Haines Highway cleared of avalanche that caught three vehicles
- Chilkat Valley News
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
State Department of Transportation has closed portions of the highway, and is not plowing Lutak Road or Mud Bay road due to deteriorating weather conditions on Friday
By Rashah McChesney
Chilkat Valley News
At about 8:15 a.m. Friday, Haines school counselor Kristen Brumfield was in her Nissan Xterra about halfway through her 34-mile commute south along the Haines Highway. Then the whole world turned white.
“I took my foot off the gas and swore,” she said. “I heard a [sound] and I hit something and then stopped.”
When the air cleared, she looked around and realized she was on top of a lot of snow.
Brumfield had been caught in an avalanche near 16-Mile of the Haines Highway. Haines police Sergeant Max Jusi responded and waited while the state cleared it. He estimated the snow pile was about 105 feet wide and 50 feet long.
Brumfield isn’t sure whether she drove up onto the avalanche after it happened, or as it was happening, but she didn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure that out.
“I did, a couple of times, open my door. I didn’t want to go climbing because I’m not agile. I did get one foot out and one on the running board and was like ‘oh, I’m at a real funny angle and then very high up.”
She settled back into her car, called 911, and waited for help to arrive. She wasn’t alone for long.
“About 30 minutes later, I heard something,” she said. At first, she thought the slide was about to come down again. Instead, she saw a truck that had been heading south shoot up into the snow alongside her.
It was Shannon Franey and her two chickens, Bronze and Toothless, who seemed just as surprised as Brumfield to find themselves atop an avalanche.
“You come around and turn it was like ‘BAM,’” Franey said. The 31.5-mile resident said she saw Brumfield’s car and thought she was parked on the side of the road.
“Then I realized she was getting higher in elevation,” Franey said. “I was in full brakes to the floor by the time I was right around the bend.”
A third woman collided with the avalanche, but from the other direction — headed north.
When Klehini Valley Fire Department volunteer firefighters arrived, Franey and Brumfield retreated to the warmth of a fire engine while state Department of Transportation staff worked to clear the avalanche.
Both said they were uninjured and while scary, the avalanche was part of living in Alaska and dealing with Haines’ heavy winter.
Brumfield hesitated to call it anti-climactic, because it is a big deal.
“We’re fine. I think the car is driveable. Is it unusual? Yes. Has this ever happened? No. Would I like it to happen again? No. It’d be great if it didn’t happen again,” she said. “Could it have been worse? A thousand different ways, absolutely.”
Weather conditions deteriorated by mid-afternoon Friday. The Alaska Department of Transportation cited those conditions and avalanche risk when announcing a road closure between Mile 4 and Mile 21 of the Haines Highway, and Lutak Road beyond the ferry terminal.
• This article originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.
