About Alaska Avalanche Specialists
Alaska Avalanche Specialists, LLC. is a Juneau, Alaska-based international earth science consulting company that specializes in all phases of avalanche work, including education, recreation, transportation, and industrial consulting. Our avalanche capabilities include risk analysis, mapping, planning, operational and structural mitigation, project management, program operations, education, training, artificial release including helicopter and hand blasting, and research.
Ours is the only full time, year-round avalanche consulting business in Alaska. We have the years of professional experience necessary for all types of avalanche work. Our lead forecasters and project specialists all have a minimum of ten years’ experience in the field, and our assistants all go through a rigorous apprenticeship that trains them to the highest standards. We regularly draw on and work closely with North America’s top avalanche dynamics engineers, including Mears and Wilbur and Dave McClung.
Our work comes to us from our professional reputation, mostly through personal contacts and word of mouth, but we have added additional information on our consulting services for our friends and clients.
The Alaska Avalanche Store
As sidelines to our consulting business, we have two associated retail operations. We have have developed some field gear to help us in our work, and we have found other manufacturers’ equipment that meets our standards. To make that gear available to others, we have The Alaska Avalanche Store. It includes our own avalanche fieldbooks, G3 snow and avalanche equipment, and currently a limited stock of G3 skis and bindings at great clearance prices. You can buy these items from us online or at our office store, upstairs above the Pel Meni restaurant in the Merchant’s Wharf on the downtown Juneau waterfront.
Alaska Windjammer Kites
We started snowkiting as an activity for our off-duty crew, and are now loving water kiteboarding as well. Alaska Windjammer Kites is our kite school and shop. We focus on and stock our favorite Ozone kites, Xenon boards, and Da Kine harnesses; and we can order gear from most other lines, including DaKine, Airush, Cabrinha, Naish, and Slingshot. As with the avalanche gear, you can buy these items from us online or at our office store. We currently have a good stock of demo gear for sale at great prices. The About Kiting page gives you all the information you need to learn what kiting is, how you can learn, where you can do it here, and more.
All photos, text, and images on this website are © Bill Glude unless otherwise noted. The slideshow below includes photos © Laura Green, Mike Janes, Kent Scheler, and Don Sharaf.