Thompson Pass
| Thompson Pass | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Thompson Pass in May 2009 |
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| Compass direction | south | north | |
| Pass height | 855 m | ||
| State | Alaska ( USA ) | ||
| Watershed | Lowe River | Tsina River → Tiekel River | |
| Valley locations | Valdez | ||
| expansion |
 Alaska Route 4
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| Mountains | Chugach Mountains | ||
| map | |||
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| Coordinates | 61 ° 1 '42 " N , 145 ° 43' 47" W | ||
The Thompson Pass is a 855 m high mountain pass in the Chugach Mountains northeast of Valdez in Alaska , USA . The Alaska Route 4 via the pass and connects with Valdez Tonsina .
With an average snowfall of 1,400 cm, it is the place with the most snowfall in Alaska. In the winter of 1952-1953, the highest amount of snowfall ever recorded in Alaska within a winter was measured with an amount of snowfall of 2475 cm. The three inches of snow that fell on December 29, 1955 was the heaviest snowfall in Alaska in a single day since weather records began there.
The pass was named in 1899 by William Abercrombie, a captain in the US Army . He named it in honor of Frank Thomson of Pennsylvania, but wrote the name Thompson on his sketched map and that spelling took hold. The pass had been used by the Ahtna people for generations , but it was Abercrombie who marked a path over the pass that miners could use during the Klondike gold rush . Its route, which became the Valdez-Eagle Trail , later took advantage of the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System when it laid cables across the pass. The path was continuously expanded and was first used by motor vehicles in 1913. At that point the road became the Valdez- Fairbanks Trail; In 1919 it was renamed Richardson Road.
Because of the heavy snowfall at Thompson Pass, the Richardson Highway was only usable in summer. It was not until 1950 that a foreman of a haulage company was able to demonstrate that the pass could be kept clear all year round with snow plows . The road remained a gravel stretch until 1957, when it was paved. In the early 1970s, the area became the scene of hectic activity when thousands of workers built a section of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline . The snowfall delayed the work in winter, but the pipeline was completed in 1977 and today the oil is pumped over the pass almost constantly.
Because Valdez is at the southern end of the pipeline and the Thompson Pass is the only land connection to Valdez, the state has a road maintenance company that clears and sprinkles the route all year round. This facility includes Thompson Pass Airport, a short strip of land that government aircraft may fly to.
The pass is also a destination for tourists and adventurers, especially heli- skiing and snowboarders . However, the heavy snowfalls regularly cause avalanches in which several tourists are killed every year. The Alaska Avalanche Forecast Center in Valdez therefore regularly prepares reports on the avalanche danger at the pass.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Thompson Pass ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ↑ Desert Research Institute: State Extremes: Alaska ( English ) Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ^ Geoffrey Bleakley: History of the Valdez Trail ( English ) National Park Service. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ↑ Avalanche in Thompson Pass kills Anchorage man (English) , KTUU-TV Channel April 2, 2009. Accessed July 5, 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
