ALCAN / CB Radio

[robert644]

Hi,

I'm travelling from CA to AK in about 5 weeks. Done from the army and going home. Except this time I'm bringing an old Jeep and a boat on trailer, unlike the other way when I only brought a couple bucks.

But it's November and I'm concerned about the ALCAN highway. I drove from NY to CA in January of this year and it got scary at times with the trailer. It's small to you at 24', but when that trailer decides to go somewhere on the ice, it just takes that jeep with it, regardless of what the Jeep wants to do.

So I'm thinking about getting chains for the jeep and the trailer, but I'm concerned about going around sharp corners and driving in low visibility at 20-30mph speeds with the chains on and having other traffic on the road going faster, or expecting me to be alot more manueverable than I am. I that log trucks use the CB to call out positions, is it a good idea to bring a CB to call out my situation if I find myself doing 30 with chains on a twisting mountain pass road?

I'm not concerned about calling for help, I got a satphone for that, but rather I don't want to get hit or pushed off the road, or drive someone else the road.

What are the roads like up there, I read they are paved and plowed, but are there narrow, hairpin turns, with cliffs on one side and drop-off on the other? November weather isn't the worst of winter where I'm from, but I don't know about the interior there. I've seen this Alaska511 and BC road conditions website, I've tried looking at tourist photos on flickr.com also, but still looking for more info.

Thanks,

Sincerely, Robert.

[River17]

I drove the Alcan back in 1989 and the roads are probably even better now than back then.
If you drive in the summer time it would be a lot better.
As far as using chains I doubt if you even need them since the colder it is the better the grip on ice is. It is always the worst around the freezing zone like 30 to 34, but if it is 10 or 20 below zero, you will find the roads not as slick.
If you are going to run chains I would probably only buy cable chains, since you can run 50 mph or so. Also if you need to buy tires for the trip, make sure to only get 8 ply steel belted radials for the gravel roads that have sharp stones that are like arrow tips.
From CA. I would run US97 all the way to the Alcan.
As far as the CB I think they run either channel 17 or 19, and it would be nice to have in case you brake down, since I'm not sure how well the cell phones work there.
Good luck.

And welcome to Truckingboards.