Alaska

The Sunday (Monday) Minefield – May 27, 2024

Published

2 years ago

May 27, 2024

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend! Don’t forget about all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. This week’s Sunday Minefield is the Monday Minefield as I spent yesterday driving from Haines to Anchorage. I was there with some friends for Beerfest, which was awesome! Last week was fairly uneventful in Alaska politics due to the end of session. Legislators and staff were busy packing up and heading home from Juneau. Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference was held at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. And the June 1 filing deadline to run for the Legislature is just five days away.

A friendly message and reminder to all our readers. The Landmine is made possible by myself and a team of awesome Alaskans. I just got back from Juneau for my sixth session in a row reporting on the Legislature. We will again be providing in-depth coverage for both the primary and general elections. If you enjoy the content we provide, please consider making a one time or recurring monthly donation. You can click here to donate. We have a donation system that makes it super easy. We would really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has been supportive!

Finally Back from Juneau

The trip back from Haines marked my official end of session. I moved out of my Juneau apartment on May 18 and flew to Anchorage to bring all my clothes back. But I still had some equipment in my Juneau office and I needed to drive a car I bought in Juneau to Anchorage. I flew back to Juneau on Wednesday and crashed at my buddy Forrest Wolfe’s place. I spent Thursday packing up my Juneau office.

We were booked on the 7 am Friday morning ferry to Haines, so I tried to get some sleep. But I only ended up getting about four hours because we had wake up at 5 am so I could check-in and get my car in line. The ferry ride to Haines took about four hours but playing cribbage made it fly by. The ferry was packed and there were several familiar faces from the Capitol on board.

This was my second year in a row attending the Haines Beerfest. Last year I drove a buddy’s car from Anchorage to Haines, and took the ferry to Juneau after. I’m glad I was not relying on the ferry back to Juneau on Sunday because it was cancelled (see this week’s Loose Unit for more on that).

Last year I thought it wise to camp at a park in Haines where hundreds of attendees camp each year. In addition to the cold weather and rain, the boozing, drug usage, and music made that experience not great. So this year I thought better and booked a hotel room at the Aspen Hotel with my buddy Forrest Wolfe. That was a much wiser decision! Big shout out to the Aspen Hotel for being such a great place to stay. It was clean, the staff were awesome, and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. If you plan on attending Beerfest next year, make sure to book a place in January.

We attended the Brewer’s Dinner on Friday night. Tickets for that sell out fast. This was my first time attending and it was definitely worth it. They served a five course meal and there was plenty of different beers to sample.

I also happened to meet Lee Ellis, a Republican running to replace Representative Laddie Shaw (R – Anchorage) – who is not seeking re-election. Ellis is the president of Midnight Sun Brewing and was in Haines for the Beerfest. He actually met his wife there in 2012. He ended up giving her a ride to Anchorage and they hit it off. They got married in 2016.

Two friends from Anchorage flew to Juneau on Friday night and took the Saturday morning ferry to Juneau. We all went to Beerfest on Saturday and had a great time. While it was not hot and sunny, it was not pouring rain like last year, so it felt like a win.

We all woke up and headed out of Haines around 11 am. With the exception of a delay at the Canadian border (lots of Canadians attend Beerfest so there was a long line) the drive back was uneventful. It was sunny most of the way and we saw four bears in Canada! We got back to Anchorage just before 1 am after a nearly 14 hour drive back. I look forward to not going back to Juneau until January. That is unless there is a special session… Which I think we are all hoping does not happen.

Filing Deadline Approaching

The June 1 filing deadline to run for one of 40 House or 10 Senate seats is fast approaching. A lot of incumbents remain unchallenged. All ten incumbent senators have filed for re-election, though there has been some speculation Senator Click Bishop (R – Fairbanks) may not end up running if he decides he wants to run for governor in 2026. Three incumbent representatives won’t be returning:

Representative Jennie Armstrong (D – Anchorage) is not seeking re-election. Democrat Carolyn Hall is the only person who has filed for that seat so far.
As referenced above, Representative Laddie Shaw is not seeking re-election.
Representative Ben Carpenter (R – Nikiski) is challenging Senator Jesse Bjorkman (R- Nikiski). I predict Carpenter wins that race.

I have heard rumblings that a few incumbent representatives who have filed for office are planning a last minute bait-and-switch. Recall that in 2022 then-Senator Tom Begich told no one of his plan to essentially give now-Senator Löki Tobin (D – Anchorage) his seat. Tobin had worked for Begich, so the scheme was not hard to pull off. Tobin filed right before the filing deadline and then Begich withdrew. It sounds like a few House members are planning to do something similar. I have never agreed with this, regardless of who is doing it. It treats the seat like it belongs to the person and not the people living in the district. It gives the ordained ones an unfair advantage over others who may otherwise run.

Stay tuned for a Landmine article after June 1 that breaks down all the races and looks at how both bodies may end up organizing next year.

Other Happenings

A few people sent me the Alaska Watchman article claiming a National Park Service (NPS) employee had told some people to remove the American Flag from their truck in the park. I saw hundreds of people sharing the story and attacking the NPS superintendent. I found the whole thing far fetched and ignored it, figuring it was fabricated. I mean how in the hell would the NPS tell someone to remove an American Flag? It made no sense. Low and behold the NPS put out this statement yesterday. Sadly, even Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) was duped by this. Social media can be a really toxic sometimes.

This Week’s Loose Unit

The Alaska Watchman were definitely in the running for this week’s designee. I mean that flag story was fucking loose. But they got beat out due to a development late in the week. This week’s Loose Unit is the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS), specifically the vessel LeConte. During the Haines Beerfest, the AMHS quietly put out a notice saying the LeConte would be out of service until May 29. This is the ferry that was supposed to take a ton of people and cars back to Juneau on Sunday afternoon.

It doesn’t get much looser than hundreds of people getting trapped in Haines during one of the busiest summer weekends. For the people who did not have to take a car back, many ended up buying a plane ticket back at the cost of $200-$250. Those with cars dealing with a nightmare. One person told me they were able to get on a day cruise to get back, which cost $165 per ticket. But her car is stuck in Haines until at least June 7. Her car was put on a waitlist and they can’t even guarantee when her will get back to her. Maximum loose. Another ferry is leaving Haines tonight but I hear it’s pretty full. Imagine the people who bought a ferry ticket months ago and ended up getting stranded in Haines. It’s really too bad the AMHS has become such an unreliable joke. Shame on all of those who have contributed to this.

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.

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Alaska

Wayne and Wanda: I love Alaska winters, but my wife has grown weary and wants to move

Published

10 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Wayne and Wanda: I love Alaska winters, but my wife has grown weary and wants to move

Wanda and Wayne,

My wife and I moved to Alaska four years ago for work and adventure, thinking we’d stay a couple of years and see how it felt. We fell hard for it almost immediately. But by our second winter, my wife started talking about how hard the cold and dark were on her, and every winter since that feeling has grown heavier.

This recent cold snap and snow dump really pushed things over the edge. She’s deeply unhappy right now, withdrawn, sad and openly talking about how depressing it feels to live here, especially being so far from family and old friends. She tries to manage it with running, yoga, the gym, but even those things she often does alone. She hasn’t really built a community here, partly because she’s introverted and partly because she sticks closely to her routines and her co-workers aren’t the very social. Meanwhile, I’ve found connections through work and the outdoors, especially skiing in the winter (cross country and touring, downhill, backcountry, all of it!), and Alaska still feels full of possibilities to me.

But now she’s done. She wants to move back “home” soon. She wants to start trying for kids within the next year and doesn’t feel like Alaska is the right place to raise a family. She worries about schools, politics, the economy and being so far from family support. We both have careers that could take us almost anywhere, as well as savings, and a house we could sell quickly, and many of the Alaska toys we could also sell. Logistically, it would be easy. Emotionally, I feel like I’m being told to leave after I just got settled.

There are places I still want to explore, trips I’ve been planning, seasons I want to experience differently now that we’re more established. I keep thinking: If we can just get through to summer, maybe she’ll feel better. But I don’t know if that’s hope or denial, and yeah, summer feels a long ways away and goes by pretty quickly. Honestly, now I’m starting to get bummed about the idea of leaving.

I love my wife and I don’t want her to be miserable. But I’m scared that if we leave now, I’ll resent her, and if we stay she’ll resent me. Is there a way to buy time without dragging this out painfully? Or is this one of those moments where love means choosing between two incompatible futures?

Wanda says:

If this was your first Cheechako winter here, or your second, I could write off your wife’s apprehension to culture shock or a sophomore slump. But this is year four, which means she’s endured winters of record snowfalls, weird snow shortfalls, terrible windstorms, bleak darkness and desolate below-zero temps. Sorry to say, but it’s likely there’s no number of laps at the Dome or downward dogs on the mat that will make her find the special beauty of an Alaska winter.

This place is tough. For every old-timer who jokes, “I came for two years and I’m still here,” there are plenty who maybe made it that long and bailed. While the state shines with possibilities, rugged beauty, unique traits and cool people, it’s also far from basically everything, pretty expensive and definitely extreme. Some people will thrive here. Some people won’t. No one’s better or worse, or wins or loses. Were you on your own, at a different point in life, you may have made your forever home here. But instead you pledged forever to your wife, and I’m afraid it’s time to start out on your next adventure — in the Lower 48.

Your wife gave this a real shot. She’s stayed four years. That’s four long — and for her, miserable — winters. It was also four seasons of no doubt incredible summers, full of fresh halibut and farmers markets and quirky festivals and blue skies at 11 p.m. If these special aspects of Alaska haven’t yet been enough to convince her the winters are worth it, they won’t ever be.

Wayne says:

Sure, your Alaska bucket list is still growing faster than you can check things off, but take it from a lifelong Alaskan: You’ll never do it all. People fall in love with this place in a million different ways. You and I? We believe there’s always another season of adventures ahead, another trail and another corner of the state to explore, and we’ll always feel some serious AK FOMO when we’re stuck at the office working while everyone else is ice skating on a perfect winter day or dipnetting during a hot salmon run.

Here’s the perspective shift you need. You love your wife. You’re committed to a happy life together. And by any reasonable measure, you’ve made the most of your four years here. So ask yourself this honestly: Is another spring of shredding pow in the Chugach more important than her mental health and your marriage? And why resent her for being ready for a new chapter after she showed up and gave Alaska a chance? When you frame it that way, “incompatible futures” sounds dramatic and “buying time” sounds selfish.

And Alaska isn’t going anywhere. You know that. It’s a flight or two away no matter where you end up Outside. Maintain your friendships, stay on the airline alerts, narrow your must-do list to the Alaska all-timers, and plan to come back regularly. And imagine this: years from now, bringing your kids here after years of telling them stories about the winters you survived and the mountains you climbed. That’s not losing Alaska, that’s carrying it with you wherever you go, along with your wife and your marriage.

[Wayne and Wanda: How can I support my partner’s hardcore New Year’s reset, even if it’s not for me?]

[Wayne and Wanda: I kissed my high school crush during a holiday trip home. Now I’m questioning everything]

[Wayne and Wanda: My girlfriend’s dog fostering has consumed her life and derailed our relationship]

[Wayne & Wanda: My husband has been having a secret, yearslong emotional affair]

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Alaska

The Alarming Prices Of Groceries In Rural Alaska — And Why They’re So Expensive – Tasting Table

Published

22 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

The Alarming Prices Of Groceries In Rural Alaska — And Why They’re So Expensive – Tasting Table

ViDI Studio/Shutterstock

Many households across America have been struggling with their grocery bills due to inflation that hit the global markets after the COVID-19 pandemic, but for families in Alaska, especially in rural communities, the prices of basic goods have reached alarming heights. Alongside inflation, the main issue for the climbing prices is Alaska’s distance from the rest of the U.S., which influences the cost of transport that’s required to deliver the supplies.

Given that Alaska is a non-contiguous state, any trucks delivering grocery stock have to first cross Canada before reaching Alaska, which requires a very valuable resource: time. According to Alaska Beacon, “It takes around 40 hours of nonstop driving to cover the more than 2,200 highway miles from Seattle to Fairbanks” on the Alaska Highway. That’s why a fairly small percentage of the state’s food comes in on the road. For the most part, groceries are shipped in on barges and are then flown to more remote areas, since “82% of the state’s communities are not reachable by road,” per Alaska Beacon. As such, even takeout in Alaska is sometimes delivered by plane.

Planes, trucks, and boats all cost money, but they are also all vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, which are not uncommon in Alaska. Sometimes local stores are unable to restock basic staples like bread and milk for several weeks, so Alaskans struggle with high food insecurity.

How much do groceries cost in Alaska?

The storefront of a local City Market in Alaska

Ruben Ramos/Getty Images

Groceries in Alaska cost significantly more than in the rest of the U.S., but even within the state itself, the prices vary based on remoteness. You’ll find that prices of the same items can double or even triple, depending on how inaccessible a certain area is. The New Republic reported that prices in Unalakleet, a remote village that’s only accessible by plane, can be up to 80% higher than in Anchorage, Alaska’s most populated city. For example, the outlet cited Campbell’s Tomato Soup costing $1.69 in Anchorage and $4.25 in Unalakleet. Even more staggering is the price of apple juice: $3.29 in the city, $10.65 in the village. Such prices might make our jaw drop, but they’re a daily reality for many Alaskans.

As one resident shared on TikTok, butter in his local store costs $8 per pound — almost twice the national average. Fresh produce is even more expensive, with bananas going for $3 a pound, approximately five times the national average. It’s therefore not surprising that most of the people who live in Alaska have learned to rely on nature to survive.

Subsistence living has great importance for many communities. They hunt their own meat, forage for plants, and nurture their deep cultural connection to sourdough. For rural Alaskans, living off the land is a deep philosophy that embraces connection with nature and hones the survival knowledge that’s passed down through generations — including how to make Alaska’s traditional akutaq ice cream.

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Alaska

Backcountry avalanche warning issued for much of Southcentral Alaska

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Backcountry avalanche warning issued for much of Southcentral Alaska

High avalanche danger in the mountains around much of Southcentral Alaska prompted officials to issue a backcountry avalanche warning Saturday for areas from Anchorage to Seward.

The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center said that a combination of heavy snowfall, strong winds and low-elevation rain Saturday “will overload a weak snowpack, creating widespread areas of unstable snow.”

The warning is in effect from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday.

Human-triggered and natural slides are likely, and avalanche debris may run long distances into the bottoms of valleys and other lower-angle terrain, the center said.

In Saturday’s avalanche forecast, which noted high avalanche danger at all elevations in the Turnagain Pass and Girdwood areas, the center said avalanches were likely to fail on weak layers about 1.5 to 3 feet deep.

Forecasters recommended that people avoid traveling in avalanche terrain, staying clear of slopes steeper than 30 degrees.

“Avalanche conditions will remain very dangerous immediately after the snow finishes,” the avalanche center said in its warning.

The center also said conditions may cause roofs to shed snow, and urged that people watch for overhead hazards, use care in choosing where to park vehicles and watch out for children and pets.

Areas covered under the backcountry avalanche warning include the mountains around Anchorage, Girdwood, Portage, Turnagain Pass, Lost Lake and Seward.

Farther north, the Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center in its forecast Saturday said danger was considerable at upper elevations and moderate at middle elevations.

Snowfall in Anchorage and Mat-Su

A winter weather advisory remained in effect until 9 a.m. Sunday from Anchorage up to the lower Matanuska Valley, including the cities of Eagle River, Palmer and Wasilla.

The National Weather Service said total accumulations of 4 to 8 inches of snow were possible, with localized areas potentially receiving up to a foot of snow.

The snowfall was expected to peak Saturday evening before tapering off Sunday morning, the weather service said.

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