The Seward Highway between Anchorage and Girdwood is a designated National Scenic Byway — and a consistent source of windshield chips. The road runs through rock cuts at Bird Point and McHugh Creek where loose rock regularly falls onto the highway. Trucks heading south toward the Kenai Peninsula travel at highway speed along the same two-lane corridor, throwing debris in all directions. Tidal bore conditions in Turnagain Arm can push road debris during storm events.

Girdwood’s elevation and its position in a mountain valley means it gets more snow, harder freezes, and more dramatic temperature fluctuations than Anchorage. A chip from your summer drive down the Seward Highway can sit innocuously until the first hard freeze of October — and then crack all the way across overnight. Girdwood also has its own local roads that create damage: Crow Creek Road is partially unpaved and throws gravel into windshields on the way to the trailhead parking. The resort access roads near Alyeska can be rough in shoulder season.