Go West Young Man: The Coquihalla

After leaving Merritt, BC, you drive up.  And up. And up. And up.  You're now driving into the Cascade Mountain range.  The Cascades are the final mountain range to cross before you enter the Fraser River Valley.

Unlike Rogers and Kicking Horse Pass, the road through the Coquihalla is 4 lanes.  It's a well maintained highway with good lighting, good pavement & roadside bathrooms & points of interest.  At this point you're about 300 kms away from Vancouver but it doesn't feel that way lol. 

Don't let the 4 lane highway & scenery of this area fool you.  This is wild rugged country.  This is also the first mountain range that all that moist Pacific air meets.  The result?  It snows like a motherfucker in the Coquihalla.   In the winter of 2011-12, snow pack was nearly 1000 cms.  The first thing I noticed was how the road signs were very high up on poles.  The second I noticed that even though it was summer..there was still snowbanks 6 to 10 feet high.   The Coquihalla also has some of the steepest hills I've ever seen.  If you are traveling west, one of these hills is named "Hells Gate".   I put my car in neutral and let it coast down the hill.  Half the way down I was up past 160 km per hour.  This is a steep hill.  On the east bound side, trucks crawl up this hill, lucky to get over 20 km per hour.  Even a car with a good sized motor is challenged by this.   There are numerous chain up areas if you happen to be driving a truck.  You HAVE to chain up.  It's the law & the first time you go through this area in a snow storm, you'll understand why. 

I drove through this area many times during bad weather.  The weather changes extremely quickly and can get very nasty.  Trucks regularly get stuck going up the hill & block the lanes causing everyone to slow down.  The result is that YOU probably get stuck & it takes forever to get your car going again.  If the road is not clear you're heading up a steep grade, trying to push snow out of your way.  If the "chain up lights" are on and you are not a good winter driver, stop your car and go back.  If you happen to be a fan of snow, well enjoy.  There is lots of it.  On several occasions I left the Lower Mainland in a T shirt only to find myself in a ass kicking blizzard in the Coq. 

This is also an area with high avalanche risks.  A few times I was driving back from Vancouver & the conditions were perfect for an avalanche.  I actually got to witness a few small avalanches happen while I was driving.   The picture above is that of the Great Bear Snowshed.  The lack of trees is because the snow wiped everything out.