2005 Coast Mountain Tour

This time the FCA NW and Western Canada Regions of the FCA Coast Mountain Tour was considerably less eventful than in 2003.  Then it poured buckets, washing out a bridge ahead and the road behind.  We were stuck in Whistler, BC until the road was rebuilt.  Click here for more details.

Most of us left Seattle in the morning and joined the bunch from Canada for lunch in North Vancouver.  After lunch, I was leading the pack up highway 99 to Whistler.  This is a mostly 2 lane road with some nice twisties in it, but busy and heavily patrolled by the RCMP (Mounties for those who can remember Sgt. Preston).  At least I thought I was leading the pack.  As we rounded a turn, the radar detector went off and at the side was the yellow Dino getting a ticket.  I'm sorry that they got a ticket, but better them than me.

The first order of business in Whistler was a wine and cheese party at our condo.  Pretty impressive with 18 Ferraris (and one lone Lambo) parked all over the place.

After that, most people adjourned to the Westin and split into various groups for dinner.  The next morning, we re-convened at the Westin to start the most interesting part of the journey.

The route went from Whistler, through Pemberton with a lunch stop in Lillooet.  Then on down the Fraser river canyon to the Hell's Gate Tram and onto Harrison Hot Springs for the night.

From Pemberton to Lillooet is going on the Duffy Lake Road, a 2 lane road with lots of curves.  It started sprinkling and rained on and off until lunch.  This canceled the planned photo op along Duffy Lake.  This picture is from the tour in 2000.

A few optimists who started the day with their tops off had to stop and put them up.  It's not possible to drive fast enough on the Duffy to keep dry.  Here's an example of a set of switchbacks we drove through, marked at 20 kph (12 mph).  The blue line is a GPS track I had running.  It doesn't quite show where I cut the corners, but it's still pretty accurate.

Another problem was rock falls on the road.  One place had our lane completely covered with 6-12" boulders, but someone had cleared the other lane enough to get through.  At least this was in a straight stretch so one had enough warning to slow down.  A few km farther on, there was a DOT truck coming towards us to clear the road.

After the lunch stop, we motored down the Fraser river canyon.  One place has perpetual slides.  My wife declined to go on this part of the trip after seeing this part of the road on the 2000 tour.  Then we were driving the van since the 330 wasn't up to the trip.  The river side is on the passenger side and the road is basically gravel, 1 1/2 lanes wide with just plastic pylons marking the right edge.  Joanne said she could look straight down hundreds of feet to the river.  Well five years later, that section of the road looked just about the same to me.  Here's a picture of the river taken from a place where one can pull off.

We stopped at the Hell's Gate Airtram.  This section of the Fraser goes through a narrow gap.  In the spring, up to 2 million gallons per minute flow this gorge.  This is the equivalent of funneling two Niagara Falls through a gap only only 110 feet wide.  If you look closely at the picture on the right, you can see salmon resting near the edge before trying to swim past the narrow part.

The next chunk of the road was uneventful with the main worry being the RCMP.  At one point, my radar detector went off and as I looked ahead, I could see a Mounty going in the same direction as I was.  I dialed back my speed and fell in about 1/4 mile behind.  Then as he rounded a corner, I just caught the glimpse of his light bar being activated.  I thought he was u-turning to come back at me, so I slowed to the speed limit.  But as I went around the corner, I could see that he must have gotten a call and was hi-tailing it down the highway.  At that point, I knew I was safe from other Mounties.  If there was another one farther on, he would have gotten the call being closer than my guy.  So I picked up my speed again.  After a gas stop in Hope, I was headed over on the road to Harrison.  Just before a corner was a 'Prepare to Stop' work sign.  So I slowed, rounded the corner and had another RCMP going my direction a few hundred yards ahead.  Another quick braking got me down to his speed and we convoyed most of the way to Harrison.

The hotel is right on the lake and the club had make arrangements to park in front.

I never talked to the yellow Dino owner, but he elected to trailer his car from Whistler to Harrison (via Vancouver) rather than drive the Duffy.

The next morning the group split up with some heading back to Vancouver and Seattle.  I had to go back to Whistler for some meetings on Monday.  However, I went through Vancouver rather than going back across the Duffy.

Only a couple of casualties on the trip.  The Dino ticket, a 360 whose immobilizer worked overtime in Whistler and my continuing wiper problem.  Not bad for an 800 mile trip in a 40 year old Ferrari.