Rental Car Question

You may want to look at getting a rental car in canada instead of the states. There may be a few more rental car companies in canada having winter tires on due to the upcoming olympics and the requirement to have snow tires on the sea to sky hwy (whistler). Its the law to have snow tires or chains to go ove the mountain passes so keep this in mind. Living in vermont you know that all season tires are no better than summer tires on a car or SUV and chains just suck. Drive to canada and change cars if its the same rental company?? Hope the input helps..Good luck. You should hurry though its dumping right now!!!

This is a good question posted about something that I take a lot of care in: driving on mountain roads. I think it's the most dangerous thing I do. I've also seen some very serious carnage in my travels. 

I think you'd be ok in a car with all seasons, assuming of course that common sense is being executed. There can be a lot of gnarly driving during storms around there and you must anticipate uncleared roads with drunk and high semi drivers whizzing by you. 

some advise, take it or leave it:

1. be patient. driving 60-70 km/h when it's dumping is probably not that bad an idea. and passing on sketchy corners is just dumb. I see it all the time... usually from a truck from Alberta. (Calgarians tend to be in a rush).

2. don't drive at night. This is just something I try to personally avoid. It takes more planning and for those on a tight schedule it's a pain but it's just a fact that daylight makes things more safe.

3. make sure you have a shovel and a cell phone. 

4. carry flares and a reflective triangle and a first aid kit. When sh#t hits the fan, you need to minimize the risks of oncoming traffic. It's good to give people a heads up. I personally carry these things. I also have studded winter tires and they make a big difference. 

5. rent a safe car. I regularly drive past the industrial area in Golden where you can see mangled wreck after mangled wreck in the storage yards. spend an extra little bit to get a car with a high safety rating.

I'm not trying to scare you at all, but the risk is pretty real. Chances are you'll be totally fine with a newer car and all season tires but be more aware it's dumping. I hope you have a killer trip with lots of deep pow. The alpine in the northern interior is awesome right now.

http://drivebc.ca/

ditto on all that was said by Peakz. I have a personal gripe against rental companies that don't offer vehicles with winter tires. It's right up there with being sent to work down a winter highway in a taxi with all season tires...

...andyway, big emphasis on the common sense. like was said, driving a shole highway at 60km/h is not uncommon in winter (and I've had some hell trips that were a lot slower than that). Don't remember if it was mentioned, but keep your tank as full of gas as possible. You never know when you could be stuck in the middle of nowhere for 5 hours waiting for a wreck to be cleared.

Egon,

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cross your fingers that our moves will work, cause it ain't cheap!

Given that both vehicles have all-seasons.. i'd feel more comfortable in a car personally.. "if" you go off the road, plowing through the snowbank/ditch in car is less frightening to me than a hurdling roll-over in an SUV.  The 4X4 / AWD of the SUV is sure nice in the thick of it.. moving around parking lots, hills, etc in deep snow.. but for highway driving 90% of the time... i'd take the car.

Also.. night driving vs. day driving both have their advantages and disadvantages... night time makes wildlife a bit sketchier... but day time is typically busier and personally, I feel more comfortable with quiet roads and night and wild life than traffic and morons... in a typical 90k/h zone, 1/3 want to drive 50, 1/3 want to drive the speedlimit, and 1/3 want to drive 110... i prefer my own comfortable night pace.

A manual, AWD car w/ winters would be my first choice, given any optoin.. but doubt you'll get that from a rental.

Thank you for the valuable input. I agree on all counts that rental companies should put snows on their cars...or at least at a reasonable rate as an alternative to the wild costs of an unnecessary suv.