Nickel Plate

[canucksafari]

I took a quick trip up Nickel Plate yesterday as a friend wanted to know if he could do a trip from Heldley to Penticton in March. The Hedley side to the mine had been plowed in the last few weeks with just a skiff of new snow. Past the mine it had been plowed that day and was more like a good snow road than a trail. I went as far as the old indigenous cemetery at just over 1800 M. I used the old camera. It took decent pics but lousy video. So here is the flicker set of just the pics.

Nickel Plate Jan 2012

The only drama was putting it into the ditch to avoid a clued out mine service worker coming down without considering someone might be coming up.

The studded Coopers worked very well on my trip to Grand Forks and back. But they met their limit in 2WD tonight at Hope. But that's another thread.

 

[Fantom]

that's surprisingly little snow, and plowed really well. I do notice a large difference in tire performance between the more dry snow in the interior as opposed to the wetter snow we have here.

 

[canucksafari]

that's surprisingly little snow, and plowed really well. I do notice a large difference in tire performance between the more dry snow in the interior as opposed to the wetter snow we have here.

I might as well put the rest of the story here. I didn't take many pics of the road besides coming back on the Hope-Princeton. <Here is the Flickr set: Grand Forks Jan 2012 - a set on Flickr>

As you say Mat, the dry cold snow in the interior is sweet to drive on. Even so, there were some vehicles in the ditch. The one I stopped for between Hedley and Princeton had All Season tires on. He was just lucky that he didn't lose it on a corner with the bank iinto the river.

The trip really sketchy right about the end of this pic ...

Hope highway crews had dumped salt onto the road. I really hate slush. What I didn't know was what was under the slush.

I came into the left hand turn on the first part of the big corner on the Hope Slide hill in 4th at about 85 and felt the rear end slide out only to get it under control and into the right hand big bend to see a flat deck B-train jacked knifed across 3 and 1/2 lanes. I dropped it into 3rd and stepped on it just missing the back end of his second trailer. Got to the bottom and pulled over at the chain-up area to relieve myself and stepped on the brake to stop and slid into the snow bank. There was about 4" of fresh wet snow on top of a sheet of ice. Highways crews sometimes are real stupid.

But they aren't the only stupid ones. Only one truck stopped to chain up. So I went into the police station to let them know they had a B-train spun out and block two directions of traffic and with probably a longer line of spun out trucks now behind him.. Couldn't believe the operator's response. "We have a travel advisory, they shouldn't be out there now." WTF? Anyways, she said they would send a patrol out to see. Really, what they needed to do was put out some flares and make them chain up or close the road because it is not going to get any better tonight. This is what I dealt with from Hope to Bridal Falls.

Now its snowing good again in Abbotsford. The kids and wife are hoping for a snow day. I am hoping they don't get one. I need some R&R tomorrow.

 

[Fantom]

it never fails to amaze me, we have this every year, and every year it is the same story and same mistakes. Glad you made it home safely.

 

[BC40]

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This is what I dealt with from Hope to Bridal Falls.




http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6712411043_9ce31111cf.jpg

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Psychedelic music notes in the sky? Looks like quite the trip.

Hope the truck didn't get too bent up from the impact with that bank.

 

[canucksafari]

Psychedelic music notes in the sky? Looks like quite the trip.

Hope the truck didn't get too bent up from the impact with that bank.

The camera was obviously enjoying the John Lennon experience and having a better time than me.

No damage, you know those Patrols are tough. Actually, it was soft snow and I wasn't going fast. Had it been up top, it would have been different. The banks were big and the snow banks were well compacted and frozen.

I saw on CBC that the Highways did get closed just after I got through. I hope the cops were out writing tickets but I doubt it. Not much sense having a chain up area and no one using it.