Tourist says car renter told her snowstorm 'no problem' for drive to mountains
Rachel Ward | CBC News | Posted: October 4, 2018 9:05 PM | Last Updated: October 5, 2018
'We did make it but I have to say, I nearly cried,' Katriina Youde says after white-knuckle trip to Canmore
A U.K. tourist says she's mad a Calgary car rental company sent her off to the Rocky Mountains in the middle of a snowstorm that stranded hundreds of drivers and forced cars off the road.
Katriina Youde arrived in Calgary from London with her daughter on Tuesday for "an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime" vacation to Canmore and Banff, Alta. They were looking forward to seeing the Rocky Mountains as well as a few old friends.
Instead, Youde faced a white-knuckle drive that left her shaking and close to tears.
She says the man who rented her a Volkswagen Jetta assured her she would be fine to drive to the mountains despite the record-breaking snowfall.
"That's what I'm really angry about, or upset, really, because I'm not stupid," Youde told CBC News on Thursday. "I would not have taken the risk if I'd been told."
By the time Youde rented a car on Tuesday afternoon, RCMP had asked drivers to stay off many southern Alberta roads, warning of poor winter driving conditions. Environment Canada had issued snowfall warnings for much of the area — including a prediction of 45 centimetres in the mountains.
More than 250 vehicles crashed, and by the evening, transport trucks had jackknifed and blocked the way to Canmore via Highway 1. Some drivers were stranded in their cars for up to 13 hours into the early hours of Wednesday.
Youde managed to get on the road by 3 p.m. MT and made it Canmore safely but she said she wasn't aware of the severity of the storm — despite asking direct questions of the car rental agent.
Her plane landed at Calgary International Airport at about 1 p.m. and was on the tarmac for about an hour before passengers disembarked. The plane's captain warned passengers the city was experiencing an early snow, which was evident through the windows.
After picking up their luggage, Youde and her daughter went straight to the Avis car rental shop at the airport to rent a car.
"I asked the gentleman at the car hire whether it would actually be OK to drive, having obviously saw the weather outside," Youde said. "He said, 'Yes, no problem, no problem.' He took a long time getting to work that morning but it's OK.
"So my next question was, 'What about winter tires?' and it was an absolute, 'No need, no problem.'"
A spokesperson for Avis Budget Group told CBC News she would look into the case but was not able to answer questions.
The Calgary International Airport said White Hat volunteers and customer care staff can answer questions about the weather, should they be asked.
'Just let us go'
Youde is from Finland, so she's familiar with winter driving. She said she was persistent when asking about driving conditions, but said the Avis agent assured she would be fine to drive to Canmore.
She said she wasn't told about recommendations to stay off the roads.
"I'm just upset that, as a tourist, I was not told not to do it. To me, it was a matter of we're paying a lot of money to the car hire company and they just let us go," Youde said.
"We did take the full cover insurance, and I'm glad we did, but other than that, they were quite happy for us to go off."
Winter tires are not mandatory in Alberta, nor are they required to be provided by rental car agencies. However, they are required on some mountain highways after Nov. 1.
Regardless, Youde said she felt the agent, as a local, should have warned them about the treacherous conditions and suggested staying overnight in Calgary to wait for better weather.
"I wish he had told us not to drive," she said.
Instead, they took the car. Once outside city limits, she said, she "realized the horror of the situation."
She passed cars crashed in the ditch as her own car slipped on the ice under the snow. Shocked, she watched drivers of larger vehicles put chains on their wheels along the side of the highway.
She eventually dropped to 20 km/h, pulling over when other vehicles wanted to pass.
"We did make it, but I have to say, I nearly cried," Youde said.
Staff at the Canmore hotel were shocked she had made the journey, she said. According to Environment Canada, up to 50 centimetres of snow fell in parts of Canmore during the storm.
She's planning on complaining to Avis — and hopes other tourists will be given better advice in the future.
Youde hasn't touched the rental car since her "terrifying" drive. Instead, she walked around Canmore and took a bus to visit Banff on Thursday, now able to enjoy the remainder of her trip.
"I must also say, this is the most beautiful part of the world I have ever, ever visited," she said.
- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Stranded on Alberta highway for 13 hours, motorists ask where were the updates?
- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Calgary garage builder and renovation company leaves contractors, homeowners with $4M in losses
- Read more articles by CBC Calgary, like us on Facebook for updates and subscribe to our CBC Calgary newsletter for the day's news at a glance.