AAS Consulting Services

We specialize in all phases of avalanche work, including recreation, transportation, and industrial consulting. Our avalanche capabilities include planning, mapping, training, artificial release including helicopter and hand blasting, structural mitigation, research, risk analysis, mapping, operations, guiding, and project management.

Our work comes to us through word of mouth based on our reputation, so we have kept this website simple, to briefly provide the key information necessary to assist our clients and prospective clients.

We encourage you to contact us personally for additional information and to talk over your needs.

International Work

We are Alaska-based, but our interests and network of collaborations in the avalanche field are worldwide.

Our current international project is a joint venture with owner Dave Enright of Evergreen Outdoor Center in Hakuba, Nagano, Japan to do consulting work and avalanche courses, forecasting, guide training, and guiding in Japan. We are also doing reconnaissance work on our own project to organize trips that connect local Japanese guides, businesses, and destinations with small groups of carefully-chosen clients sworn to social media secrecy, for Japan snow season trips that really connect with the soul of Japan.

Who We Are

Alaska Avalanche Specialists is an Alaskan LLC owned by Bill Glude, an avalanche specialist with exceptionally broad experience from over 40years of working in the field.

We base out of Juneau, Alaska. We use staffers with local experience in the area where we are working whenever possible, and we also draw staff from our worldwide network of the most-experienced among our fellow avalanche workers.

Project Highlights

Alaska Avalanche Specialists, LLC. 1990-present. AAS professional staff has experience in all aspects of avalanche work, including consulting, planning, training, artificial release, helicopter and hand blasting, structural mitigation, research, risk analysis, mapping, and project management. Lead forecasters all have at least ten years’ experience in the field; assistants go through a rigorous apprenticeship that trains them to the highest standards in the industry. AAS regularly draws on and works closely with Art Mears, Chris Wilbur, and Dave McClung, North America’s top avalanche dynamics engineers. Recent project highlights include:
White Pass and Yukon Railroad avalanche program, annual spring project, Skagway, AK, 2007 to present. Program has developed from an evaluation into a full daily avalanche program every spring. This operational transportation program involves explosive use, crew training, daily forecasting and fieldwork, and plan development.
Klondike Highway Avalanche Program for Alaska DOT&PF, daily forecasting, mitigation, crew training, operations; award 2020, begins January 2021.
Evergreen Backcountry Guides, Hakuba, Nagano, Japan; forecaster, teacher, consultant, guide, and senior guide trainer in collaborative international project with AAS; 2006-present
Tsugaike Kogen Ski Area Off-Piste Avalanche Program, AAS international collaboration with Evergreen Outdoor Center and Japan Avalanche Specialists, first modern ski area avalanche program in Japan; planning, oversight, and operations, 2014-15.
Takatz Lake Hydroelectric Project, field reconnaissance avalanche evaluation and route analysis for east-west power line across Baranof Island to Sitka, study with Commonwealth Associates, Inc. for City of Sitka Electric Department, 2011-12.
Constantine Metal Resources Palmer VMS Project, reconnaissance-level avalanche study for hard rock prospect near Haines, AK, operational hazard evaluation, 2010-present.
Alaska Electric Light & Power Snettisham Power Line Avalanche Reconstruction, Redesign, and Prevention Programs, comprehensive avalanche program for reconstruction; development and operation of long-term mitigation program including mapping, risk assessment, structural mitigation, forecasting, crew training, and avalanche blasting program, 2008-2010; review, support, and emergency response, 2010-11.
Swan Lake - Tyee Lake Intertie Avalanche Evaluation, field study, dynamics, and recommendations for mitigation for avalanche-affected structures, spring 2008.
WSL-Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF, Study at Swiss Avalanche Research Center. One-week study of Swiss avalanche operations, including participation as a member of the daily forecasting team and presentations at colloquium, March 2008
International Avalanche Mitigation Conference, Egilsstadir, Iceland. Four-day conference on avalanche mitigation for industry, transportation, and communities; followed by four-day field trip to study rescue and mitigation measures in Reykjavik and Westfjords areas, March 2008.
Chignik Connectors Highway Avalanche Study, for HDR Inc. and Alaska DOT&PF, Alaska Peninsula, 2007-08.
All Juneau Access Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) highway avalanche studies for Alaska DOT&PF, from preliminary studies to 2012 SEIS, including field studies and observations, Avalanche Hazard Index calculation, risk analysis, mapping and zoning, development of mitigation alternatives and recommendations, avalanche program design, budgets, public hearings, workshops, report writing, graphics, and layout, Juneau, AK 1995 to present.
Coeur Alaska Kensington Mine avalanche program including program development, mapping, plan, weather instrumentation, observations, crew training and curriculum, forecasting, management, dynamics, hand and helicopter blasting, staff recruitment, Juneau, AK, 2006-07.
Seward Highway Avalanche Hazard Index evaluation for Alaska DOT&PF, 2005.
Alaska DOT&PF highway avalanche forecasting, Thane Road, 2003-2006.
City and Borough of Juneau Avalanche Response Plan, wrote first version and participated in community meetings to develop final draft, Juneau, AK 2003-04.
Numerous US Forest Service Special Use Permit and private tour operator avalanche hazard studies, Juneau area, AK, 1998-present.
Alaska Mountain and Wilderness Hut Association, hut sites avalanche study, Kenai Peninsula, AK, 2006.
State of Alaska Department of Public Safety, rescue response and avalanche evaluation, False Troy, one skier, Juneau, AK, 1995; McGinnis Mtn., two snowboarders, Juneau, AK, 1999; Haney Range, one snowmachiner, Cordova, AK, 2001; Devil’s Thumb, two climbers, Petersburg, AK, 2003.
Chugach Electric jobsite avalanche forecasting, Southcentral AK, Seward Highway area, repair job for avalanche damage, for Alaska Mountain Safety Center (AMSC), 2000.
State of Alaska Division of Emergency Services hazard evaluation and forecasting, Southcentral Alaska, for AMSC, Cordova and Valdez, 2000.
State of Alaska DOT&PF hazard evaluation and highway corridor helicopter explosive work, Southcentral AK, Richardson Highway, 2000.
Cordova Electric Cooperative Power Creek Hydroelectric Project, avalanche mapping, program development, risk management plan, crew training, and operational forecasting program, Cordova, AK, 2001-02.
University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), teaching Level 1 and 2 avalanche and related field courses for the Outdoor Studies and guest lecturer for Environmental Science Programs, 1999-2013.
Red Mountain and Coal Bank/Molas Passes Avalanche Program Study, CO, April 2003. One week study of operational avalanche program on high-hazard highway, including fieldwork and forecasting with the CDOT team.
Founder and Director, Southeast Alaska Avalanche Center (SAAC), Nonprofit providing avalanche education and advisories, 2007 pilot urban forecasting program for CBJ, spurred CBJ to create urban avalanche program that replaced SAAC, 1996-2007.
Senior avalanche specialist, Echo Bay A-J Mine, Juneau, Alaska, operational forecasting, crew training, observations, helicopter blasting, for AMSC, Juneau, AK, 1993-95.

Rates

We charge out conservatively for our services at rates typical of those for similar earth science specialty work, a little lower than those for licensed professional engineers who specialize in natural hazards engineering.

Our rates are higher for rush and emergency jobs, and they drop substantially for long-term jobs. Our chargeout rates drop along with our overhead costs as we go from intermittent to fulltime work; normally 12.5% at two months’ fulltime work on a project, and 23% at four months.

Remember that chargeout rates for consulting work must cover all our overhead, and reflect the high cost of doing this kind of business rather than high wages. As is typical for consulting companies, chargeout rates are calculated at 2.3 to 3 times pay, and we are fortunate if there is enough left after expenses to actually pay those rates.

On some short-term and most long-term jobs, we work with our clients to provide our services for an affordable fixed price, rather than charging out hourly.

Availability

We are a small company and our staffers make their time commitments well in advance, so if you want to be sure your project gets timely attention, you should contact us at least six months ahead.

Our winters are always filled with fieldwork and operational projects; we write our studies and do fieldwork for avalanche plans during the summer. We are generally unavailable to write up studies or start new programs in winter, from November through May. Any non-emergency, non-field work during that time must generally wait until summer.

That said, we can often accommodate small projects with flexible schedules on short notice, but we do have to charge out at higher rates for projects with less than two months' notice or for those that require winter work beyond our prior operational commitments.

For short-term emergency jobs such as power line repair, we can pull staff off other programs and mobilize very quickly. Our field office is always packed and ready to go. We can usually put a specialist onsite anywhere in the world in less than one week, and can have a full avalanche program up and running within two weeks.

Emergency response chargeout rates are higher of course, because our costs are higher. Those with the foresight to have us on a retainer, with preparations already in place, will enjoy the most-rapid emergency response at the lowest rates.

Industrial Liability in Alaska

The Whitewater case is the definitive case law on responsibility to industrial workers in Alaska. It spells out very clearly the necessity for avalanche analysis and state of the art programs for any project with avalanche exposure.