The Haines Borough Assembly last week rescinded a February disaster declaration for sloughing of the Mount Ripinsky hillside at Lutak Road. Borough manager Mark Earnest provided the assembly with an e-mail from Kerry Seifert, an emergency management specialist with Alaska’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, before the 5-0 vote. Member Joanne Waterman was absent. Seifert wrote “the slope has stopped or slowed movement […]
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Posted inNews
Borough may drop disaster title for slump
The Haines Borough has been asked to rescind a request for a state emergency declaration related to sloughing of the Mount Ripinsky hillside at Lutak Road in January. Borough manager Mark Earnest told the assembly last week that damage so far hasn’t met the threshold for a state disaster declaration. A state declaration would make the municipality eligible to receive emergency mitigation funding. […]
Posted inNews
Season snow record set
If you notched a tree or took a photo of the high-snow mark five years ago, you may not believe it, but Haines has set an all-time record for a winter’s snowfall. The 6.7 inches of snow that fell in town March 1 raised the season’s accumulation above the previous season high, 309 inches, set […]
Posted inNews
Hiking Buddies
Annie Boyce and Windsor the dog pause on the north summit of Mount Ripinsky on Feb. 7. Boyce, Paul Swift and Windsor hiked up the north summit on a clear day. The couple said the snow-measure board at the tree-line topped out at 14 feet, comparable to the record-breaking winter of 2006-07.
Posted inThank You Letters
Senior Center grateful for support
I am one of many seniors who want to thank Ripinsky Rippers for their very generous donations to Haines Senior Citizens Center, Inc to help keep the Senior Center open. We also appreciate that the group rents the building twice a month for activities. I am a senior who depends on the convenient and sun-lit open space […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted
Stoli Antoanetova Lende and Nels Wolf Lynch were married Friday afternoon at the Chilkat Center, surrounded by family and friends. Don Nash served as marriage minister. Scott Pierce and Julia Scott performed “Swept Me Away,” a song by the Avett Brothers, and Stoli’s mom, Heather Lende, read a poem she composed for the couple. Stoli’s […]
Posted inNews
Andes climb aims to determine true height of grand peaks
Haines resident Chandler Kemp and a hiking buddy from Sitka are waiting to see if research they conducted a year ago resolves a decades-long debate over the height of two peaks in South America. In January 2011, Kemp, 21, and Sitkan Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, 22, climbed Ojos de Salado, a 22,608-foot mountain in the Andes that […]
Posted inNews, Obituaries
Chilkat Valley year in review
An assembly recall campaign and a new effort targeting underage drinking punctuated the year 2011 in the Chilkat Valley News. Extreme weather and some unusual wildlife encounters delivered doses of excitement. The local economy stayed afloat, buoyed by a strong commercial fishing season, increased visitation by foreigners, construction projects and a $13 million distribution by […]
Posted inNews
High winds whip town
Three separate incidents of high winds since Nov. 28 knocked down trees, downed at least 14 sections of power lines, and blew out a landmark sign downtown. Multiple power outages came when wet snow and strong winds combined early on Thursday, Dec. 1, taking down trees that hit power lines in Highland Estates, and on […]
Posted inNews, Search and Rescue
Rescued hiker returns to mountain, labor jobs
Ten months after breaking his back during a fall off Mount Ripinsky, Keith Hutchins has returned to the peak on regular hikes. A 41-year-old deckhand and construction worker, Hutchins figures he has been to the top about 15 times since the accident that led to his dramatic, aerial rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard. He was […]