Thursday, September 28, 2006 Valdez - Home of the sound By Melanie T. Lim
MY HEART raced as we sped deeper into the Sound, closer to Alaska’s second largest tidewater glacier. Massive icebergs soon came into view—floating for kilometers until I finally caught sight of it—the remarkable river of ice I had come so far to see.
When you stand before Columbia Glacier at Prince William Sound, you find yourself lost in one of those moments you wish could last forever—as you wait in silence for the thunderous sound of ice calving or falling off the face of the glacier. It is a sound everyone awaits with bated breath. A sound you hear long before the actual drop. A sound you know you will never forget.
While Columbia Glacier is accessible only by boat, some glaciers you can practically drive up to. Approaching Valdez from Richardson Highway, you can simply pull off the highway and walk up to Worthington Glacier.
Valdez (pronounced Val-deez) lies at the head of a deep, stillwater fjord in the northeast section of Prince William Sound. It is North America’s northernmost ice-free port and the southern terminus of the Richardson Highway as well as the 1,300-kilometer Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Its population numbered a little less than 10,000 in 2004.
Enveloped by the snow-capped Chugach Mountains, the scenery from even points mundane like the post office or the supermarket in Alaska’s “Little Switzerland” is always stunning. The serenity of this slice of paradise was marred only by the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill—the most devastating environmental disaster in maritime history.
Thirty million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Sound affecting 1,900 kilometers of coastline when the oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, hit Bligh Reef. More than 50,000 sea birds, sea otters, harbor seals, bald eagles and orcas plus billions of salmon and herring eggs perished. Despite thorough clean-up efforts, the effects of the spill continue to be felt today in reduced populations, stunted growths and higher death rates of wildlife. Scientists say it will take up to 30 years to recover.
Still, life continues in this slice of paradise. Cruising through the Sound today, you’d never believe a supposedly drunk captain spilled oil into these waters. Wildlife can be spotted in abundance and Columbia Glacier continues to hold court.
One the world’s greatest engineering feats can be seen driving through Valdez. Snaking its way down to the marine terminal to unload its liquid cargo into waiting tankers, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline stretches from Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska to the ice-free port of Valdez in the south of Alaska. This 1,300-kilometer pipeline traverses 800 rivers and streams and three mountain ranges to carry almost a million barrels of oil everyday for distribution to the rest of the United States.
