Leary and his team took two graders upriver from Bethel, reaching Kalskag on Jan. 8. It paid for one guys wages.. The Bruise, our violet 1999 Jeep Wrangler was a trusty, ice-conquering steed. To drive there from Prudhoe Bay, where paved roads end, you have to go during a narrow window in late winter when the sea ice is solid and stationary. The traffic on it is huge. Alaska Ice Roads on Twitter: "RT @WarClandestine: For those who think Low visibility due the snow and fog is also an issue. We drove a retrofitted van through Anchorage, Palmer, Valdez, Fairbanks . This year, he adds, it may be more, because fuel has surged to about $9 a gallon, and the markers used to guide drivers have doubled in price, from $16 two years ago to $32 this year. Oh my gosh, you gotta see it with your own eyes, said Leary, the director of operations for the road andan employee of the Native Village of Napaimute, the entity that leads the effort to establish and maintain it. Prospect Creek and Galbraith are two other seasonal settlements along the route which may be good pit-stops if you decide to take on this road. This notice provided IAW 17 AAC 05.195, Get updated by email or text message. Additional activities that go well with the Ice Road: Pickup / Drop-off at any Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer or Wasilla location. Residents routinely travel between communities for jobs, food, medical services, cultural and community events. Dalton Highway - Wikipedia The Alpine resupply road is a critical annual event, but most years it represents only a fraction of the ice construction, said Jeff Osborne, NPR-A project lead for roads and pads. Last year, the State of Alaska began giving the crew a grant to help cover the costs of maintaining the ice road. Binoculars are provided for everyone on our quest. But while the ice road is plowed, Wilmarth and Zaukar acknowledge that maintaining it will be another challenge. Unfortunately for the big F-350, this would be its last photo of the trip. A few weeks ago, Mark Leary and his crew began to plow the snow off the frozen Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska. The Safe Ice Roads for Alaska program is . The average length of the ice road, according to Leary, has been about 200 miles. ET. Several features of . Leary and Zaukar said that the ice got thinner the closer they got to Sleetmute because of the late freeze up and lots of snow insulating the ice. Truckers face: White outs Accidents Ice road fractures Avalanches Ice road trucking is not for everyone. Lori Townsend is the news director and senior host for Alaska Public Media. I had six friends and five trucks ready for the journey. Each spring the road melts away, without a trace. In a low snow year, snow is collected and hauled by the truck load. You would think it difficult to overheat an engine in this environment, but the plucky stock Jeep Commander, helmed by friends Forrest Ahkiviana and Roger Ferguson, reached the red zone a number of times over especially tricky sections of ice. Learn from your year-round local guide about the rural lifestyles within this beautiful corner of Alaska and the neighborly camaraderie that the extreme environment fosters, even when the neighbors are not close by. The River Road provides important access to health care and emergency services, education and workforce development, youth sports, and friends and family. The ice roads near-perfect driving conditions contrast with terrible flying conditions in the region. The program emphasizes enhancing the safety of ice roads that are developed and maintained by local communities. Construction of ice roads on Alaska's North Slope is growing steadily. Many villages in Alaska are connected by trails that can only be used in the winter months. There has been an ice road of some sort on the Kuskokwim River since vehicles first arrived in the region. Things We Learned on Alaska Road Trip As Locals + Photos - Insider Alaska Public Media 2023. You may want a challenge, but even the bravest of RVers are white knuckled when it comes to the Dalton Highway. Ice roads open in phases. Ice is chipped from shallow areas of lakes that have frozen to the bottom; water is collected through holes drilled into lakes with thick ice caps. Safe Ice Roads for Alaska (SIRA) Program. We dont know from year to year. 25 2021, Published 4:55 p.m. According to Mark Leary, who helped lead the effort, the ice road now stretches about 355 miles from Tuntutuliak, located south of Bethel, to Sleetmute. Related: Alaska Hovercraft grades ice road between Napaskiak and Kwethluk. LEARY AND THE DOZEN or so people on his crew maintain the ice road with three graders and three plow trucks. This winter, half of the Ice Road maintenance has been covered through contributions from community stakeholders, as requested by Gov. The shelves are pretty empty. Cruz Construction He had to go down with a truck to get his tooth repaired so he didnt lose the tooth.. Winter ice roads that take planning and tenacity are a way of life on the Western North Slope of Alaska. Zaukar also said that the road will bring more traffic, which means more potential for stranded drivers. You can send her program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-350-2058. Every year, once the river freezes and the snow is cleared from the ice, dozens of trucks, snowmobiles, and other vehicles from many different villages whiz back and forth atop it. Naturally, electrical tape had zero adhesion in the cold, but that didnt stop us from attempting to use it on leaky, threaded hoses. Embark on a truly Alaskan dog sled ride on a beautiful 160 acre homestead! John Paul pulls white fish from a set net alongside the Kuskokwim River ice road near Napaskiak, Alaska. We watch and observe, and deal with it.. Stopping for a selfie in Denali National Park seemed appropriate. This endless white and blue was our constant panorama. To. Here are 8 things that surprised us the most. After living in Alaska for 30 years, my husband and I took a two-week road trip through the state. It paid for one guys wages., Mark Leary, the leader of a crew that maintains hundreds of miles of the frozen road system.Katie Basile/High Country News. When we got out there in the middle of the night, they came down to the river with an envelope in their hand. They are a safe alternative when poor weather prevents airplanes from flying. Even with a solid snow pack defining the carefully chosen and permitted ice road route, actual construction couldnt begin until the top 12 inches of tundra were frozen to a temperature of 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Left, truck tracks along the ice road. Ice road construction teams are placed at various start points along the ice road route. $825 for 1-3 people. The video clip above I took while standing by due South of the island waiting for the Hovercraft to depart. This road that we plow on the Kuskokwim River is for the people who live here. The road ends on the south bank of the Yukon River, so to reach Tanana the Conex finished the trip by crossing a six mile village-built ice road. Transportation on the frozen Arctic land depends on the use of ice roads. Hope you didnt forget anything, because there will be no trips to the hardware store once the roads gone. Built to Thaw: Why Ice Roads Get the Green Light That has kept the river frozen and made it safer for heavier vehicles to travel. Highlights: From Fairbanks, travel by van with an expert driver-guide along the same rough and rugged route as the "ice road truckers" along the Dalton Highway and across the Arctic Circle. Get our travel tips Delivered to your inbox, Stuart Webb, RV Travel Contributing Writer, Patrick Endres/Design Pics/First Light/Getty Images, Dalton Highway Conditions and Traveling Information. You just keep it running, pal. Edward Berlin heads home to the village of Kwethluk after fixing his snowmachine with help from family in Napakiak. Ice road - Wikipedia The State of Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Before, they marked the road with whatever they had, including tree branches. NOTE: The following are examples of ineligible activities, but are not comprehensive of all ineligible activities under the SIRA program: equipment purchases, permanent trail markings on land, and undocumented project charges. The estimated total funding for this award cycle will be $2 million with a maximum award of $500,000. Ice-road construction reaches new levels on Alaska's North Slope The Minnesota Wild today announced the 2023 Street Hockey Series will visit eight communities in the Twin Cities this summer starting on Tuesday, July 11 at Burnsville Ice Center, from 5 - 8 p.m. Parishioners of St. Jacob's Russian Orthodox church in Napaskiak, Alaska, celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany just off the ice road. For four nights, we slept upright with the engine running and the heat on full blast to keep us from turning into freezer meat. That's been deadly for some, and is leaving others unable to travel. Best time for Arctic Ocean Ice Road in Alaska 2023 - Best Season - Rove.me This includes having a tough RV with 4x4 capability, and a cache of extra supplies should something go wrong. Alaska's Best Roadside Glaciers (ANCHORAGE, Alaska) Maintenance for a vital transportation link along the Kuskokwim River will be fully funded under Governor Michael Dunleavys FY23 budget. Especially in a busy year like this one, we have to keep our focus on getting the job done safely.. Ice roads help rural communities move goods and services during winter months, and are cost effective for families. Ice Roads: The Western North Slope's frozen foundation Our groups leader, Julian Ferreras, would continue to have power-steering leakage in his monster F-350. We were plowing back to Kasigluk, 50 miles below Bethel. Theres a steady stream of vehicles all day long going up and down on the ice road.. The dancing auroras were a sign of good weather, as the faint industrial lights of Prudhoe Bay faded behind us. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Minnesota Wild Announces 2023 Street Hockey Series and Road Tour Leary said that has put a huge number of vehicles on the ice road. The previous record was about200 miles from Bethel to Crooked Creekin March 2018. Enjoy the thrill on this winter ride with spectacular views. The mission of the department is to Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure., Governor Mike Dunleavy with the Kuskokwim Ice Road Maintenance Crew, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, ALASKA DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION & PUBLIC FACILITIES. Arctic Change - Land: Roads - NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental That is, thick enough to support cars and without any openings that can gobble entire vehicles. The pay is fantastic, but it's in line with the risk you're taking each season. Experience what it takes to be a true Alaskan! The opening dates for tundra roads in northern Alaska has shifted two months later from early November (pre-1991) to January . Frozen rivers provide a relatively smooth and solid corridor for traveling in the North. Alaska Public Media 2023. The shipping container weighed about fifty thousand pounds, but traveled safely over the four feet of solid ice, which is rated to handle a load nearly twice as heavy. Insider knowledge from a year-round local is always something to value! A crew from Napaimute, a seasonal village in the Middle Kuskokwim River area where Leary works, headed out from Bethel on Feb. 7 to plow the river, but the six-man crew hit a rough patch once they got to Chuathbaluk. The latest thriller to emerge from the minds at Netflix is an action-packed story starring Liam Neeson called The Ice Road. If you do plan on taking an RV on this road, we also recommend summer as conditions are much more likely to be forgivable. Ferry felines, ornithopters and Tokitae going home at last! Now, however, a changing climate and more erratic winter storms are making ice roads like this one less reliable and harder to keep safe and passable all winter long. We had a water pump go out once, but we drove down to Bethel with our truck to pick up a water pump because it was just cheaper and easier.. the Haul Road, between Fairbanks and the oil fields around Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's northern shore. They have been used for thousands of years and still connect rural communities across the state. 01:15. The season for this unique activity starts in December and lasts till the end of March. In recent years, Leary and his crew have advocated for more state support. The Program provides Federal Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) funding for developing and maintaining ice and seasonal roads. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. Each additional person is $179. Funds for the Dick Nash Memorial ice road will help tribal transportation departments maintain the frozen Kuskokwim for travel in the 2022/2023 winter. The people of Kasigluk literally passed the hat, pitching in $5, $10, $20 each whatever they could afford. Right, signs guide travelers up and down the river. Our first day on the Arctic Ocean, we drove several hours into the night over lumpy ice. (Update 2021 - Only tours are offered on the glacier summer of 2021). [5] [6] [7] Ice roads are typically part of a winter road, but they can also be simple stand-alone structures, connecting two shorelines. Boelens and her family also use the ice road to go ice fishing, visit friends, travel to nearby villages for basketball tournaments, and drive to Bethel to buy appliances, recreational gear and raw materials, like lumber.