Landslide mitigation work continues

(Continued from front page) grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency last December to help fund the costly project. In the meantime, the municipality engaged Shannon & Wilson in October 2022 at approximately $3 million to scale the mountain side and add attenuators (fencing that slows and redirects falling rocks), among other safety measures, in the hopes of getting the dock up to highway safety standards.

“The plan for the Railroad Dock in 2023 is to dock larger ships (Oasis and Breakaway class ships) on Railroad Aft, and then use buses to safely transport passengers off the dock, and to tender passengers from Railroad Forward,” Cremata said. “To achieve this, the rockslide area must meet highway rockfall safety standard. Because the scaling is going so well, engineers believe this standard will be achieved.”

“As buses transport passengers beneath the slide area, spotters will vigilantly monitor the slope,” Cremata continued. “Any sign of rockfall activity can be instantaneously reported so that the area can be cleared. This is an extra safety protocol to ensure that passengers and dock workers aren’t at risk.”

According to Borough Manager Brad Ryan, “the work should be complete and tested by April.” Shannon & Wilson hired Rock Supremacy to carry out scaling.

The 2023 Cruise Line Agency of Alaska (CLAA) schedule lists the Norwegian Bliss as the first ship to make port in Skagway on April 18. It is assigned to Railroad Aft.

Rocky Outcalt, owner of Klondike Doughboy, said he and his wife Lillian enjoyed an “exceptional year last season for such a small number of people on ships.” With train expeditions to Canada shortened, more tourists were in town to consume the Outcalt’s famous fried dough.

Outcalt said he was optimistic about this year’s tour- not gifting anything” she said. “In my eyes, we are returning it to the rightful owners.” ist numbers.

Hylton hopes the decision over the land can be a “non-contentious” process. “We are in a place in history where we get to decide this again, this is a historic decision,” she said.

“I’ve hired full staff. The ship schedule looks good. I’m sure ships will be full.”

When an article popped up on cruisehive.com on Tuesday announcing that Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam would skip its May 16 visit to Skagway for “operational reasons,” the news made Outcalt “nervous.”

Prior to the cancellation, the May 16 CLAA schedule had five ships booked. Assuming the Railroad mitigation work is successful, a total of four ships will be able to make port in Skagway at one time, one large vessel less than 2019.

If Railroad Dock does not meet highway safety standards and only Ore and Broadway docks can berth ships for a total of two, none of them larger vessels, Skagway would have another difficult season.

“It would be hard for the town,” Outcalt said. He remains positive.

By Gretchen Wehmhoff

For over two decades I advised an award-winning high school student newspaper in the state’s largest school district. During that time I pretty much gained a permanent seat in the principal’s office, was part of two legal briefs prepared for the district administration (both favoring the student newspaper’s rights), had multiple interviews by local media and one run-in with the U.S. Secret Service.

I’m pretty proud of that record. Not because I survived, but because my students prevailed. They prevailed because they followed good journalism practices, understood their rights within the district and followed a written appeals process each time to stand for their voice – something they ended up defending more often once we started distributing 5,000 papers of each issue around the community.

The young reporters won first place in reporting a story for which I sat on the hot seat. They created relationships with local media to back them up if they were silenced. Sometimes the issues brought against the kids were unrealistic – such as removing drawings of drugs found in a “don’t do drugs” pamphlet handed out at a local clinic. Some were a bit pathetic, such as censoring their informative Halloween spread – they couldn’t mention anything to do with