An avalanche that blocked the Richardson Highway north of Isabell Pass this morning, has been cleared. No vehicles were caught and no one was injured in the slide which naturally triggered near milepost 209, conditions remain dangerous.
State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said the slide debris near mile 209 was cleared by crews stationed out of the DOT’s nearby Trim’s Camp maintenance station, where heavy wind blown snow continues to cause problems.
“It is possible to travel through there, but we’re still advising people not to travel this area,” Bailey said. “This storm has been on going; there’s very heavy snowfall. Zero visibility, drifting snow across the road. And we anticipate we’ll see additional avalanches.”
Bailey noted that snow slides are generally uncommon in the area north of the pass, and attribute the current situation to a several day storm that’s created avalanche conducive conditions.
”It’s been a real heavy storm that’s been going on for a couple of days, so the snow load is deep and unstable,” Bailey said.
Mike Hopper owns Black Rapids Lodge, about 18 miles north of where the slide came down. He said he’s “actually snowed in right now.”
Hopper said he returned early from a trip to New York due to the storm, which follows what’s had been a low snow winter in the area.
”We had no snow on the ground. What little had fallen had blown away,” Hopper said. “By Saturday or Sunday, it started snowing and I was called back in sort of an emergency with all the snow and broken plow trucks and whatnot. By the time I got back, we probably had two, two and a half feet, and it just kept snowing.”
Hopper reported this morning that skies had cleared and the temperature had dropped into the 30 to 40 below range. Hopper, who lost a friend in an avalanche during a backcountry ski trip near the lodge 2 years ago, says he’s holding off venturing out.
”I wanna go out kinda carefully,” Hopper said. “I’m gonna let it sit for a couple days and then maybe go out and take a look at stuff.”
Hopper said he will be posting information about localized conditions on the Eastern Alaska Avalanche Center webpage.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
