johkar

My long-awaited trip to Canmore / Banff is nearly here - we are suppose to leave tomorrow! Just wondering if anyone local is looking at this board, and can give me any insights as to the conditions. I know the roads in to Canmore/Banff are closed right now. Even if they do open, what will our recreational opportunities be from Sat-Tuesday? We are going for sightseeing and hiking, maybe some river rafting. On Wed, we are to head north to Jasper. I am not hearing about any flooding problems there.

If the roads remain closed, that will dictate that we'll have to cancel. But if they do open, not sure how much we'll have to do there, once we arrive. Also, I hear there is more rain in the forecast, and I also don't want to get in, and have roads closed again and be trapped!

Any insights would be appreciated.

sludick

What a nightmare, I am hearing reports of 100,000 people being evacuated. Though not a praying person, my heart goes out to everybody affected and I am sincerely hoping for everybody's safety.

Since I am not a local, my impressions are only coming from the news, but I am seeing predictions that the rain will start to taper off tomorrow (Saturday). However, a state of emergency has been declared and the damage from the flooding may take some time to mitigate.

I see that the Icefields Parkway is closed. One report advises that "Given persistent rain, there is no estimated time of road reopening at any of the aforementioned locations." It really doesn't look too good for your trip, given the scope of this disaster.

Here are a couple of links on road closures, evacuations, and other information:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06...n_3472202.html

http://onehallyu.com/index.php?/topi...ency-declared/

ileen

Like you I am headed to Calgary this weekend and have been monitoring the situation since last night. I am in US.
I have been getting my updates on
www.Calgarycitynews.com
and
www.Calgaryherald.com

Hope the rain stops and the roads are cleared soon. Waiting to make my final travel decision this evening.
Good Luck

out_and_about

We have cancelled our weekend-plus in our Canmore condo, we live about 4 hours from there. There is a boil-water order (understandably!), roads are broken/flooded and that includes Hwy #1 at Canmore (Cougar Creek), most likely hiking paths will be closed due to flooding/unstable ground. Go to canmore.ca for great updates, also see highway updates easily at www.amaroadreports.ca/alerts

I would recommend you consider driving north from Calgary to Edmonton, and then west to Jasper National Park, it is also a gorgeous area of mountains and the weather forecast is lovely. If you want suggestions for accommodation/things to do, let me know... (please include budget guidelines).

johkar

Thanks everyone for your input. I have been looking in to driving north to the Jasper area. I've talked to a couple of places up there, and no weather problems whatsoever. But, most places are booked for the weekend, so may have to stay further out. We'll make a final decision tonight also.

johkar

Wanted to post a reply, we have decided to cancel our trip to Canada. We looked into going straight to Jasper on Sat, but there were no available accommodations. Probably lots of other tourists doing the same scrambling! We are so disappointed, but realize a missed vacation is nothing compared to the disrupted lives of the folks there now.

Also, for anyone else out there in a similar position, United waived our re-ticketing fee, due to the flooding situation. Our condo owner in Canmore is also refunding our deposit. Still waiting to hear from Patricia Lakes Bungelows.

kent_k_reynolds

Thank you for the info on United's good customer service policy, our travel agent telling us Delta is going to charge us for the re-ticket so we'll point to their competitor's decision. Best of luck to all Southern Alberta residents and travelers

busywithfour

Not sure if anyone will know an answer to this but we have a 5 week camping trip planned with the departure date being next Sunday June 30. We are leaving from Vernon BC and were planning to go straight to Jasper where we have a booking. We only have 3 nights there and the plan was to arrive early enough in Banff National park to secure a "first in first served" powered site on Wed July 3. If anyone knows what the campgrounds are like in Banff or the road form Vernon to Jasper is like, we would appreciate your comments.

We are travelling with 4 kids so don';t want to be stranded..

elnap29

Thanks, everyone for the current information. We have not seen very detailed information, but the videos online have shown how extensive the flooding has been. Our thoughts are with everyone in Alberta. Our visit to Banff and Jasper is scheduled for August, but it's hard to imagine roads and businesses could be recovered that quickly. Hope life gets back to normal for residents as soon as possible.

asmama

We were scheduled to leave for our trip to Banff, LL, Jasper this Wednesday. We cancelled everything and everyone (United, Patricia Lakes, Fairmont, Douglas Fir) was very nice and refunded 100%. Speak to the manager @ Patricia Lakes. At first the lady on the phone refused and said she would charge us the first night cause alternate routes were available. I asked for the manager and she understood.
All the local hotel folks I spoke to in Banff and LL advised against coming especially with kids. They all said the roads and the highways are unlikely to recover in next few weeks.

As much as I feel bad that our trip got cancelled, I also feel that I should be thankful that we did not get stranded there esp. with kids. Hope life gets back to normal ASAP for the residents there...

busywithfour

So lucky you get your money refunded. Not so nice for all those who have lost their homes. As we don't have flights booked I think we will just wait and see how things are by next weekend.. Hoping the residents don't have to cope with anymore rain..

johkar

I had the same experience with Patricia Lake Bungelows. When I first cancelled, they said no refund for our deposit. But on Monday they called me and said they would refund my deposit, since they had re-sold our room.

I am looking at re-booking for late Aug/early Sept, but like others, wondering if everything will be back to normal by then.