State seeks avalanche forecaster to watch the Klondike Highway above Skagway for up to five winters

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities on Thursday asked for proposals from avalanche forecasters to watch the Klondike Highway above Skagway for up to five winters.

The forecaster would cover the highway from mile 6 to mile 14 from Dec. 1 to May 15 each year. The highway runs 14 miles from Skagway to the Canadian border, climbing from sea level to 3,335 feet, according to a 2020 department solicitation for the same stretch.

The job includes forecasting avalanche hazard daily, digging snow pits in starting zones, where slides begin, recommending road closures and working with the department's lead gunner on avalauncher missions, which use explosive shells to bring slides down on purpose. Bidders need American Avalanche Association Professional Level 1 certification or an equivalent professional membership, plus two years of operational snow-blasting experience.

In the 2020 solicitation, the department explained why it wanted a forecaster on the road. Traffic had grown from about 150 vehicles a day at the time of a 1987 study to about 750 by 2013, and the department said that had pushed the highway's avalanche hazard index from near 50 to above 100. A road at that level should be watched by a full-time avalanche specialist, the department wrote, and going without one meant a greater chance of "injury or death to crew, public road users and search and rescue personnel."

The department estimates the new contract at $250,000 to $500,000 but does not say whether that covers the first winter or all five. The 2020 request capped pay at $45,000 a year.

The first term runs through June 30, 2027, and the state can renew it four times, through June 2031. Proposals are due Oct. 28 at 4 pm, though the cover sheet of the request lists Oct. 29.