Not a rookie, but question about the rockies

No Jake, Go down the hill in the same gear you climbed it in. Light pressure on the air.

 

Hammer down roads empty

 

Tall mountains, steep hills, reduced speed limits

 

Your 6% grades that US interstates have as a maximum by engineering rules decreed by federal regulation is a normal hill in the Canadian Rockies with some hills in the 8% and 10% on major highways and more on minor/secondary highways.
On the Alaska highway for an example the river crossing valley at Taylor BC is a minor/normal hill that many cross at 140,000lbs every day.

Pink Mountain, Sikanni Chief and Steamboat Mountain were somewhat tamed in the 90's but still require a major amount of respect. These are on either side of Fort Nelson BC.
This is not a "don't do this" or a "hold my beer and watch this" bit of information for you but it is a warning that it will be a long and stressful trip and I will suggest that you carry enough cash or insure that your fuel cards work in the fuel stop locations that you will need, and confirm that you are allowed to transit Canada and that you know the regulations concerning Canadian customs.

 

I ran into a older guy and younger gal crossing at N. Portal last summer. They were independent owners teaming it to Alaska for the first time. They thought since all Canadian provinces are now listed on the cab card they were good to go...
When I left they was still begging Pacific into running under their bond like back in the good old days.
Fast forward a week, we cross paths again up in Alaska. We get to b.s.ing when I noticed they were pulling a spread axle with a looong wheelbase Pete. They had no idea that the 3 Canadian provinces they trucked through only allows +-20k on the spread. It was just plain dumb luck that they was loaded light to begin with!
Or that they needed a permit for the wheelbase on the truck.
No B.C insurance on file.
I asked they if they bought the 30 day AK permit since I didn't see an Alaska plate.
Nope. They had no idea they needed one...
They left hoping the TOK scale was gonna be closed on the way out. Better luck hoping that mofo gets hit by lightning than being closed!
Sheese. Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance!

 

The biggest thing is parts and tools with the ability to use them.
And survival gear.
You are on your own for the most part, other than whoever decides to stop and check on you on the side of the road. No phone service outside of town. And towns are hundreds of miles apart. You can count on about 3 fingers what towns have any real heavy truck parts/services between Ft st John and Anchorage/ Fairbanks.
That's 1,600 ish miles...
The risk is high. If you wreck you may as well catch a bus or hitchhike home because recovering the truck and load is going to break you.
That being said there is nowhere I would rather be than trucking north. In this increasingly sheety world there isn't too many places you can go and be all on your own. God's country.

 

We have grades off the Interstate system that are essentially vertical. DOT or those who design big rigs try to test them to ensure that they will accept stopping on a 15% grade and take a restart at 80000 pounds without breaking.

Ive had grades as much as 24% and maybe a hour or more to the top of those deep in low gear. If anything at all failed in the truck (overheat etc) thats going to be a problem. Thats one reason I love my Kitty. A small engine to be sure from those days but she did it. Even though most of my work was done in either two stroke detriots or the later 500+ detriots which are not that special to begin with. (With one exception..)

I never had the pleasure of running a B train (Michigan Coil Sets, I think 160,000 on those) but that state is flat more or less. It would be something else in some of the hills. Ive already had containers upwards of about 135000 or so. Thats too much on the trucks we had for them in those days long ago. But they did it.

 

I think many of the interstate "6%" grades are optimistic. Friends father helped design a few grades on/off and a couple snowsheds. He laughs and says most are closer to 8 or 9, especially the west side of Vail.

 

I drove the Alaska highway twice. Both times in January. So I can’t really help you.