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The never-quite-winter of 2014-15

The winter that never was is finally over!  The Anchorage Avalanche Center has wrapped up operations for the 2014-15 season.  Summer is here and with it the (mostly) snow-free adventures that can help us forget about last winter’s drought and be hopeful for a snowier winter to come.  A big thanks goes out to all those that support the Anchorage Avalanche Center and effort for an organized snow and avalanche information program to promote safer winter backcountry recreation in Chugach State Park!!

We are already looking forward to next season and continuing to provide information to enhance avalanche awareness and winter recreational enjoyment in Chugach State Park!

click here for the 2014-15 season summary

  • The Anchorage Avalanche Center has concluded its third season of avalanche advisories and professional observations for the most frequently visited avalanche terrain of Chugach State Park.  If you find this avalanche information program valuable and would like to see it continue for seasons to come, please make a tax-deductible donation to help the Anchorage Avalanche Center achieve sustainability.

Support your local grassroots avalanche center!

Despite close proximity to the state’s most densely populated region, heavy wintertime use, rapidly increasing recreation in avalanche terrain in recent years, and 16 avalanche related fatalities in the past few decades, Chugach State Park (CSP) lacked an organized avalanche information program prior to the development of the grassroots Anchorage Avalanche Center (provided through a partnership with the non-profit Alaska Avalanche Information Center).  CSP’s most popular, and Alaska’s most readily accessible, avalanche terrain of the Front Range and Eagle River areas comprise the Anchorage Avalanche Center’s core advisory zones.

Anchorage Avalanche Center mission: to increase the safety, awareness, and recreational enjoyment of winter backcountry enthusiasts visiting the avalanche terrain of Anchorage’s backyard mountain playground (Chugach State Park) through an avalanche advisory program, forum for public snow-avalanche observations, and winter backcountry education. 

Anchorage Avalanche Center vision: comprehensive avalanche information and education for backcountry recreation in Chugach State Park.

ISSW accidents poster 1
Learn more about the Anchorage Avalanche Center effort:

Piloting a backcountry avalanche advisory program for Alaska’s most readily accessible avalanche terrain: The Front Range and Eagle River area Chugach (eight page overview presented at the 2014 International Snow Science Workshop)

Piloting an avalanche advisory program for public recreation in the Front Range and Eagle River Area Chugach Mountains: Strategy, challenges, and viability (88 page full report)