After hundreds of people spent a frigid night stranded on the Coquihalla Highway, the major thoroughfare reopened on Friday afternoon.

Highway 5, linking B.C.'s South Coast and Interior, was shut down Thursday evening by icy conditions and multiple collisions.

Living up to its nickname, the "Highway Through Hell" was so unsafe that drivers who were already on the stretch between Hope and Merritt were stuck there.

Stranded travellers, including small children, slept in their cars while the ice storm subsided and crews worked to clear the lanes. The province said about 1,000 vehicles and the people inside them spent the night on the highway.

Among those were two ringette teams and their families, who were trying to get to a tournament in Kelowna.

Assistant coach Laura Takasaki said they'd left Richmond at around 1 p.m. for the tournament they've been going to for a decade. The team's bus got on the highway – which had recently reopened following an earlier closure – but traffic came to a standstill at around 5:30 p.m.

"We were about 30 kilometres south of Merritt, and we were there until 7:45 this morning," she said.

They received updates every two hours, but at midnight they were told they'd have to wait where they were until at least 6 a.m. The bus driver shut off the lights but kept the bus running so they had heat.

"It wasn't very comfortable," Takasaki said of her night on the coach bus with teenagers. Still, she knew they were fortunate to have access to a bathroom.

They weren't allowed to get off the bus because the road in front of them was sheer ice, she said.

"We were joking around that we could actually probably skate up the hill on our skates rather than drive… I've never seen it like that before."

Another person who was stranded, Jeff Pelletier, was trying to get to Kamloops when he got stuck.

"It's torrential rain and wind and we've even heard a few claps of thunder," he told CTV News.

"(The road) is literally a sheet of ice. We've seen well over 100 – probably closer to 200 – jackknifed or disabled semi trucks."

Zeljko Medic, a trucker who'd been stuck on the highway all night, said the conditions were "terrible," and changed from snow to freezing rain to rain. He and other truckers offered to help stranded travellers.

"This is our life. We help each other. If one truck is stopped, we stop to help him," Medic said.

Highway 5 reopened at 2 p.m., but the province warned drivers to exercise "extreme caution" even still.

"Watch for pooling water and compact snow in some sections," the statement said.

Officials warned drivers to stay below 80 km/h, keeping their speed appropriate to conditions. They're also asked to watch for disabled vehicles, and make room for emergency, maintenance and commercial vehicles.

Drivers should not pass a working snowplow, and are "reminded to obey direction from traffic control personnel, RCMP and CVSE who will be onsite."

And the Coquihalla wasn't the only route out of the Lower Mainland with issues overnight. Highways 1 and 3 were also shut down due to extreme weather and the risk of avalanche.

Even veteran professional drivers were surprised at how bad the roads were.

"This is rare for around here," said truck driver Paul Kreschuk.

"I've been trucking for 27 years and I haven't seen it bad like this. A lot of guys have chains on just to get out of parking lots."

Trucks were lined up in Hope where the closure started, waiting for the roads to be cleared so they could continue on their way. Others waited in the Lower Mainland, parking in places like Annacis Island overnight.

Highway 1 remains closed from Yale to Lytton due to high risk of avalanche, but has reopened in Glacier National Park. Highway 3 has reopened.

Follow CTV Vancouver on Twitter for the latest information on closures.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim and Michele Brunoro