How an extended stay in Valdez brought a community and 3 Fairbanks-area ski teams together

When PJ Bragonier got out of bed early Friday morning to join a two-bus caravan of coaches, chaperones and fellow high school skiers leaving Fairbanks at 5 a.m. to compete in the Valdez Invitational relay races, he never imagined that it would be the last time he’d see it for nearly a week.

“We knew there was a chance of staying a few extra days but we definitely didn’t think it would be this many,” he said.

Bragonier is a junior at West Valley High and captain of the boys cross-country ski team. The Wolfpack are one of three Fairbanks-area teams that have been stranded in Valdez due to well over 2 feet of snow accumulating at Thompson Pass, blocking the Richardson Highway, the only road leading out of town back home. The other two teams are from Lathrop and North Pole.

“We’re basically traveling together, but North Pole and Lathrop are on a second bus and West Valley and a few Hutchison kids are in our bus, so we’re all stuck here,” West Valley ski coach Donna DiFolco said. “We have 40 in our group, Lathrop has 20, and North Pole has 17 including coaches and chaperones.”

The Wolfpack did great at the event itself, winning the top spot in the relays.

“It was a little challenging to see at times, but they did very well anyways,” DiFolco said.

The coaching staff briefly debated the decision to head home directly following the race Friday. The team from Palmer left immediately and was able to get out in time, but the other two buses had already planned to stay the night because Valdez High was having a school dance and their students were really excited to attend.

“We decided to stick with our plan and stay the night, but by the next morning, we had gotten snowed in,” DiFolco said. “We ended up staying, and the next morning it was sort of not any better.”

The weather turned from heavy snowfall on Saturday to rain on Sunday, which made the streets difficult to walk on, let alone drive.

According to Valdez High Activities Director Todd Wegner, Thompson Pass being closed and for this long is not a regular occurrence.

“This was a pretty major event with regards to snowfall, wind, rain and avalanche warnings and mitigation,” he said.

Thompson Pass opened early Tuesday afternoon, and the Fairbanks-area student-athletes started the trek back home.

Finding productive ways to give back

To pass the time and pay it forward to the community that had taken them in, a group of students from West Valley and North Pole decided to shovel community members’ driveways Sunday.

DiFolco was on her way to fetch groceries for brunch Sunday when some members of her girls ski team came to her with the idea.

“We didn’t have shovels but I figured every house in Valdez has a couple shovels, and then North Pole came and helped too,” she said. “We coordinated and North Pole went down one direction from the school and we took the other direction.”

The city of Valdez has welcomed their unexpected extended guests with open arms.

“I’m super proud of our kids,” she said. “They are a great group. They had fun. It was raining, so conditions were not great, but they came back excited about what they did.”

On Monday, Lathrop joined in on the volunteering fun.

“They borrowed some shovels from our maintenance department and went out and asked various residents if they needed help shoveling their driveways,” Wegner said. “It was much appreciated by the community members.”

Figuring out logistics and overcoming challenges

All three teams have been lodging at Valdez High, first staying in classrooms and then moving to the gymnasium when they found out their stay would be extended into the week.

One of the biggest challenges for the students on top of being displaced and away from their families was keeping up with their school work.

“I think we’re all a little bit anxious to get home just because some of us also have to race this upcoming weekend,” Bragonier said. “It’s also hard to keep up with all the school work, but the first few days were a lot of fun.”

While some students are diligent about keeping up with their studies, others have had a difficult time staying on task during what feels like an extended sleepover.

“We’ve been trying to enforce some quiet time and they do have the library open during school hours, which is nice, and a lot of kids have been taking advantage of that,” DiFolco said.

Wegner said the high school hasn’t had any real problems temporarily becoming a hotel by night and hybrid learning center by day.

“Remote learning has become a thing since COVID, so kids are taking classes online in our libraries,” he said. “We’ve even had some kids participate in our classrooms with various math teachers helping them.”

This isn’t the first time that Hotel Valdez High opened its doors and facilities to a stranded group of student-athletes during Wegner’s tenure at the school.

“The last time it happened was in the fall of 2021 when a girls team from Barrow flew in and weren’t able to fly out for a couple of days,” he said.

The Valdez community as a whole has offered to help out in any way it can, including providing food, recreational activities and treating the stranded students to a trip to the movie theater at their civic center. The teams were even able to get out and practice skiing.

“Since they’re from Fairbanks, this is kind of tropical for them, so they’ve been out skiing on our groomed trails,” Wegner said. “Yesterday it was minus 30 in Fairbanks, and 35 above here yesterday, so that’s a pretty big swing.”

When it came to meals, students were initially responsible for bringing funds to provide their own, but once it became clear that they’d be staying longer than they had planned, feeding everyone became just as important as housing them.

“The first night we were here, we took the kids out to a pizza party at Mike’s Palace and the team paid for that, and since then we’ve been basically trying to buy groceries and cook at the home-economics room that we’ve had access to,” DiFolco said.

On Tuesday, a group of students went out and got the ingredients to make everyone French toast.

DiFolco has received calls and text messages from numerous parents asking if their kids are getting enough to eat and for updates on the situation.

She feels like they’re “eating Valdez out of house and home” with all the extra hungry growing teenagers.

“Hopefully we’ll get enough food for the road and be able to finally get home,” DiFolco said.

Because of the highway being inaccessible, stores in town haven’t been able to restock and there hasn’t been a barge to come into port for resupply either.

“Restaurants and grocery stores are running low, so I think it’d be a good thing if we could get out of here (on Tuesday night),” DiFolco said.

Building chemistry and creating lasting memories

In some ways, Bragonier believes the time the teams spent together these past few days doing activities outside of skiing such as going shopping, swimming and playing pickleball has been a “blessing in disguise.” It has helped build and strengthen relationships within their team.

“I think it is going to make all of us closer friends afterwards and it’s probably going to improve our racing team,” he said. “We can hype each other up before races since we all know each other a little better.”

This unintentional team bonding experience is one adventure that DiFolco believes that these students “will always remember.”

“It’s been fun to get to know each other and learn a little more about each other,” he said. “Overall I think everyone is having a good time, but we’re anxious to get home and sleep in our own beds and catch back up with normalcy.”