Your right, it's not like there any differences in weight/size/tyres between a family car and a service bus.

They are exactly the same, so they should perform exactly the same right ? 😐

[img] ?dl=1[/img]

I take it that nealglover got stuck in three microns of snow...

Personally, I love the fact the old SBZ is back.

I take it that nealglover got stuck in three microns of snow...

I'm quite competent in the snow after 13 years living the alps.

I just don't get the comparison that's all.

Coaches and buses handle snow far better than cars in my experience.

Was thinking the same on my drive home. Barely any snow, roads still pretty grippy but people driving dead slow. Still driving 3 feet apart mind...just doing it slower.

Then when I got off the main roads it got even worse. People were down to 20mph or so and slowing a lot more to negotiate the slightest bend.

I was regularly accelerating & braking when safe to, to gauge grip & as long as you didn't accelerate/brake stupidly hard, then it was fine.

Better that than hundreds of accidents I guess, but it was pretty lame.

Personally, I love the fact the old SBZ is back.

Are you saying that glupton1976 is in fact a previous member called something else? Why is he posting under a different name? Did he forget his log-in and have to start from scratch? It happens you know. I remember being utterly stoned out of my nut walking down a road in canterbury and for a good while I completely forgot who I was, where I was and why I was there. Quite disconcerting. But liberating too.

HEavy vehicles get more traction in the snow generally. But also have more momentum, making them harder to stop.

It is a bit embarrassing how easily the victim mentality comes out and people cower at home.

I spent today driving a 26 ton, rigid scania truck in the snow.
It's very similar in size, weight, tyres etc, to a bus.
I'd much rather have been in a car. 🙂

I'll happily take any vehicle out in the snow. The only caveat being that it is owned and insured by someone else. 🙂

I love the whole Canada v Britain thing. In that it is complete bollocks. I was in Vancouver 4 years ago. They had snow. The airport and city were in chaos. Because Vancouver like the UK, only ever gets bleedin rain. A bit of snow and they're screwed.

Because Vancouver like the UK, only ever gets bleedin rain. A bit of snow and they're screwed.

Which made it a strange choice to host a Winter Olympics.

I have a photo like that Canada one from many moons ago taken on the top of the Applecross Bealach when my dad took his lorry over.
The walls were 17 foot high 🙂

I spent today driving a 26 ton, rigid scania truck in the snow.
It's very similar in size, weight, tyres etc, to a bus.
I'd much rather have been in a car.

I think youll find buses are usually semi or fully automatic, some have an upper floor, the front wheels or axle is set back quite a way behind the driver, and the driver is taking a lot of compo claiming passengers for a ride, some who think they could drive beter than the byus driver .

Otherwise both buses and LGV,S may have a scania badge on the front. 😯

There was also a video of a stagecoach bus going round a cornertoday on the news, spinning out and he hit a signpost at window height.

Which made it a strange choice to host a Winter Olympics.

It was the host [i]city[/i]. The nearest event to Van was the snowboarding on Cypress. Which is fairly elevated from Van. And AFAIR, even that was struggling for snow around the time. Whistler, where most of the alpine events took place, is a few hours from Van.

Doubt that pic was Canada. Most likely Japan unless the rules have really changed recently. 🙂

Still a strange choice to host a Winter Olympics.

Can you imagine the conversation.

"Where in Canada shall we choose to host the Winter Olympics"

"Hey why not Vancouver, its Canada's Warmest City !"

I don't think Torino gets a lot of snow either. 🙂

Neither did Albertville.

I think you'll find most trucks are automatics. And you missed that a bus has it's engine at the other end.
I've driven both, yes they're different but handle and drive in a similar way.
I'd rather be in a car, than a coach or a truck.
Actually, a tractor would have been fun. 🙂

Meanwhile.

Drifttastic 😀

I was in Oslo a few years ago, first day of snow that winter and it was chaos.

The guys I worked with said that was normal and usually caused by folk who hadn't put winter tyres on yet...

😳

Are either Torino or Albertville the warmest city in the Country ? 😉

haha.. Hit the A40 today, me on the MTB speed 14mph.. coming the other way a 4x4.. errr 3mph. and I thought i was minsing 🙂

Are either Torino or Albertville the warmest city in the Country ?

Someone's getting desperate.

Yep, we should definitely spend a fortune on dealing with something that happens for 1/365 of the year.

Why are those Canadians up there driving on the wrong side of the road?

The hill in the OP is pretty bloody steep and I'm surprised anything got up it.

BTW - the fish and chip hut at the bottom by the beach is the best fish and chips I've ever had - ever! Pricey and busy in Summer, but worth it.

Driving in the snow could be worse...

[img] [/img]

where's that from Jamie?
that's madness!

As usual, Russia.

I should emphasise, [url= http://www.autoevolution.com/news/russian-mom-endangers-her-two-kids-on-sleigh-video-54090.html ]no-one was hurt.[/url]

Someone's getting desperate.

So its the warmest city in the country, its a city that gets loads of rain and hardly any snow, in a country that's famous for snow.
Even the ski area that's "attached" to the city regularly struggles for snow, and they had to truck in snow for the events to go ahead.
And you think it's an obvious choice ?

Although to be fair, Sochi is even warmer than Vancouver.

Why are those Canadians up there driving on the wrong side of the road?

Because they are in Japan more than likely.

Yeah we're 5hit at handling snow, mainly down to the fact that we don't get any with any regularity.

Where we ski in the States has unsurprisingly got things down to a fine art. The local gardening and builder type firms stick blades on the front of their pickups and plough peoples drives, car parks and so on. The main roads are ploughed and gritted clear within a couple of hours of snow, so much so that we've driven to hills in the morning in 6 inches of snow to find the roads DRY come the end of the day.

Of course this is totally down to the fact that they regularly get the weather and have the kit to deal with it.

Two years ago when we were there, the southern states (the Carolinas, Georgia etc) got hit by freak snow and it was utter chaos for them. The northerners were p!ssing themselves laughing at the news reports.

Oh and one other factor that burggers us up is the humidity of our weather. If you look at our typical dew point it's way above freezing so when the temps drop we end up with a lovely frozen coating of ice, as witnessed when you have to defrost your car in winter.

A lot of places elsewhere have much dryer air and frost coatings are unusual for them.

The difference in performance of the bus could be down to tyre choice. A car with the correct tyres would have driven up the hill without missing a beat.

The difference in performance of the bus could be down to tyre choice. A car with the correct tyres would have driven up the hill without missing a beat.

Lots of people on here seem to think that winter or snow tyres are "snake oil" sold to us by the evil megalomaniac tyre companies.

Vancouver's an obvious choice in that it has one of the world's best ski areas a few hours away. Like most [i]host[/i] cities, very few alpine events actually happen in the cities themselves. Surely you know this by now, even if you appeared not to when you originally made your quip.

What bugs me isn't the actual driving in snow - to be honest it's not *that* dfficult with a bit of common sense. It's every other idiot on the roads. Today I've seen people peering through postbox sized slots on the windscreen, drivers doing 40 on the straight then hitting the brakes for every slight bend in the road, crawling round at 10 and then back on the gas again to 40.

Got overtaken by a 4x4 doing about 60 down the dual carriageway - my lane was clear, the outside lane still had 1/2" of snow in it and this pillock came hammering past, clearly thinking that 4x4 = awesome. He then clipped the roundabout at the far end as he turned the wheel and the car went straight on. 🙂

[...]postbox sized slots in the windscreen[...]

Ah, the "tank commanders":
[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8457536.stm ]Elderly motorist warned over snow-covered windscreen[/url]

[img] [/img]

"Warned" made me a sad panda; what's wrong with a funting fine & 3 points for the ****less ****ts?

The issue isn't really one of snow. It's one of crowding. Our rush hr roads are now so fully, that they jam up at the slightest hint of an issue. Even a broken down lorry on the hard shoulder was enough to jam the M1 a few days ago, people just backing off a few mph, causing a concertina effect and bingo, stationary traffic! So add in a bit of snow, a few people being too cautious, a few being a bit reckless, and people generally taking just say 15% longer to complete any maneouver, and bingo, traffic chaos. When people post up pictures of say switerlands alpine passes, working fine with 5m of snow, that's because they aren't trying to get 220,000 cars/hr down that road at that time!!

Like most host cities, very few alpine events actually happen in the cities themselves. Surely you know this by now, even if you appeared not to when you originally made your quip.

I did know that yes, however I'm not alone in thinking that Vancouver wasn't the best choice (or at least that ALL of the skiing and snowboarding rather than just some of it should have been somewhere else)
Calgary seemed to be the place most Canadians favoured.

But not the IOC. I must check and see what they'd guidelines for choosing Winter Olympic host cities.

So now we've moved on from snowfall, to temperatures to most Canadians. 🙂 (Hasn't Calgary already had them? Not that that is necessarily a factor of course, unlike temperatures, snowfall and host country population sentiments.)

Yes, Calgary hosted them very successfully in 1988. And were in the running in 2010 but the Canadian committee decided Canada's warmest city (altitude 4 metres above sea level) would be better than High Altitude, Snowy Calgary 😉

You seem offended somehow that anyone thinks vancouver possibly wasn't the best venue ?

It's an opinion, and not just mine, but I'll leave it there.

I'm not offended at all. Just setting you straight. I'll leave it there too.

I'm bit offended at all....

at = is?

Auto correct Jimmers.

nealglover - Member

Still a strange choice to host a Winter Olympics.

Can you imagine the conversation.

"Where in Canada shall we choose to host the Winter Olympics"

"Hey why not Vancouver, its Canada's Warmest City !"

[url= http://www.grousemountain.com/chalet-webcam ]Blinkin' chucking it down at the mo'[/url] 😉

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm

[img] [/img]

Blinkin' chucking it down at the mo'

Bit late now though eh 😉

^^^ Oooo, purty! 😀

Not that it would be much help, seeing as there were no events at Grouse Mountain.