Car totaled on ski road trip - Looking for a ride from Golden BC to civilization

I wish this could have been a post looking for touring partners for Roger pass but alas...
About halfway through my 2-month ski road trip, I flipped and subsequently totaled my car on a nasty patch of black ice in the Kicking Horse Canyon near Golden, so now I'm looking on how to get back to San Francisco with all my gear (might be too much to fly). If anyone happens to be in the neighborhood and will be heading to any major city in the next few days (Calgary/Vancouver/Seattle/Spokane/Portland/San Franciscco/...), I'd love to get a ride. The closer to San Francisco, the better. I'm totally fine if there's skiing involved on the way; I was only supposed to be back in San Francisco by March 15th so I theoretically have time for more ski shenanigans. Have IKON pass and touring gear.

Any other help/tips would be appreciated too. I'm lucky to be alive and unhurt after all this but it's still a kinda shitty situation being stuck here in Golden with a car's worth of gear.

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Thanks!
Gerrit

You are sure you cant limp that back to San Fran?

I'm sure you've done this already but talk with some locals and see what methods they recommend for putting the word out.

Good luck getting home.

Shit, sorry for the bad luck but glad you are safe.

hope works out, no where near you or destination. ship some gear home?

Looks like that should just buff right out

I guess you don't have full coverage. Buy something and keep going

Weeklong car rentals are pretty affordable and would give you some breathing room to not need find something immediately, as well as transpo to go look for something to buy, or else just get back home.

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Originally Posted by BFD

I guess you don't have full coverage. Buy something and keep going

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Correct, car was too old to justify collision insurance, althoug in hindsight it wouldn't have hurt given the sketchy roads you encounter on ski road trips. I wish it was as easy as just buying a replacement car, but being in Canada temporarily complicates things (I'm pretty sure I can't just buy a care here and drive it to the US). It's also my friend's car, which complicates things further.

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Originally Posted by Rideski

Weeklong car rentals are pretty affordable and would give you some breathing room to not need find something immediately, as well as transpo to go look for something to buy, or else just get back home.

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Except for a Uhaul there are no rental companies in Golden unfortunately. But it seems like it should be fairly easy to get a rideshare to Calgary where there's obviously tons of availability. Based on my current research, one way car rentals are ridicilously expensive though, and I think I need to get back to the US before I can buy a new car (can't simply import a Canadian car into the US - insert Mordor meme here)

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Originally Posted by gerritkwood

Correct, car was too old to justify collision insurance, althoug in hindsight it wouldn't have hurt given the sketchy roads you encounter on ski road trips. I wish it was as easy as just buying a replacement car, but being in Canada temporarily complicates things (I'm pretty sure I can't just buy a care here and drive it to the US). It's also my friend's car, which complicates things further.

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you might check into it

you could buy it but the big question might be what do you do on the other end?

Just get your shit to Spokane somehow and then rent a minivan one way home for however long. Sometimes one ways are a lot and other times not bad at all. Maybe a couple car payments. Shit happens.

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Originally Posted by gerritkwood

Correct, car was too old to justify collision insurance, althoug in hindsight it wouldn't have hurt given the sketchy roads you encounter on ski road trips. I wish it was as easy as just buying a replacement car, but being in Canada temporarily complicates things (I'm pretty sure I can't just buy a care here and drive it to the US). It's also my friend's car, which complicates things further.

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sorry about your situation. I rolled one mid winter Kluane lake. Bought one in Whitehorse and drove home. Just needs to meet emissions and recalls and tell customs you bought it in Canada. There is a thread here somewhere about buying cars in Canada. good luck you could always take a bus to Calgary and fly home.

Ever see the movie Cruising?

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Originally Posted by BFD

sorry about your situation. I rolled one mid winter Kluane lake. Bought one in Whitehorse and drove home. Just needs to meet emissions and recalls and tell customs you bought it in Canada. There is a thread here somewhere about buying cars in Canada. good luck you could always take a bus to Calgary and fly home.

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That's good to know, thanks for sharing.

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Originally Posted by BFD

I guess you don't have full coverage. Buy something and keep going

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This, buy a $500 beater and rock on. Don't let this ruin your trip.

rolling in Kluane is waaaaay worse than Golden geez.

Glad your OK. That thing is a mess. I murdered a whitetail 2 weeks ago coming home from Bridger, new rig being picked up Friday.

If you can get to Spokane we have an extra bedroom you can crash in until you get shit figured out.

Shoot me a PM if you want more details.

Glad you’re okay!


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I suggest...

Found a ride to Calgary with someone I met skiing at Lake Louise the other day. Local Facebook rideshare group is pretty active FYI with lots of people doing the Calgary-Golden section (less so to Vancouver).
The Spokane route would have been hard given that I lost my Green Card in the crash and I just learned I need to go to a US Embassy to get the proper documentation (and fork over a grand to uncle Sam for the inconvenience).

I'll probably try and fly out from Calgary and ship some of my stuff (looks cheaper than one way car rental). If I was earlier in my trip I might have looked into buying a beater and continuing but doesn't seem worth the hassle for just 2 weeks.

Thanks for the help (and interesting movie suggestions)

Hey man - just saw this, looks like you are getting on but if you need any help in Golden let me know?

Random but my wife is wanting to sell her subaru, it'd be 2-3k and it's an american car, so no import issues. It's actually a pretty good deal. I'd guess you could even re-sell it for more in Cali...just a thought?

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Originally Posted by gerritkwood

I lost my Green Card in the crash and I just learned I need to go to a US Embassy to get the proper documentation (and fork over a grand to uncle Sam for the inconvenience).

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Jeezuz, talk about bad luck. Your wallet went flying out the window when you flipped? I am glad your hanging in there as your situation blows.

If you can get as far as Cranbrook/Fernie I could drive you back to Missoula. Flights are cheap enough there, and you'd get some turns in along the way.

Edit: Saw the Calgary post and the embassy thing. Very sorry to hear about that part, and best wishes.

an american stuck in Canada, forced to wear plaid and eat poutine

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

an american stuck in Canada, forced to wear plaid and eat poutine

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He said he has/had a green card. i suspect he might have plaid and poutine jeans already ;)

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Originally Posted by Z

Hey man - just saw this, looks like you are getting on but if you need any help in Golden let me know?

Random but my wife is wanting to sell her subaru, it'd be 2-3k and it's an american car, so no import issues. It's actually a pretty good deal. I'd guess you could even re-sell it for more in Cali...just a thought?

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Bummer, if I was still in Golden I'd be seriously interested. Currently in Calgary so it might be hard to get this arranged. PM me if you think there's an easy way?

@liv2ski: Yep, pretty much lol. After entering Canada a couple days earlier I had shoved my passport and green card in the glove box and it opened during the crash and spilled everywhere (together with a couple boxes of food/supplies; it was a mess). Someone found my passport but Green Card was nowhere to be found. Also lost my shoes (found them in the wreck later) so a nice trucker gave me his spare sandals.

Ironically, the passport and green card were inititally safely stowed in my backpack. When entering the Canadian border I'm pretty sure my whole car got searched because I didn't have the passport/green card directly accessible, so I figured I'd keep it within closer reach. It was mildly entertaining to see the border patrol go through all the shit in the car (a somewhat organized mess of boxes of food/supplies, ski gear, cold weather sleeping stuff, and other random crap)

On the upside... just checked out the new public library in Calgary, it is pretty nice!

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

an american stuck in Canada, forced to wear plaid and eat poutine

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Ugh.

His poor guns.

https://youtu.be/Y1En6FKd5Pk

http://www.oxiclean.com/-/media/OxiClean/Content/Product-Images/DT_SprayBottle_baby_Stain_Remove_16oz.png[/IMG]

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Originally Posted by BCMtnHound

poutine jeans

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Attachment 271987

You could've just staid in Golden - should take the feds a couple years to decide you need to leave.

.. actually with our government it may take a couple decades.

no thats the Phonex pay system that will take decades

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Originally Posted by acinpdx

wait, you drove a friend's car from SF and rekked it?
or
you are with your friend & his/her insurance doesn't really cover it?

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First one. We swapped cars (his is bigger with a bed in the back, and more snow worthy; although the latter didn't quite work out) and I was gonna pay him some $$ for the extra miles and donate a nice set of winter tires.
Second one is kinda true though: since the car is old he didn't carry collision insurance (should've pushed for that and paid the extra premium myself, oh well...), so now i owe him a car and a bed setup.


EDIT: On my way back to SF, yay! After a day of luggage shopping and police/consulate visits on Friday, I made it to the Calgary airport today and made it through US Customs and Border Protection. They were nice enough to waive the $585 dollar fee that's normally required for the "transportation letter" you need when you lose your Green Card.

Getting to the airport with all my shit was a bit of a struggle. I managed to consolidate everything into 1 giant ski bag (no wheels), 1 giant duffel bag, 1 giant roller suitcase, 1 60L backpack, 1 30L backpack and one bootbag (hope the hostel liked the free snow chains and beat up 2008 K2 Public Enemy skis I left ...). The bus stop was only 400m away so I figured that was preferable over a cab/uber. Definitely underestimated the suffering involved in those 400 meters.

I also got into a Catch 22 situation where the Border Patrol said I first needed to get the boarding pass before they could give me the transportation letter, and United said I couldn't get a boarding pass without the Green Card or the letter. Border Patrol suggested I try another airline (already paid for my United ticket so no thanks), while United suggested I get an ESTA tourist visa (which is lieing to customs and jeopardizing my permanent resident status so no thanks). Had to make a bit of a scene at United for them to make an exception and give me a boarding pass first. After that things were smooth (if you count watching WWE for 1.5 hours while waiting in secondary inspection as an enjoyable experience).

Glad to put this to an end and focus on what to do for the next ~2 weeks!
(aside from scouring craigslist for a used 4Runner)

Just made the connection that I'd met and skied with Gerrit at Big Sky last week.

Glad you're ok buddy.

Bummed your road trip has been curtailed and we won't be seeing you at Crystal.. yet.

Glad you're ok and are on your way back, but I really feel like you went about this all wrong. Seemed like a really good excuse to settle down in Golden indefinitely.

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Originally Posted by DolphinSki

Glad you're ok and are on your way back, but I really feel like you went about this all wrong. Seemed like a really good excuse to settle down in Golden indefinitely.

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Agreed. Opportunity knocked and he flew away.