If you are planning to drive outside Anchorage, it is important to have good winter driving skills, proper winter clothing and a winter survival kit in your car, including something to snack on if stranded for a few hours. Weather can change quickly and avalanches can close roads for several hours. Parts of the Kenai Peninsula have an annual snowfall of almost 600 inches. Always use the buddy system when skiing or boarding. Guided back-country adventures are taken at the risk of the individual.
All outfitters issue an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel.
Outside of cities, gas stations are few and far between. Many stations have pumps that take credit cards 24 hours a day. Except for Anchorage, there are few radio stations. Listening to local talk radio can be quite entertaining. Listeners call in to describe their missing dog, usually without a collar or name tag, or people call in with a found dog, usually without a collar or name tag.