

Go south through the Crowsnest. That's what we did last year when the floods shut the highway down.

Flabbibulin · 06-20-2013, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J epworth kendal

Going south through the Crowsnest is really your only option, and going back north to Revelstoke after going that far south is really couterproductive. Maybe try the whole journey tomorrow in one day? I've done highway 3 all the way to Vancouver in one day and it's not too bad (I find it a more fun road to drive anyway). I know Whistler is that much further so it would be a big grind and you would need to get up early to make it, but that's what I would suggest.

Either that or do Hwy 3, but stay in a cheap hotel in grand forks or osoyoos.

Im not sure it would be that different in time if he diverted to Revelstoke from Cranbrook as opposed to just staying on the #3. He wouldn't need to go all the way down to Vancouver to get to Whistler from Revelstoke- would just turn on the 97 at Kamloops. Hwy 3 close to the border, via osoyoos, takes forever to get to Vancouver.

J epworth · 06-20-2013, 10:54 AM

Your other option if Blairmore does flood is going north through Rocky Mountain house. If you are gung ho on going to Revelstoke today it would probably be a quicker drive than going the south route.

cam_wmh · 06-20-2013, 10:54 AM

Yikes, looks like Crowsnest Pass is a no-go; "You Need a Thneed" post here:
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpos...3&postcount=54

I took this route in March. Calgary - Whitefish - Seattle - Whistler. I drove through Fernie, and then south. That doesn't appear to be an option.

I've adjusted it to cross the border on the Alberta side.

http://goo.gl/maps/kk9dG

Good luck!

JD · 06-20-2013, 10:55 AM

Since the 1 and 3 seem to be both be flooding, if you absolutely need to go, you can head west from Red Deer and then once you get to the Icefields Parkway, either go south to rejoin Hwy 1 in Louise or north to Jasper. From Jasper you can drive to Kamloops, but would need to backtrack to Revelstoke.

I've driven Hwy 3 and while it's a fun and scenic drive, it's also insanely long and seems to have more construction on it than any other highway in the world.

dammage79 · 06-20-2013, 10:58 AM

So you cannot get into Canmore now from the Eagle terrace/Bow Valley campground turn off either? Why would they shut that off ramp down?

But then I guess you'd just be trapped in Banff.

Flabbibulin · 06-20-2013, 10:59 AM

Regardless of your diverted route, I would leave now.

Northendzone · 06-21-2013, 12:35 AM

I am guessing that Hilary 1a won't work.....too lazy top open another window and look

bossy22 · 06-21-2013, 08:02 AM

I think quickest way is to cross border south of standoff, go around park via Browning. Take Duck Lake Road, not due south straight to Browning. It's a lot more Kms but still faster than going to the sun road. Going to the sun is slow. Get to whitefish, and you can go north through rooseville to cranbrook or keep south in the US.

However going to the sun is beautiful. Browning is a very poor reservation, and isn't so nice.

CRXguy · 06-22-2013, 01:46 PM

Hey Qwerty,

I'm in the same boat as well. Going to Vancouver but stopping in Kamploops for the night. We were planning on leaving Calgary in the afternoon this Wednesday. Might have to leave in the morning instead now.

Looks like I'll be going to Airdrie then west to Hwy 22 North -> West Hwy 11 -> South Hwy 93 then TransCanada Hwy. Anyone that has taken Hwy 11, is it single lane each direction? Anyone travel recently in the past few weeks between Lake Louise and Golden? Any slowdowns I should be aware of?

Thanks.

bossy22 · 06-22-2013, 02:41 PM

I got to Whitefish last night. I ended up going down hwy 2 then west on the 540. Hwy 2 was shutdown north of ft Macleod. The hwy was dry all the way from chain lakes until Fernie. They had some washout near Sparwood, but they cleaned it up and traffic is down to 1 lane going west there. 50km/hr.
at fernie they were frantically sandbagging right on the shoulder. The highway is flooding and the elk river is crazy high, but you can tell its come down a bit.

dammage79 · 06-22-2013, 02:42 PM

Elissa Carpenter ‏@CTVecarpenter 30m
Good news. RCMP say west and eastbound #transcanada will be open within hours #abflood
Retweeted by Alex Ruiz

edn88 · 06-25-2013, 09:49 AM

I need to get to Kelowna on Friday (need to drive). Has anybody driven highway 3 route in last few days>

Notice Hwy 11 looks promising, but have never driven it (I assume it is in reasonable shape).

Qwerty · 06-25-2013, 10:22 AM

On the way back we came through Golden to Rocky Mountain house through Sundre and Cochrane and the roads were fine. We had stopped in Revelstoke for the night before though.

The route we took to get there we went through Crowsnest Pass and some of the roads were down to one lane with washouts and it was recommended to us yesterday not to go back down that way.

If you are going the Rocky Mountain House route, listen to the warnings and watch out for deer. There were 3 people within a km that had hit deer and the deer were standing in the ditch watching the cars go by. We hit one and thank god we were in a F150 because everyone was alright, the Nissan Rogue that we passed 30 seconds before was in MUCH worse shape.

The conservation officer told us that because of the floods all the deer have come to the roads to eat/etc and are not used to how much traffic are on these roads now with the highways being closed.