Be prepared before driving on mountain highways: Alberta emergency crews

Winter driving season barged back into Alberta like an unwanted guest, and it’s likely to stick around until well after Easter.

The annual usher in of snow and ice has emergency services gearing up for the inevitable on the highways and urging drivers to take it all seriously.

The Trans-Canada Highway east of Golden, B.C., is once again closed while the final stage of a massive twinning project is complete.

It’s a welcomed and wanted development, but unfortunately, it doesn’t come without some discomfort to drivers in all sizes of vehicles. Drivers are now being redirected on highways 95 and 93 south toward Radium.

Highway 93 south is a winding, mountain road with no cell service for nearly 100 kilometres. When you add an influx of transport vehicles, snow and ice, and unprepared drivers, massive pileups can happen, like the one experienced in the area last November.

“It ended up being the worst driving conditions I’ve experienced in my entire life,” said driver Heath McCroy. “And I grew up in the Rockies.”

McCroy was stuck for nearly four hours during one of two large incidents he was caught in on the 93 south last November.

“You feel very vulnerable,” he admitted. “The road is not designed for the supply chain, it just isn’t.”

Bruce Campbell, owner of Banff’s Standish Towing and Recovering, was there with crews for days trying to clear the road.

“There’s vehicles stuck and jackknifed on the roads. The roadway just got gridlocked north and southbound, and nobody could get to them to free it up to get the traffic moving again,” he said.

“Most of it was how quick the weather came and how unprepared people were and the influx of traffic.”

Banff’s fire chief Silvio Adamo said their call volume quadrupled into Kootenay National Park last year when traffic was redirected.

“The transport truck drivers weren’t used to driving that road,” said Adamo. “Many of the calls we were seeing involved transport vehicles.”

Parks Canada has taken a number of measures to mitigate the risks on Highway 93 south. The agency added three satellite emergency phones —for a total of four — repainted the lines and added speed readers. It is also mandatory for trucks to do brake checks.

But both Campbell and Adamo said drivers need to be prepared and know what they are getting themselves into.

“People need to respect the type of road and the conditions of the road when they are travelling in that corridor because help is a long ways away,” said Adamo.

“Have warm clothes, winter tires, a shovel, even sand,” added Campbell. “There’s no cell phone service so it’s not a bad idea to invest in an emergency device to communicate with loved ones in case you become stranded.

“A massive pileup could absolutely happen again.”

It’s advice not lost on drivers like McCroy, who is often on the highway for work. He said following last November’s ordeal, he’s checking the weather reports more frequently, making sure he always has a full tank of gas and a sleeping bag just in case.

The Trans-Canada Highway will reopen on Dec. 1.