They're trying to stop what could be a very large avalanche problem this weekend.
"Going into a weekend, where the skies are starting to clear and we've just received the largest snow and rain and wind event storm of the season," said Carl Skustad. "So we've got high avalanche danger extending into a bluebird sunny weekend that we're really worried about."
Officials say new snow, warm weather and an unstable snow pack are the problems. It starts here and goes all the way to Seward.
"The area of concerns really lies from Girdwood and the Chugach State Park boundary here all the way down to Moose Pass, Cooper Landing, Seward."
It's sites like this that have officials worried about the conditions could be like in the back country, where ConocoPhilips Alaska President Jim Bowles and fellow snowmachiner Alan Gage were both killed last weekend during an avalanche. Gage's body still has not been recovered.
"At the area where the avalanche took place, I mean, it's literally in the clouds," said state troopers spokesperson Megan Peters. "There's been heavy rain, snow, wind and of course with the warm temperatures and the cooling at night you have very unstable snow layers as well. And so once we finally do get in there, we are going to have to do a lot of avalanche mitigation before we send anybody into the field."
Chugach National Forest officials say the likelihood that an avalanche will happen is high.
"What we're recommend for this weekend is for people to stay off of steep avalanche terrain," Skustad said. "We need to give the mountains times to adjust to this new large snow load. It's time to keep your angles low and probably not recreate on avalanche terrain at all this weekend."
You can reach the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center at 754-2346. The Department of Transportation maintains a statewide road safety map that includes avalanche threat levels.
Contact Rebecca Palsha at rpalsha@ktuu.com
