How are the road grades through Canada

[LARuss]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Alaska. We plan to travel through Banff and Jasper on the mountain route. We are going to buy a large fifth wheeler and a new truck and start fulltiming for a while. I have pulled travel trailers all over the country but have never traveled these roads. I am concerned about the grades on this trip and would appreciate any information anyone could give me.

[ejfranz]

If you buy the correct truck for your fifth wheel, you should have no issues with grades.

When I had my import truck and camper I stayed off the Coquihalla as it has some nasty grades and I could barely hold 40 mph on them. I had no issues with any of the other roads in BC.

[Tothill]

Make sure you are both comfortable driving the rig and you can both enjoy the scenery.

We have not been to Alaska, but Banff National Park is a family favourite. And it is all up hill from our Sea Level town on the BC Coast. We do get great gas mileage on the trip back home.

The Duffey Lake Road is interesting to drive in an RV. We drove it East to West in a car with no issues. West to East in a 27 foot C and the brakes did get hot as did the engine, but it was a good trip.

[terrax]

For the Yukon part of your trip you can find daily updated road conditions at

www.rvnorth.com

which you can access from your smart phone or tablet browser.

[Fer2005]

trigley wrote:

Fer2005 wrote:
What about the road from Hinton to Dawson Creek (40)?

It's fine. Rolling, but not as mountainous as the Icefield Parkway. A nice drive. The very south end was a little rough a couple of years ago but that was being worked on. Past Grande Cache very good.

Thanks. From the maps I've seen it looked like it might a little hilly. We are definitely looking forward to the trip!

[trigley]

Fer2005 wrote:
What about the road from Hinton to Dawson Creek (40)?

It's fine. Rolling, but not as mountainous as the Icefield Parkway. A nice drive. The very south end was a little rough a couple of years ago but that was being worked on. Past Grande Cache very good.

[paulj]

99 Duffy Lake was a gravel logging road before it was paved. Mainline logging roads can be steep, but the curves had to handle loaded logging trucks. I drove it on my first cross country trip to BC in 1984 (in a small Trooper II). I recall stopping to help a small RV had overheated somewhere along the top. That road still had a short gravel stretch in 1995 due to a dispute with the Mt Curry band. There still are 2 gravel routes between Pemberton and Lillooet for the adventurous. I saw a rental class C on the Anderson Lake High Line Rd (probably a Swiss tourist 🙂 ).

[paulj]

96Brigadier wrote:

There is no true switchback in the sense that it is tight, the highway drops down to 60 km/h through a long loop then goes up over the pass (traveling north). It isn't a big deal at all. If you want to see that specific part of the road on Google here's the link:

Icefields Parkway Loop (Switchback)

That curve has a 500ft radius. Most freeway interchanges are tighter than that.

[atreis]

Canadians ship freight by truck, same as us, and drive the same cars we do at similar speeds. These things dictate the limits for the road grades. (They're about the same as ours - you'll be fine.)

[profdant139]

Icefields Parkway is the greatest road I have ever driven, and I have done a lot of driving. We spent a month in the area in 2012, and I can't wait to get back there. The roads are fine -- lots of pullouts, well-maintained, reasonable grades. The biggest problem is that my passenger gets to watch the scenery while I supposedly pay attention to the road -- not easy to do when there are so many distractions:

[Fer2005]

What about the road from Hinton to Dawson Creek (40)?

[96Brigadier]

The road from Banff to Jasper is fine, this year will be the 6th year in a row I've been up there on that road with our trailer (I live in Calgary, go figure).

There is no true switchback in the sense that it is tight, the highway drops down to 60 km/h through a long loop then goes up over the pass (traveling north). It isn't a big deal at all. If you want to see that specific part of the road on Google here's the link:

Icefields Parkway Loop (Switchback)

Just use street view if you really want to see what the road looks like.

[2gypsies1]

The major roads enroute to Alaska will not give you any problems. You'll have a lot of practice even before you get to Canada and you'll feel like a pro. Millions of RVers have done it. Just go!

[BC_Explorer]

almcc wrote:
The road with the most "white knuckle" experience for us was hwy 99 in BC that goes from Whistler through Pemberton to Lillooet, it's a "brake smoker".

That is the Duffey Lake Rd through Cayoosh Pass. The road descends 3300 feet in 8 miles with grades up to 15% through numerous switchbacks down into the Pemberton Valley. This section of the pass is the steepest paved highway in BC Canada. Conversely on the other end of the Duffey Lake Rd, it descends 1450 feet in 4 miles to Seton Lake and the town of Lillooet. Good working TV and trailer brakes are mandatory!

[MaverickBBD]

Everyone know it is uphill to Canada. Why do you think it is UP there?