Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Haines Avalanche Center director Erik Stevens asked the Haines Borough Assembly for $20,000 in the 2020 budget on Tuesday.

Stevens said the money would be used to fund professional avalanche forecasting and education services.

The Haines Avalanche Center employees three part-time staff from November to April. They gather snowpack observations in the mountains to understand the state of it and track weak layers throughout the season.

“Using this data, and other observations made by the public, we combine that with weather models and we can synthesize an avalanche forecast that’s for the public that tells them how likely avalanches are to happen on a given day,” Stevens said.

The Haines Avalanche Center also holds avalanche safety courses. Since January, it hosted one free information session, two beginner avalanche safety courses and two backcountry safety courses.

Stevens said that Juneau, Valdez, the Mat-Su Borough and Cordova all appropriate funds for their local avalanche centers, with amounts varying between $20,000 and $60,000 per year.

“Our local budget has been averaging about $20,000 every year,” Stevens said. The center is paid for with state and local grant funding. Historically, the Haines Avalanche Center received a non-profit allocation from the Haines Borough.

Stevens said that the current budget is not sustainable given the amount of hours that are needed for forecasting.

“A larger budget would allow us to use volunteers to organize events and gather observations for different things and use paid staff for forecasting.”

“It’s important to understand that avalanche accidents are on the rise in Haines,” Stevens said. “There have been six fatalities in the last seven years, and these accidents are entirely preventable. They are not just random occurrences.”

Last month, 34-year-old backcountry snowboarder David Dzenawagis died in an avalanche on a north-facing alpine slope on Mount Ripinsky.