Hatcher Pass Road likely to stay closed at least a couple more weeks after February avalanches

Hatcher Pass Road will likely be closed for at least the next couple weeks as road maintenance crews work to mitigate avalanche danger and clear the road of 15 to 25 feet of debris left over from a series of storms that began in mid-February.

The road closed at Mile 11, just after Skeetawk ski area, on Feb. 14. A storm that week dropped more than 4 feet of snow at Hatcher Pass, and nearly 2 feet of snow fell during a storm the next week.

The heavy, wet snow factored into several avalanches, some of which crossed the road at multiple points and buried it in an estimated 15 to 25 feet of debris, according to the Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center.

It will likely be two weeks or more until the road is reopened. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said on social media that officials will survey the area and mitigate any avalanche risks by helicopter to make sure it is safe to clear the snow, which will take a week or more.

“We only have one DOT&PF qualified Avalanche Specialist for all of Central Region who has to be a part of the mitigation mission and on site the whole time the road is being cleared,” the department wrote in a Facebook post this week. “So, if other avalanches or icefall happens on the Seward or another Highway, work would have to stop on Hatcher Pass Road until our expert was able to once again be on site.”

The East Hatcher Pass Management Area temporarily closed for several days but reopened Monday to recreators. Stuart Leidner, superintendent of Alaska State Parks’ Mat-Su and Copper River Basin region, said the closure was due to avalanche danger.

“Avalanche risk was different than what it is now,” he said. “And even with the closure and then now reopened, certainly avalanche conditions and snowpack conditions change. We were just trying to take a cautious approach. But it is back open for recreation.”

The road closure is complicating recreation in the area, however. Motorized and pedestrian use along the roadway is not allowed past the closure. But snowmachines can access Hatcher Pass from the west side in Willow as long as they remain in motorized corridors, Leidner said.

“Skiers had been able to access even when the road was initially closed,” he said. “People could still sort of hop up over the berms or go up and cross through Skeetawk and ski in those areas.”

Leidner said he’s hopeful the transportation department will be able to make assessments and start work soon, but it’s dependent upon a lot of factors.

“DOT, they have their hands full with other high-priority roads. ... Being that this goes into a recreation area compared to, like, the Seward Highway and other places,” he said. “It’s been tough to get the resources there.”

Hatcher Pass Lodge is also open for business despite the road closure. Located more than 7 miles from the closure, manager Jeff Polk said several guests have snowmachined to the lodge or arrived by helicopter. He’d sent visitors and staff home from the lodge before the initial Valentine’s Day storm and said he’s been busy shoveling out helicopters and keeping the lodge running on his own since.

Ski conditions, he said, are great. Avalanche danger was low at all elevations on Thursday, the Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center reported.

Polk said he’s planning to make a grocery run by helicopter in the next few days so he can open up the kitchen at the lodge for guests.

The road closed for more than two weeks last year when five avalanches covered a 2,400-foot stretch of the roadway with debris that was 20 feet deep in some places. The area had not seen avalanches of that magnitude in nearly 40 years, an official said at the time.

Polk said the current closure is the longest he’s experienced in the 15 years he’s worked at the lodge.

“Life is going to go on,” he said. “That’s what we’re gonna do is go forward until the DOT can get their job done down there. We’re going to just take the alternative route.”