Traveling the ALCAN in Winter
My wife and I have traveled the ALCAN several times in the summer and twice by auto in the winter, but never in an RV in the winter. Our plan is to leave Alaska in early October and return in January...
Forum Discussion
Make sure your vehicle is properly winterized, lubes changed to synthetics,(bearings, transmission, rear end, etc and keep tires aired up, have extra belts for the engine as they tend to break in the extreme cold of the Interior ( which is why they are referred to as snow snakes on the streets of Fairbanks in the winter) and good winter gear. I realize the OP is from Wasilla, but that is part of the Alaska Banana Belt and for the most part, people there don't get too serious about winterizing their vehicles, as you have to do in the Interior of Alaska and northern Canada.
A vehicle problem in summer time is an inconvenience, but in winter time, it can become life threatening very quickly. Most of the 25+ years we lived in Alaska were in the Interior of the State, where it gets seriously cold in the winter. The other years were on the Bering Coast and lower Yukon River area.
I never had any desire to drive the Alaska Hwy in the winter, for some reason. We have flown our planes over to Whitehorse, a few times to see the bright lights and a mini vacation, during the winter. I suspect I have several 100,000 miles of driving on Alaska highways in the winter time and more than that, flying my airplanes. Winter driving in the Interior is much like bush flying, you may only get one "opps". A flat tire at -40 to -60° F, can get to be real serious, real fast, if a person isn't prepared with clothing, a heat source, etc.
Set some personal limits as to whether to start out in the cold or to stay parked at some road house till it warm up a bit. I used -40°F as a cut off temperature if my daughters and wife were going to be with me. Same with flying, even solo as I did most of the time. If I was out in one of the villages and wanted to get home, Nenana, I might fudge a bit and take off at -50°F if the weather forecast was good. Any colder than that I stayed put on the ground. I ended up stuck in the village of Allakaket for 13 days one winter(74 or 75) as it was just too cold to take a chance flying.
A winter trip can be a great adventure, if a person is prepared for it and the problems they may incur. Then again, you may hit a January that the super cold has not yet settled in then. The January thaw, most years was around the first or second week of January, and there would be actual puddle of water around due to the warm temperatures. Then the bottom falls out of the thermometers, and the next couple of months are the stuff that Jack London and Robert Service wrote about.
A vehicle problem in summer time is an inconvenience, but in winter time, it can become life threatening very quickly. Most of the 25+ years we lived in Alaska were in the Interior of the State, where it gets seriously cold in the winter. The other years were on the Bering Coast and lower Yukon River area.
I never had any desire to drive the Alaska Hwy in the winter, for some reason. We have flown our planes over to Whitehorse, a few times to see the bright lights and a mini vacation, during the winter. I suspect I have several 100,000 miles of driving on Alaska highways in the winter time and more than that, flying my airplanes. Winter driving in the Interior is much like bush flying, you may only get one "opps". A flat tire at -40 to -60° F, can get to be real serious, real fast, if a person isn't prepared with clothing, a heat source, etc.
Set some personal limits as to whether to start out in the cold or to stay parked at some road house till it warm up a bit. I used -40°F as a cut off temperature if my daughters and wife were going to be with me. Same with flying, even solo as I did most of the time. If I was out in one of the villages and wanted to get home, Nenana, I might fudge a bit and take off at -50°F if the weather forecast was good. Any colder than that I stayed put on the ground. I ended up stuck in the village of Allakaket for 13 days one winter(74 or 75) as it was just too cold to take a chance flying.
A winter trip can be a great adventure, if a person is prepared for it and the problems they may incur. Then again, you may hit a January that the super cold has not yet settled in then. The January thaw, most years was around the first or second week of January, and there would be actual puddle of water around due to the warm temperatures. Then the bottom falls out of the thermometers, and the next couple of months are the stuff that Jack London and Robert Service wrote about.
