Make sure to follow our social media (Instagram and Facebook) for the latest updates (it’s often more efficient to update than the website).
Advisories: avalanche danger updates and weekend avalanche outlooks for the Western Chugach (with an emphasis on the most popular winter recreation areas in Chugach State Park)
Observations: recreational conditions in the greater Anchorage area (focused on snowpack conditions in the Western Chugach but inclusive of trail, climbing, and riding conditions throughout Southcentral Alaska)
Education: statewide learning opportunities and online resources for getting “avy savvy”
Trip Reports: inspiration and stoke to contribute to Southcentral Alaska mountain culture
Gear Reviews: our favorite equipment that makes big days in wild Alaskan mountains possible
Anchorage Backcountry Center mission:
- Enhance the safety, awareness, and enjoyment of visitors to Anchorage’s backyard mountain playground (the Western Chugach Mountains), and other Southcentral AK backcountry venues.
- Promote public lands, sustainable outdoor recreation, ecological consciousness, and environmentally responsible behavior.
- Contribute to Alaskan backcountry/mountain culture.
Anchorage Backcountry Center vision:
- Comprehensive outdoor information and education for the Western Chugach Mountains.
- A Southcentral Alaska citizenry that recognizes the immeasurable value of its public land resources, engages in sustainable outdoor recreation for individual and collective wellness, works toward improved sustainability in all domains of life through environmentally responsible behavior, and possesses an imminently necessary ecological consciousness.
- An inclusive, supportive, and diverse Alaskan backcountry/mountain culture.
Values & Philosophy
Diversity, equity, community, innovation, consciousness, excellence, and FUN.
The fate of the human species is dependent on changing the way we live on this planet. Our current rate of resource consumption and waste is unsustainable, and modern civilization has distanced humanity from its evolutionary heritage in the natural world. Outdoor recreation is an effective means of reconnecting individuals and communities to their natural heritage, developing a more caring relationship with the Earth, and inducing states of ecstasy!
Close call: three people were caught and carried by this avalanche just above the South Fork Eagle River trailhead (photo by Suzie Mauro, edited by AAC).
Our snow-season backcountry safety information program is focused on the Western Chugach Mountains (more specifically, the most popular winter recreation areas in Chugach State Park), although we may provide observations from areas throughout Southcentral Alaska. If you are looking for backcountry avalanche information specific to the Kenai Mountains (i.e. Turnagain Pass and Summit Lake) or Hatcher Pass area Talkeetna Mountains visit the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center linked here.
As a grassroots and beyond volunteer project (i.e. volunteers that provide this programming not only donate countless hours of their time, but also fund this project from their own pockets) to provide a snow season safety and information program for the Western Chugach Mountains (i.e. Chugach State Park), we do not have funding and resources comparable to the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center (CNFAIC) – or even Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center (HPAC). If you would like to see us do more (and continue to exist in the future), please donate your time or money and solicit support from others for this project.
As many, or more, avalanche fatalities have occurred in the Western Chugach as have occurred in the mountains where information is provided by the CNFAIC and HPAC. Plus, the Western Chugach hosts Alaska’s most readily accessible avalanche terrain – and definitely the avalanche terrain that is accessed by the most unwitting users given its proximity to Alaska’s largest population center (the accident history attests to this: learn more here). We need your help to make this program a sustainable reality for future snow seasons! Read about the project and its roots here.
Please consider soliciting support from government representatives, the Department of Natural Resources (Alaska State Parks and Chugach State Park), and local businesses and organizations relevant to snow-season backcountry recreation. Your help is imperative for the development of a sustainable program.
We are seeking input from those interested in, or concerned with, the project to provide a sustainable backcountry snow safety program for the Western Chugach. For more details, read the document linked here. Questions and comments can be sent to info@anchorageavalanchecenter.org
Know Before You Go!