Blueberry Paulson Wheeling

[canucksafari]

Just back from my second trip to the Kootenays in the last two weeks. Plugged in the Safari the night I spent in Princeton, as it was near -18 C when I turned in. The only time I have plugged it in this year. Nice to have hot air when you start-up in the morning. Keep running into Goldboy in his 74 from Hedly on the road. I think he must always be driving back and forth on highway 3.

Lots of snow up in Manning Park but the Blueberry Paulson had a lot more snow than I have seen in many years. They are using the big snow blowers this year as the snow depth is too deep for the plows to throw the snow up and over in most places up top. I must say that Nokian LT studded have been an excellent investment. With them on it is no problem holding dry road speeds on ice, fresh snow or hard pack. Only down side with them is they do not seem to be very good with evacuating slush. I do enjoy passing big V8 4x4 cause their tires aren't up to the conditions. Here are some pics from the Blueberry Paulson. Will post up a U-tube clip later.

 

[cruiser_guy]

I sure don't miss that! I did that trip too often last year.

 

[BC40]

Blueberry Paulson Wheeling

no problem holding dry road speeds on ice, fresh snow or hard pack.

Ummm, wheeling?
Just giving you a hard time. At least you got out. The snow pack looks a fair bit deeper than when I did the drive a month ago.

 

[canucksafari]

Actually, the only place I was in 4wheel was in Nelson. In that city you only have up or down.

Here's the u-tube links. The first one was kind of hazy because I was catching up to another vehicle near the summit that was trailing a cloud of snow. The second one is going down the west side of the pass. It was in this section that I just missed an avalanche by about 60 seconds about 5 years ago.

YouTube - Blueberry Paulson Wheeling

YouTube - Blueberry Paulson Wheeling 2

Charles, I expect the main thing you don't miss are the other drivers. Only problem with driving highway 3 is there are still a lot of people who think that ATs or All Seasons will get them by. There are too many valley towns which only get small amounts of snow which are easily melted by salt and sand trucks.

Usually the vehicles on Highway 97 have much better treads. When you head North of Cache Creek most drivers run real winter tires. And North of and West of PG quite a few people will only run studded winter tires. Worst trip I ever had was one trip to Smithers in Feb. I decided to fly from Abbotsford to PG and rent a car to save some time. Bad idea. The rental agencies only have all seasons on their cars. From Fraser Lake to Smithers was a bloody skating rink. I'll never rent again in the winter.

 

[cruiser_guy]

Charles, I expect the main thing you don't miss are the other drivers.

The drivers here in Guatemala are probably worse so I guess I sort of do miss the drivers! I was thinking more about the cold!

This is the Salmo/Creston summit last Feb/March.