The ferries are still running.
There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
81–90 of 477 posts
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#82One of my family members has been stuck just east of Hope, British Columbia[1] for almost two days now. There is currently no cell service, but luckily they have a Garmin inReach so we can communicate via its SMS feature. For anybody with friends/family in the area, the BC subreddit megathread[2] on this is a good starting place to get information on evacuations, power outage status, road closures, official relevant…
That garmin is a cool toy, but pricey ($400 for the device plus $50/mo for unlimited text service). What does your family member do that they have one? It seems like the kind of thing a park ranger would have, or that someone might rent before going on a long hike in a remote area.
I don't have one personally but if I did more solo hiking in more remote areas, especially in the Western US I'd probably break down and get one. Cell service isn't dependable and I'd likely convince myself that it was cheap insurance in the grand scheme of things.
Of course, people managed for a very long time without having the ability to call for help or check in and they generally were OK with that. (And calling for help doesn't mean that Superman is going to swoop in and pick you up anyway.) But they're probably a reasonable safety aid if you're somewhere that doesn't have reliable cell service.
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#83I surprised you didn't link Kelowna's finest newspaper, Castanet: https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/351544/Mudslides-close-all-... I love them because their reporting is terrible and the site itself is straight out of the 90's. They used to run polls that were easy to manipulate, according to a ex-coworker of mine. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Nonetheless, everybody in Kelowna acts like Castanet is…
wow. their website is fantastic.
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Vancouver sits in a little triangle of land in the south-west (bottom-left?) corner of Canada, completely surrounded by mountains to the north and east. We heavily rely on the highway south through the state of Washington.
Could you take the ferry to Prince Rupert and get out that way?
BC Ferries has umpteen travel advisories due to high seas during this weather event, so don't count on their schedule:
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#85If the US routes get destroyed, we would have to airdrop food soon.
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#86One of my family members has been stuck just east of Hope, British Columbia[1] for almost two days now. There is currently no cell service, but luckily they have a Garmin inReach so we can communicate via its SMS feature. For anybody with friends/family in the area, the BC subreddit megathread[2] on this is a good starting place to get information on evacuations, power outage status, road closures, official relevant…
That garmin is a cool toy, but pricey ($400 for the device plus $50/mo for unlimited text service). What does your family member do that they have one? It seems like the kind of thing a park ranger would have, or that someone might rent before going on a long hike in a remote area.
Pricey, but priceless for someone who is spending even a moderate amount of time enjoying the backcountry. In context, a typical REI-equipped backpacker is spending $100+ on boots, $200+ on a tent, $200+ on a pack, $100+ per piece of high quality outerwear, not to mention hundreds or thousands more on skis/bikes/climbing gear if they do more than just hike/backpack. When you're laying out that amount of cash just to go out and do your favorite activity, it makes sense and is fairly common to spend an additional $400 for a convenient portable distress/backcountry connectivity plan.
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#87The ferries are still running.
But there are multiple BC Ferries travel advisories in effect.
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#88One of my family members has been stuck just east of Hope, British Columbia[1] for almost two days now. There is currently no cell service, but luckily they have a Garmin inReach so we can communicate via its SMS feature. For anybody with friends/family in the area, the BC subreddit megathread[2] on this is a good starting place to get information on evacuations, power outage status, road closures, official relevant…
That garmin is a cool toy, but pricey ($400 for the device plus $50/mo for unlimited text service). What does your family member do that they have one? It seems like the kind of thing a park ranger would have, or that someone might rent before going on a long hike in a remote area.
I live in a very rural area of the US, so I probably have an over-representative sample, but mostly folks I know who own one (myself included) view it at as an essential piece of backcountry safety equipment. If you spend 1 or 2 weekends per month in areas without cell signal (even recreationally, as is my case), it quickly becomes worthwhile even just as a means of emergency communication for people to contact _you_, not to mention the ability to call for rescue if you're unfortunate enough to have an accident where you need to be medivac'd.
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#89I surprised you didn't link Kelowna's finest newspaper, Castanet: https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/351544/Mudslides-close-all-... I love them because their reporting is terrible and the site itself is straight out of the 90's. They used to run polls that were easy to manipulate, according to a ex-coworker of mine. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Nonetheless, everybody in Kelowna acts like Castanet is…
Castanet is gloriously imperfect. I hope they never change and never fade away. It's exactly what it looks like: a hodge-podged effort by some local folks with little experience and ability among them, besides an earnest desire to report local news with a local perspective, that has stood the test of time (it launched in 2000!).
Is it just me or was Castanet some sort of Internet things besides Vancouver news?
I remember digicrime.com making fun of it. And they had all these “services” where they exploited browser problems like endless popups etc — they specifically said they don’t do spam because they can just sign you up for tons of spam and let those marketers do the work haha
Anyone remember that? (“it is now unsafe to turn on your computer”)
Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada
#90One of my family members has been stuck just east of Hope, British Columbia[1] for almost two days now. There is currently no cell service, but luckily they have a Garmin inReach so we can communicate via its SMS feature. For anybody with friends/family in the area, the BC subreddit megathread[2] on this is a good starting place to get information on evacuations, power outage status, road closures, official relevant…
That garmin is a cool toy, but pricey ($400 for the device plus $50/mo for unlimited text service). What does your family member do that they have one? It seems like the kind of thing a park ranger would have, or that someone might rent before going on a long hike in a remote area.
I own one because I backpack and frequently go quite deep in the back country (err, at least I used to before having children, but I intend to get back out there once they're a little bit older).