Valdez

The road ends and Prince William Sound begins

Valdez (pronounced val-DEEZ, not val-DEZ) is the terminus of the Richardson Highway as well as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.  Valdez is the snow capital of the U.S.A.  The annual snowfall in the city is over 25 feet per year; on Thompson Pass the average annual snowfall is over 50 feet a year.


The population of Valdez is about 4,500 people who work for the city, the oil industry, winter and summer tourism, fishing, or transportation and shipping.

Views from downtown

The harbor

When I was working on my Alaskan itinerary I debated on including Valdez or doing the Prince William Sound cruise out of Whittier.  I'm glad I had time to come to Valdez.  I had heard from Alaskans about how it was such a beautiful place ... and it didn't disappoint.

Although it is very expensive here, I did find a wonderful mechanic to work on my Jeep.  I took it to the Jeep dealer in Fairbanks twice without success ... Levi at Mark's Auto Repair listened to my description, knew what was wrong, test drove to verify and then fixed it immediately for $45.

Remember all that mud on my vehicles?  Well, that happened several times.  I paid a car wash $35 to hose off the underside and wheels, but mud still dried in the wheel wells and EVERYWHERE and that was the problem.  Some time with the pressure washer took care of the problem.  That mud dries like a rock.  I was joking with another customer about the Alaska mud I had seen so far.

On March 27, 1964, the infamous Good Friday earthquake struck Alaska, just 45 miles west of Valdez.  It lasted over 4 minutes (measured 9.2 and was the most powerful ever recorded in North America), causing an underwater landslide that in turn triggered tsunamis.  One washed away the waterfront.  The Valdez townsite was condemned and the entire town moved to its present location, four miles east of Old Valdez.  52 buildings were moved; the rest were razed.

And then on March 24, 1989 The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, spilled 10.8 million US gallons of crude oil over the next few days. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters.

More fun to follow ....