Thompson Pass

Thompson Pass in May 2009

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The Thompson Pass is a 855 m high mountain pass northeast of Valdez in Alaska, USA in the Chugach Mountains. The Alaska Route 4 leads over the pass and connects Valdez Tonsina.

With an average snowfall amount of 1400 cm, it is the place with the most snowfall in Alaska. In the winter of 1952-1953 was measured with a fast case quantity of 2475 cm, the highest snowfall amount ever recorded in Alaska within a winter. The 157.5 inches of snow that fell on December 29, 1955 were the most abundant snowfall in Alaska on a single day since records began there.

The pass received its name in 1899 by William Abercrombie, a captain in the U.S. Army. He named it in honor of Frank Thomson from Pennsylvania, but wrote the name on his map drawn Thompson and these letters sat tight. The pass has been used for generations by members of Ahtna, but it was Jack, which marked a path across the pass, which the miners could use during the Klondike Gold Rush. His route, which became the Valdez - Eagle Trail used, later the Washington - Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System as if it lay cable over the pass. The path was widely extended, and for the first time in 1913 traveled by motor vehicles. At the time the road became the Valdez - Fairbanks Trail; In 1919 she was renamed in Richardson Road.

Because of the high amounts of snowfall at Thompson Pass the Richardson Highway was only available in the summer. Only in 1950 was a foreman of a haulage company pretend that one with snow plowing throughout the year has a hold over the pass. By 1957, the road was a dirt track, then it was only paved. At the beginning of the 1970s, the area was the scene of hectic activity, as thousands of workers built a section of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. The snowfall delayed the work in the winter, but in 1977 the pipeline was completed and the oil is now almost constantly pumped through the pass.

Because Valdez is located at the southern end of the pipeline and the Thompson Pass is the only land link to Valdez, the state maintains a road maintenance, which acknowledges and sprinkled the track throughout the year. For this device, the Thompson Pass Airport, a short landing strips, which may be served by state aircraft belongs.

The pass is also a destination for tourists and adventurers, especially for helicopter skiing and snowboarding. However, the heavy snowfalls causing avalanches regularly, where several tourists annually perish. The Alaska Avalanche Forecast Center in Valdez created so regularly reports about the danger of avalanches in the pass.