Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

[darkmanCANADA]

Well I am supposed to drive to Vernon, BC in a couple of days. I'm not confident that the TCH will open to public traffic by Thursday. So the alternate route is south to Fernie then Castlegar. My question is it better to take highway 33 north at Rock Creek or go past Osoyoos and take highway 97 north?

[T-Dubbs]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

My parents left for invermere this morning, and they are driving through fernie to get there. It adds 2.5 hours to their trip.
I would Google map your route and find the fastest route.

[darkmanCANADA]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

Yep tried that. Looks like either way is going to take 12+ hours with pee and boredom breaks for the kids. It's going to be a gamble with highway 33 or 97 depending what everyone else is doing. Last alternative is to fly to Kelowna.

[asp gti]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

i would say hwy 3 through fernie then up through radium/golden on 93 would be your best bet.

highway 3 is a long winding slower highway all the way to osoyoos, then you are looking at a good 2.5-3 hours from osoyoos to vernon.

Doing fairmont/radium/golden would probably make the normal 6 hour calgary to vernon drive more like 9, but you would be looking 11-13 going osoyoos

Edit: google maps says 10 vs almost 13 hours

[martin13]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

I heard highway 22 also got washed out in some parts, crowsnest pass had some flooding too. I would check the conditions of those roads before you decide to drive through fernie.

[FlyBoy]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

I'm doing the same trip this weekend. Possible alternate is north to Red Deer, west on David-Thompson Hwy through Rocky Mountain House, then south on the Icefield Parkway to Lake Louise, then onto Hwy 1. Might be a fee or require a park pass on Icefield Parkway, they have booths that are not manned 24/7. Usually there is no commercial traffic on Icefield as well, but they are allowing it with permits right now. Was similar travel time to the south options.

I think 93 was closed from Radium to Castle Junction IIRC, but that may have changed.

[onceover]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

I heard highway 22 also got washed out in some parts, crowsnest pass had some flooding too. I would check the conditions of those roads before you decide to drive through fernie.

I checked yesterday as I'm going to camping near Fernie on the weekend (You should come to BTW) and all looks well.

[martin13]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

I checked yesterday as I'm going to camping near Fernie on the weekend (You should come to BTW) and all looks well.

I'm flying to LA tomorrow lol, I would probably come with you otherwise. Good to know that the roads are all good that way.

[asp gti]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

my dad did this drive today (his plan was to go through fernie to radium) so when i hear from him i will ask how it was and the drive time

[quirky16v]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

may be open by the weekend...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Tr...462/story.html

[boostedmk4]

Re: Driving to Vernon, BC. TCH still closed

Thc open now. One lane either direction from Banff gate westward. Opened around 1800 Wednesday