Monster avalanche closes Richardson Highway, cuts off Valdez, Alaska

[Blue_In_AK]

This is one of the biggest avalanches I've seen around here, the result of weeks of way above seasonal temperatures and a lot of rain. That's the highway there at the top of the picture, slightly left of center.

http://www.adn.com/2014/01/24/3289394/avalanches-close-richardson-highway.html

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Yikes!

[LuvNewcastle]

2. Alaska is having higher than normal temperatures and the lover 48 are freezing.

Climate change is a hoax, though. I hope they're able to clear that road and get things moving again very soon.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Yeah, right.

I made the mistake of getting involved in a Facebook discussion last night with some old high school classmates in Texas who were chortling about Al Gore and how wrong he was about global warming because it's cold down there (as if Texas is the "globe&quot , insisting that sea levels aren't rising, even though I provided evidence of western Alaska villages falling into the Bering Sea and that our temperatures here have been 20 degrees above normal for weeks. When someone said simply "The Bible," I decided it was time to back out.

[malaise]

3. Stay safe

Was anyone hurt?

[Blue_In_AK]

4. No, luckily.

Last edited Sat Jan 25, 2014, 03:02 PM - Edit history (1)

I think I read that one car got kind of close, but was missed. This area has some of the highest snowfall amounts in the state...a normal year they get over 600 inches. This is just a huge amount of very wet, sloppy snow to clear and it does close off road access to Valdez.


Here you go (from the article): "One driver, caught off guard by snow on the roadway, did not have time to stop and hit a snow berm shortly before 8 a.m. Friday, but was not injured, Woodrow said."

[MineralMan]

5. Wow! The water backed up behind that avalanche

is going to seriously affect reopening that road. I foresee a washed out section once they open things up. Uff da!

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Yes, it's a mess.

This is the main link between the North Slope oil fields/Fairbanks and the pipeline terminus in Valdez. This highway is heavily used by trucks going back and forth to the Slope.

[Renew Deal]

7. How will I get my coffee?

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Another aerial photo of the avalanche in Keystone Canyon

[panader0]

10. My son is working at Red Dog right now.

But I believe they fly back and forth (to Anchorage).

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Yes, Red Dog is out west.

He wouldn't be affected by this at all, although it is unseasonably warm all over the state.

[scarletwoman]

11. Good grief! How the hell do you clear something like that up?

Gonna need some mighty big snow plows...

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Have you been down that highway, Scarlet?

I think it's one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the state. They say they'll have it cleared by tomorrow, but I have my doubts. That's a LOT of snow.

[scarletwoman]

15. Nope. Unfortunately, I just didn't get much chance to travel around when I lived up there.

Made it down to Homer a couple of times, up to Denali National Park once, up the Glenn highway a ways (can't remember where we went, exactly). The most I saw further afield of the Mat-Su Borough was when I drove out of Alaska for good in 1995 - and my memory of it all isn't so sharp anymore. :/

[uppityperson]

14. What a mess, bet they'll be busy today, glad no one was hurt.

Sometimes I really miss Alaska, someday will come back for a while.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I hope you'll look us up when you come back.

I'd love to meet you.

[uppityperson]

17. Of course!

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Avalanches almost constant near Valdez; highway closure extended

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140125/avalanches-almost-constant-near-valdez-richardson-highway-closure-extended

The Richardson Highway near Valdez is not in good shape, to put it mildly. And that's the problem. Mild weather -- with snow, rain and freezing rain that have plagued Alaska for more than a week -- has brought down at least five avalanches between mile 12 and 64 of the Richardson Highway since Jan. 23. The road will remain closed until Monday, or possibly even Tuesday. And at least one lucky driver -- who ventured into the area as the avalanches began and became caught between at least two of them -- has escaped with his life and may have avoided what could have been an environmental mess. Road-clearing crews have been told to stay away until the conditions improve.

Things have gotten so bad on the mountain slopes of Prince William Sound that avalanches are not common -- they are constant.

"An avalanche technician (working in the area) told me that in Valdez, you could hear them coming down constantly," Jeremy Woodrow, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Transportation, said late Saturday evening. Woodrow added that the avalanche sizes and danger are among the worst the area has ever seen.

Beginning Thursday, Jan. 23, slides had closed off portions of the Richardson Highway between mile 39 and an area known as Keystone Canyon between miles 14 and 18 of the highway. DOT reported one motorist was caught between the two slides and its crews had helped get him to safety unhurt.

<snip>

The trapped driver was driving a fuel truck.

A new slide in the same area on Saturday was approximately 1500 feet long and 50 feet deep.

[onethatcares]

19. WOW,

That's a lot of snow.

Has the same thing been happening on the highway to Homer?

I was in Alaska 72-76 and spent more time going to Kenai and south that going north.

That was way back, back before the "P" woman.

I was also wondering what is happening with Portage Glacier?

[Blue_In_AK]

20. There have been some closures down on the Seward Hughway

but mostly for remediation. We haven't had quite as much snow over here as they have on the PWS side.

Portage Glacier has receded tremendously. Remember how it used to come out into the middle of the lake? Now you can barely see it from the visitors' center. You have to drive through the first little tunnel to see the glacier tucked back in there. It's pretty alarming.

I have some pictures of Portage Valley in my "fall 2013" SmugMug gallery here:
http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Fall-2013/i-xf8xC2R. Photo 23 is looking across the lake. You can see the glacier way in the background.

[onethatcares]

41. thanks so very much for sharing those.

It was an amazing time I spent in Alaska, wouldn't trade it for the world. Used to go to Homer, used to see the Dahl sheep on the mountains, have pix of so many places there.

Heck, we used to stay in the cabins above Knik arm and party. Panned for gold, did so many things they are a tumble in my mind.

Your pictures of the mountains are lovely. thanks

[Blue_In_AK]

21. Here is an incredible fly-over video of the avalanche area.

DOT is now saying that the highway will be closed for at least a week. Food supplies, etc., will be barged into Valdez as needed. Ferries are still running.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153777611315215&set=vb.844415214&type=2&theater


This looks like a pretty good Facebook page for keeping up, for anyone interested: https://www.facebook.com/pages/KVAK-Radio-933-FM-1230-AM/120978627920769

[yortsed snacilbuper]

22. How's the plowing,

coming along?

What's sp up to?

[Blue_In_AK]

23. I don't think they've been able to do much plowing yet.

The snow is really unstable and they don't want to risk the lives of the DOT personnel.

As for SP, we haven't seen her in a while, not even sure if she still lives here. She did not apply for an Alaska permanent fund dividend check for 2013, even though Todd and the younger kids did. I would assume this was because she's been out of the state too much to qualify. No one here thinks about her much anymore -- our current governor puts her to shame in the awfulness department, believe it or not.



Here is today's Anchorage Daily News update on the situation. http://www.adn.com/2014/01/27/3293690/highway-to-valdez-to-be-closed.html. Apparently a 60-foot-deep lake has backed up behind the avalanche where it blocks the river. This is bad.


ed. The video at the link is much better than the one I posted yesterday. This is an unbelievably huge avalanche.

[MineralMan]

27. I predict that once the road is exposed,

it's going to be severely damaged, if not washed out completely. I don't think that's going to be a valid route for a long time to come. Sorry, but that avalanche and that backed-up lake spell disaster for that road, I think.

[Blue_In_AK]

30. I think you're right.

It's going to be quite a flood when that breaks free.

Well, some road crews will be making lots of money this summer, for sure. We only have about 7 highways in the whole state, and this one is somewhat of a major one considering that it's the only way into Valdez except for ferries and planes and its importance to the pipeline maintenance.

[MineralMan]

32. I've never been to the interior of Alaska.

I've been to Juneau an Haines for salmon fishing, but that didn't really seem like Alaska, somehow.

That avalanche is a monstrous mess, and I can't imagine that the roadway under it is going to end up intact. Stay safe.

[Blue_In_AK]

36. Yes, Southeast is kind of like British Columbia or Washington,

very beautiful, but quite a bit different from Southcentral.

[bravenak]

34. You must be pretty wise. I think the same thing.

That's a lot of water, I have no idea where it will go. It feels like break up time. I guess climate change is not a hoax after all.

[MineralMan]

35. Oh, I think climate change is real.

We have yet another polar vortex over my house right now. -23 degrees F tonight. No fun. And at my parent's citrus farm in California, the drought is really having an impact.

Stuff's changing, for sure.

[bravenak]

37. I know you know it's real.

I just like to keep saying its not a hoax over and over just in case a science denier decides to give us a read.
My family lives in California too, they've been migrating up here for a while. It's too dry and too hot, and some of them are getting older and can't handle the heat anymore. It's too expensive to run their AC on a fixed income. That extra hundred bucks a month hurts them and they end up not picking up prescriptions in order to pay the electric bill. So many thing are happening all at once.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. bravenak, my so-called "friends" in Texas

are busy scoffing at global warming and Al Gore. You know, as if Texas is "the globe."

[bravenak]

40. I have a friend there who still thinks Texas is the biggest state.

She keeps telling me there's no global warming, but she is positive that there is climate change. The same lady who loves the ACA but hates Obamacare. She makes my head spin sometimes.

[oldhippie]

24. Isn't that the road from Ice Road Truckers ...

... on TV?

[Blue_In_AK]

25. Ice Road Truckers is on the Dalton Highway

north of Fairbanks, although there is a lot of North Slope and pipeline truck traffic on the Richardson Highway, as well. The terminus of the pipeline is in Valdez. This highway connects Valdez and Fairbanks.

Supposedly these avalanches haven't impacted the pipeline which runs parallel to the highway here. I can't remember exactly, but it may be buried or up high on the opposite side of the highway. It's been a while since I've been through there and I can't quite visualize where it's at here in the canyon.

[bravenak]

26. It's just too dang hot out here.

I've been keeping my windows open all the time lately. Maybe it will just keep staying hot and it will all melt away?? All that snow reminds me of the time I went to Victory Bible Camp and they made us hike the matanuska. I hated bible camp but I loved that glacier.

[Blue_In_AK]

31. When we go north, we always stop there

so I can take pictures, but I've never walked out on the ice. It's something I'd like to do sometime.

I wonder where these avalanches are in relation to Worthington glacier.

[bravenak]

33. You should definitely walk on it.

I felt like Ayla from clan of the cave bears on the ice, it's soo awesome. I've never seen that particular blue color until I saw a glacier in person. Ive never been to worthington, but I think it may be time for a family road trip this summer. I love it out here.

[Blue_In_AK]

38. Worthington is cool.

You can walk up next to it, but not really get out on top of it. That whole drive from Glennallen to Valdez is just gorgeous. I hope it doesn't take too long to get the road repaired. We like to camp down there outside of Valdez.

[hunter]

28. Still dry in California too.

Farmers and farm workers scared.

That lake in the photo is scary.

It's likely to eat the road.

[Blue_In_AK]

29. We were in San Francisco earlier this month.

I couldn't believe how warm and dry it was down there. Hopefully this crazy weather pattern will break soon. No one is happy with it. I have friends in Louisiana and Texas who are freaking out over the cold, you guys have drought and Alaska is melting. It was 55 degrees yesterday in Homer, AK, where my brother lives. That's just not right.