Snow & Ice Updates!

Posted by admin on October 22, 2012

The Hurley is CLOSED to vehicle traffic for the winter!

Winter driving conditions are now in effect! The snow has arrived and can fall at any time now. The top of the Hurley Pass has snow and ice covering the road for about 5km. Winter driving skills, 4 x4 truck and good winter tires are essential for travel at this time of the year. Chains and a survival/safety kit are good things to carry in your truck. Thank you to everyone who shared their Hurley updates with us. Have a great winter!

LATEST UPDATES FROM HURLEY DRIVERS

Nov 21 – Update in from Backcountry Snowcats. 90 cm of snow at the Hurley Pass. The Hurley is officially closed to vehicle traffic and is open to sled traffic! Sledding to Gold Bridge/Bralorne is not possible yet to due thin snow but hopefully it will be if it keeps snowing like it is right now!

Nov 20 – Reports in from the Pemberton side of trucks attempting to drive the Hurley but being turned around by deep snow.

Thanks to Ty and Andrew from Pemberton Valley Painting for the update of their snowy Hurley adventure! Please see photo attached of our attempt up and over the Hurley Nov 19. This minor delay was at Branch 12. Then we made it just shy of the summit, but decided to turn around as the snow got to about 1M deep. Conditions – Not so 4X4able… time to pull out the sleds!! Scroll down for photo

Nov 18 – Thanks to Jodie Coyne for sending in a photo of all the snow she encountered on the Hurley Nov 18! Snow is getting deep up there!

Nov 17 – Up to a foot of new snow at the top of the Hurley. Trucks are still making it over but it’s getting deep outside of the tire tracks and slick in the tracks. Roads in the Bridge River Valley are icy!

Nov 15 – 18 cm of snow is on the ground at the pass, but vehicle traffic has packed down a good driving surface. Chains are probably not necessary- but watch your speed going down on the Pemberton side- it is a bit slippery. Snow covers about 6 km of the road over the Pass; most of this is on the Pemberton (west) side. Thanks to Frank W Baumann for the update and photo.

Nov 14 -Couple of inches of snow has covered the ice on the road and made it not quite as slick as the last report but the sun coming out today will probably help the ice to return.

Weather Report sent in from Hurley traveller Frank Baumann predicts heavy snow for the Hurley Pass area over the next week so expect conditions on the road to change/deteriorate rapidly. Attached is the latest NOAA Global Forecast System (GFS) weather prediction for Hurley Pass– arguably the world’s most sophisticated weather forecast system. The top graph shows cloud cover, the second one precipitation in 3 hour intervals, and the third, temperature at the elevation of the Pass (1370 metres or about 850 mbars). Note that times at the bottom are Universal Time- subtract 8 hours to get Pacific Standard Time. Notice that the GFS is predicting that a total of about 72 mm of precipitation, equivalent to about 72 cm of snow, is expected next week, starting Friday night, November 16, 2012. Temperatures will be below freezing all week. It looks like winter is finally on it’s way, thanks for the weather forecast Frank!

Nov 11 – Snowing lightly at 4.30pm, temp -5c. Road is icy on both sides of the summit. Pot holes are huge and lined with ice so take it slow. New photos below…

Nov 8 – Conditions are getting slick in the snow sections. Thanks to Mike for the photos from late last night.

Nov 7 – 25 cm snow at the top of the Hurley. Trucks prepared for winter conditions are still making it over.

Nov 6 – 15 – 20 cm of new snow at the top of the Hurley

Nov 4 – Wet and muddy as of 8:00pm, no snow left on the road. Thanks for the update Troy!

Nov 2 – I drove over the Hurley today- the road is bumpy but in otherwise reasonably good shape. The road is bare over the pass, with only a few centimetres of wet snow on the side of the road and between wheel ruts. See photo taken on Nov 2 below. Thanks to Frank from Squamish for the update and photo!

Nov 2 – I transited the Hurley around 2 pm today. The switchbacks up to the Squamish Forest District sign have been graded and that piece of road is in good condition (for that piece of road!). There is about 2-3 inches of slushy snow for about 5 kms at the summit, tire track areas bare and very wet. No ice anywhere. Freezing level is obviously much higher right now than the summit. Rest of the road has lots of potholes but bare. Thanks to Debbie from Gun Lake for the update!

Oct 31 – I came over from Pemberton this morning. There is snow from about 1km below the summit on the Pemberton side to past Hope Creek on this side. Deepest about 5 inches. Nice tracks and easy driving. Slippery without 4×4. No ice, just compact snow and slush. Thanks to Carolyn from Bralorne for the latest update!

Oct 28 – Drove the Hurley tonight Sunday October 28th 4:15pm , good condition (for Hurley) always drive in 4×4 summer or winter about 5km total of packed snow at summit ,temp +2 nice tracks from others good tires no slip awesome blue sky ,winter wonderland. saw three other trucks no problems.
IMO If a plow was ran through the 5km + could stay open a bit longer. Thanks for the update Greg!

Oct 25 – Drove north over the Hurley Summit at 10:30 am on Thursday October 25, 2012. As reported earlier there are compact icy sections for a short ways on both sides of the summit. Chains were not required but onboard just in case. There was no new snow at the time. Thanks to Jim from Tyaughton Lake for the latest update!

Oct 23 – I drove the Hurley at 5 pm Tuesday, mostly fine except for a really icy section just down from the summit in the Pemberton direction. Only a few hundred yards but it is over an inch of solid ice on a steep grade, definitely wants chains or studs now, I barely made it with my 4×4 truck, driving with 2 wheels in the ditch. Pulled a flatbed truck out of the ditch near the top. East Hurley is fine. Thanks to Oliver from Bralorne for the update!

Debbie Demare spoke to the driver of the flatbed truck after he was pulled out of the ditch. He started sliding down the ice and almost went over the side of the road and down a cliff but luckily he ended up in the ditch. He was lucky that Oliver was able to pull him out of the ditch!

Oct 22 – Debbie Demare drove the Hurley early Monday morning and reports that there are some compact, icy sections between the Bridge River Main and Gwenyth Lake and also from the summit to the Tenquille Branch. Thanks for the update and photos Debbie!

If you travel the Hurley and have photos of the conditions, please send them to info@bridgerivervalley.ca for posting on this site. Thanks to Bralorne resident Roger Geeves for the photos from Saturday Oct 20!