Opinion: Holton Hills real estate deal brings in the New Year
By David Nyman
On Dec. 19, Meg Zaletel, co-chair of the Anchorage Assembly, “laid on the table” a new ordinance which brings back to life a widely panned land transaction known as “Holtan Hills”.
The motion allows an item "laid on the table" to be taken as a motion to amend the current agenda. This procedure does not require advance public notice unless you know enough to call the city clerk. Typically, the motion is not in the public record until the meeting packet is published on the day of the Assembly meeting or just prior.
An important aspect of the ordinance is that it is entirely new. All the testimony by the public, the Girdwood Land Use Committee (LUC) and Girdwood Board of Supervisors (GBOS)--in the eyes of the Assembly and, especially, new Assembly members--is not part of the record of this new, but very similar ordinance.
Given this, the written testimony and public testimony from hundreds of folks, many of whom showed up at Assembly chambers prior to 2022 and 2023 public testimony, will not be part of the public record for the hearing scheduled for Jan. 9. This appears to be an attempt to sideline the hard work, correspondence and opinions of Girdwood.
More of the opinion is at:
Lights Galore for Annual Solstice Ski
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Ringing in the shortest day of the year--or longest night--nordic revelers once again threw down at the trailhead for the 5K loop for the annual Solstice Light Ski, with festivities that offered soup, cinnamon buns, coffee and hot chocolate to bundled participants.
The Girdwood Nordic Ski Club's event drew anywhere from 100 to 200 people, judging from a line of cars stretching along Ahlberg from the 5K lot nearly to Alyeska Resort's hotel.
A woman from Fairbanks who wore a Christmas Tree of lights atop her helmet said she was an introvert and this was a chance to express herself in a social setting.
Many were light-bedecked under a busy hive of rave lights, resort glare, and the glow of moonlight. The 1K loop was lined with ice lanterns and multi-colored LEDs creating a phantasmagorical tunnel of lights for skiers.
Girdwood Nordic Ski Club's team of volunteer groomers is back at it this weekend with fresh tracks laid on Moose Meadow and a groomed 5K.
Every day, now, a little more light.
A little less darkness
HLB announces plan review
By Jon Scudder
TNews Publisher
The Heritage Land Bank announced the public review period for the draft 2024 Annual Work Program & 2025-2029 Five-Year Management Plan.
The public can review the draft 2024 Annual Work Program & 2025-2029 Five-Year Management Plan through Feb 9 and send comments to HLB@AnchorageAK.gov. The public should include the parcel or page number where applicable.
HLB is requesting comments by Feb. 9. A public hearing on the Work Plan is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 22.
Comments received during this period will be included and responded to in an appendix of the Work Plan. Any comments received after Feb 9 will not be included in the appendix but will be provided to the HLB Advisory Commission at the public hearing.
The public hearing for the Work Plan is tentatively scheduled for Feb 22. More meeting details will be sent out to the HLB mailing list and posted on the HLB website as the meeting approaches.
The Turnagain News will be following this story and update as details become available. The public is encouraged to reach out to HLB at (907) 343-7536 for more information. Their website is www.muni.org/HLB . Their email address is HLB@AnchorageAK.gov.
Holtan Hills Returns From Dead
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Without any public notice and after a reading that took just under one minute, the Anchorage Assembly resurrected a plan to sell 60 acres of public land it calls "Holtan Hills" to a private developer for $2.1 million.
The deal to sell Heritage Land Bank land to private developer Connie Yoshimura was "indefinitely postponed" in February after the plan drew heated and overwhelming opposition from residents of Girdwood.
Tuesday's sudden, unannounced action brings Holtan Hills back to life with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 9.
"That was an interesting surprise," said Mike Edgington, who was at the Assembly meeting for adoption of a municipal housing strategy.
Read the entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/aenj7gce48l7ttglyxfq0ce5573ghy
Holiday activities in Girdwood and Alyeska Resort
By James P. Sweeney
TNews Contributor
Girdwood and Alyeska are a winter wonderland right now. New Years is right around the corner and this is a list of activities in Glacier Valley for your enjoyment..
On December 29, the Jeffries will be playing the Sitzmark Bar. 9 pm $10, 21+.
On December 30, the Tyson James Band will be shaking the Sitzmark Bar. 9 pm $10, 21+.
Jack Sprat’s and The Spoonline will be serving a New Years Eve dinner with reservations.
On December 31, New Years Eve the annual Alyeska torchlight parade winds its way down the mountain between 9 and 10 pm!
Also on New Years Eve The Roland Roberts Band will be rocking the Sitzmark Bar starting at 10 pm.
Turnagain Trails: Girdwood Nordic Ski Club Plans Solstice Light Ski Event on 5K Nordic Loop
Perhaps you're reading this between bouts of snow shoveling, before a white knuckle drive into Anchorage or after a day on the mountain - all signs that we are in the throes of winter! Appropriate then to highlight a local trail built for winter use, but which actually shines year round - the Girdwood 5k Nordic Loop.
Total distance: 3.5miles/5.5km; Total elevation gain: ~700’
Approved uses: Ski only in winter; bike and pedestrian in summer and fall
If you’ve moved to the area within the last decade, you may take this trail for granted, but “The 5k” - as it's known - is actually one of the newest trails in Girdwood Valley, completed in 2012. Located near Alyeska, one could be forgiven for thinking the trail system was a part of the resort, especially since Alyeska advertises cross country skiing on its website. However, The 5k sits on land managed by the Heritage Land Bank and is maintained by a local nonprofit, the Girdwood Nordic Ski Club, with no financial support from the resort.
In the winter, The 5k is only open to skiers and is groomed by Girdwood Nordic Ski Club’s all-volunteer grooming crew. Last winter this group of super volunteers spent over 400 hours grooming not just The 5k for skiers, but also Moose Meadows and other multi-use trails for walkers, skiers, kick-sleders, fat bikers, dogs and more. They do it all on a miniscule budget, supported by individual donors, grants and locally owned small businesses.
If you’re headed to The 5k for a ski, the nearest parking is at the end of Arlberg Ave. If that lot is full, additional parking can be found in the lot on Northface Road. This option gives you the bonus of getting to ski up the groomed Arlberg Ave sidewalk - a nice warm up before hills of The 5k! From the Arlberg Ave parking lot, head northeast into the forest on the obvious access trail. The Girdwood Nordic Ski Club does an excellent job of indicating which direction is open to dogs, walkers and bikers, and which direction is open only to skiers. Where the access trail meets the loop, you’ll see a large sign and map. From here, proceed in a counterclockwise direction on The 5k.
Movie Review— Buried: The Alpine Meadows Avalanche
By James P. Sweeney
TNews Contributor
My name is Jim Plein. I was the avalanche forecaster for Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. Jim's lips move, his teeth are crooked, he clears his throat and sighs but he says nothing for 15 seconds. He closes his eyes–the lens moves closer. He’s wrinkled gray, has a buzz cut, a goatee and wears a Patagonia fleece coat. He takes his time and says, So maybe I’ll cut here for a minute.
I press pause. I know this story and twenty-two words into the movie, it hits me like an avalanche.
A Seward Highway Safety Meeting
The sign-in table for a "safer Seward Highway" meeting held Wednesday in Girdwood was like a merch booth at a music festival.
A representative from HDR, a private environmental consulting firm, handed out Cotopaxi Fanny Packs, blue stress balls, and Nalgene water bottles.
"No, please, take one," said the young woman at the door. "We've got plenty."
Just inside, six pizzas covered a counter and a bowl of candy stood on a table with blank comment sheets and other handouts.
Signs lined both walls displayed maps with sections of the highway (McHugh Creek, Potter Marsh, and so on) highway design options (separated two lane, three and four lanes), breakdown displays of accidents and other informational graphics.
Soon about 20 people sat down while HDR consultants stood at the perimeter of the Community Center room.
Taking turns, four HDR consultants gave an overview that included a timeline, various highway construction alternatives, the purpose for the project, and the safety concerns that prompted what could be a billion-dollar investment.
Read the entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/a-seward-highway-safety-meeting
Gear Up! Gear Exchange Buys and Sells
Calling all gear lovers! Gather up your gently used outdoor gear and clothing. Girdwood has a new business in town. The Girdwood Gear Exchange opened this past summer giving Girdwoodians an opportunity to buy and sell gear.
It is owned and run by Mara Hall who followed the consignment model when creating her new business. This model benefits the consignor, who makes money by selling used items, while the buyer gets quality gear at a discounted price.
Mara, who loves thrift shopping and clothes, started her career selling women’s clothing at markets. When the commercial space at her current location opened she bought it hoping to expand. Instead of going to Anchorage, her hope is that locals will utilize her store.
The Gear Exchange is located at 599 Alyeska Highway. December hours are: Friday & Saturday 11-5; and Sunday & Monday 11-3.
The Gear Exchange is currently taking winter clothing and gear, but will transition to summer gear when the seasons change.
Go check out the Girdwood Gear Exchange and you might just walk out with a new Patagonia jacket that you didn’t know you needed
CoasT Pizza Goes Bigger
CoasT Pizza is renovating its Old Girdwood location and hopes to serve beer and wine in the future.
The pizzeria has expanded its kitchen, removed walls and scraped away an old, tiled floor to give employees more room to work and customers more room to dine.
For its signature bar, it took owner Amanda Tuttle “months of time and a lot of extremely hard work” to culled and reclaimed lumber from a nearby property.
"The end of the bar is a perfect place to watch the sunset," said CoasT manager Jen Morse. "It's the corner where locals hang out.”
Potter Marsh Watershed Park is on the Horizon
Great Land Trust has been working with Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) Heritage land Bank and GCI to conserve 300 acres of important hillside watershed features that are critical to sustaining the vibrant habitat of the Potter’s Marsh, located between Golden View Drive to the east and Old Seward Highway.
“We are thrilled how this project is proceeding and it is nice to be doing a project in Anchorage at this scale as these opportunities are few and far between,'“ said Dave Mitchell, Conservation Director with Great Land Trust.
“We select our projects based on prioritizations that look at wetlands and anadromous streams and adjacency to protected areas and we try to collect all the data we can and rank and put it into GIS and rank land based on conservation value,” he added. “This property actually ranked number one.”
Set between the old and new Seward highways, Potter Marsh is a portion of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge is Anchorage’s gateway to Turnagain Arm. The new Potter Marsh Watershed Park will be owned, operated and maintained by the MOA Parks and Recreation Department.
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Opening Day a Wash
By Harper Landry
TNews Contributor
There was skepticism amongst skiers and riders when Alyeska announced that they were opening the mountain Nov. 24, the earliest day in a decade.
That skepticism turned to sheer excitement when recent blizzards and ongoing snowfall led riders to anticipate an epic full mountain opening pow day.
Where we landed was somewhere in between.
Alyeska followed through and got the mountain open early but a shift in weather to rainfall and warm temperatures resulted in a limited opening and groomed slushy slopes.
Chair 3 (Bear Cub Quad) and Chair 7 were open from 10-5. Resort management cited safety reasons for the limited opening.
An email sent out by the Mountain Manager Duane Stutzman informed passholders that the new ticket system adopted would not recognize the passes that were purchased in the spring/summer of 2023.
The email directed passholders to ticket offices to exchange passes. Some passholders were unaware of this change, but lifties at Chair 3 had great attitudes and graciously let passholders through and directed them to the ticket offices to update their passes.
The weather was blustery, rainy, and unseasonably warm with temperatures in the low forties. This didn’t stop skiers and riders from having fun and being clearly excited to be shredding in November.
Nor did limited mountain access stop the Alyeska Ski Club racers from training. The two functional lifts had congestion at times due to the racers which usually train on Chair 4.
Calling All Heroes: Nominations for American Red Cross Awards Open
Calling All Heroes: Nominations for the 2024 American Red Cross of Alaska Real Heroes Awards are open
“A hero is someone who rises in the face of adversity and helps others in a true moment of need,“ said Anchorage Police Officer Jacob Raygor.
Officer Raygor and two of his fellow police officers were selected as one of the American Red Cross of Alaska Real Hero Award recipients in 2023. Raygor and his colleagues provided successfully evacuated another police officer that was injured in the line of duty and provided first aid which saved his life.
El Nino May Not Be Behind November Snowfall, Experts Say
An unprecedented storm that hurled over three feet snow across Turnagain Arm this past week occurred during an El Nino year, but it is unlikely a natural cycle of warming ocean water is responsible for that event, said Alaska Climate Specialist Rick Thoman.
Nevertheless, El Nino and global warming are having and will have impacts on our winters, scientists say.
"I've had a lot of questions in the last couple weeks, [such as] is this south central snow, the warmth and lack of sea ice in parts of western Alaska, is this tied to El Nino'. Thoman said in videotaped briefing Friday.
[But} where these storms are the first half of November give me confidence to say--and I don't often get to say this--we think pretty darn confidently that our unusual weather is not directly linked to El Nino," he said.
Yet, while there were other influences causing the storms, El Nino will likely create a warmer winter and spring in Alaska and "win out in the end" as a leading factor in weather systems, he said.
Heavy, wet snow that fell last week cut off power across Girdwood and parts of Anchorage, clogged local roadways, and even restricted, in some cases, cell service. On the Richardson Highway, around Mile 46, 72 inches of snow fell in a 20 hour period.
Read the. entire story by clicking the headline or at:
Town’s new ski tuner is a Robot
As Girdwood and the Turnagain Arm gets slammed by another early season storm, many of us turn our thoughts to breaking out our snowboards and skis and tuning our rides.
Whether conditions are wet and deep or thin and icy, we all know a little love towards our equipment can jump start the season and give us the edge we need to rally like a pro.
Two local shops serve skiers and riders, Powder Hound and Alyeska Resort's tuning shop in the Daylodge, coined "Alyeska Ski Service" by its techs.
The head technicians at each location are recognized locals, highly qualified and, coincidentally, tuned skis for separate ski shops in Park City, Utah at one point. Both shops are gaining better equipment, which, for skiers and riders, means boards with sharper edges, smoother glide and conditioned bases. It also means faster turn-around for tuning.
Local Girdwood ski shop, Powder Hound, has brought rarely-available technology.
Introducing ... The Reichmann Slope Master Ski Tuning Machine.
Read the entire story by clicking the headline or at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/towns-new-ski-tuner-is-a-robot
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/towns-new-ski-tuner-is-a-robot
Turnagain News INN NewsMatch Fundraiser enters second week
Last week the Turnagain News, your local, community online newspaper had over $650 in private donations that translated into $1,300 for Week One of the eight-week Newsmatch.inn.org annual fundraiser for membership for your paper.
Our challenge is on.
It is our goal to reach the $13,000 by December 31st, the Newsmatch limit for the first year of local community news, news that is important to the communities of Turnagain Arm!
Each week, we will post our donation amount and share our progress to meeting this goal. This dollar-for-dollar match is made possible by INN.org, an Independent news network. This is an amazing and supportive organization with over 400 local, community, non-profit, newspapers in the US. TurnagainNews.org is one of 400 community-driven newspapers INN’s Newsmatch is supporting with this fundraising platform.
Slopes Success: Lessons propel winter sports enthusiasts to new heights
With the snowfall and on the brink of the thrilling world of winter sports, enthusiasts from Southcentral Alaska have the opportunity for skill enhancement through structured lessons at Alyeska Resort.
As Alyeska Resort staff gear up for the winter season, the demand for lessons is expected to soar. Whether carving down beginner trails or conquering advanced slopes, enthusiasts are increasingly recognizing the pivotal role of structured instruction in unlocking their full skiing or snowboarding potential.
Read the entire story by clicking the headline or at:
Planning Maps Stir Controversy
On a mid-week night in early October, a young couple left the Girdwood School after sitting through two hours of presentations laying out options for the community's future.
They moved to Girdwood a little over a year ago, have decent jobs and are outdoorsy. They just want a home to buy.
They said they were frustrated with all the zoning and planning planning particulars, but, also with what they see as a contradiction between a call for affordable housing and resistance to development proximal to existing homes.
Turnagain News kicks off INN NewsMatch Fundraiser
Today is a big day here at Turnagain News. It’s the kickoff of our NewsMatch campaign — our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said Jon Scudder, Turnagain News publisher. “As a reader of the Turnagain News, you already know the value of our local and investigative coverage.”
NewsMatch begins Nov. 1 and runs through Dec. 31 and is supported by the Institute for Non-Profit News, matching individual donations. “Our goal is to raise at least $13,000 in individual donations to allow us to add a print edition of the Turnagain News,” he said. People can donate on the Turnagain News website or by making a tax-deductible donation in care of the Turnagain News through Girdwood Inc.