Anchorage, Alaska in the context of "Katmai National Park and Preserve"

Alaska (/əˈlæskə/ ə-LASS-kə) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost (the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere) state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait, with Asian Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. It is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and is the largest exclave in the world.

Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the following three largest states of Texas, California, and Montana combined, and is the seventh-largest subnational division in the world. It is the U.S. state with third-least populous, most sparsely populated, and closest to another continent which is Asia. With a population of 740,133 in 2024, it is the most populous territory in North America located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Alaska contains the four largest cities in the United States by area, including the state capital of Juneau. Alaska's most populous city is Anchorage, and approximately half of Alaska's residents live within its metropolitan area.

The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games (French: XVI Jeux Olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Arpitan: Arbèrtvile '92), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and around Albertville, France. Albertville won the bid to host the Winter Olympics in 1986, beating Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage, and Berchtesgaden. The 1992 Winter Olympics were the last winter games held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. The next Winter Olympics were held two years after this one instead of the usual four, which allowed the Olympic Games to take place on every even-numbered year instead of every four years. The Games were the fifth Olympic Games held in France and the country's third Winter Olympics, after the 1924 Winter Games in Chamonix and the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble. This games was the first of two consecutive Olympic games to be held in Western Europe, preceding the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

18 events in Figure skating, short track speed skating, speed skating, and the opening and closing ceremonies took place in Albertville. The 39 other events were held in the nearby 9 villages and resorts around Savoie: Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Tignes, and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four National Olympic Committees and 1,801 athletes participated in six sports and fifty-seven events. This included both the Unified Team, representing the non-Baltic former Soviet republics, and Germany, newly consolidated again as a team following the reunification of the former East and West Germany in 1990. The event also saw the debut of eight nations in the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympic program has grown this time with the addition of 11 new events. While sports that were already on the program received 5 new events (2 new events in cross-country skiing, at the same time women were allowed to compete in biathlon for the first time and won 3 events exclusive to them.) Another 6 events were added with the implementation of 2 sports that were demonstrated 4 years earlier (freestyle skiing and short track speed skating). These were the last Winter Olympics to include demonstration sports, consisting of curling, aerials and ski ballet, and speed skiing. Due to a rule change implemented in 1986, this was the last edition in the history of the Winter Olympic Games in which all speed skating events were held in an open-air venue.

Juneau (/ˈdʒuːnoʊ/ JOO-noh; Tlingit: Dzántik'i Héeni [ˈtsʌ́ntʰɪ̀kʼɪ̀ ˈhíːnɪ̀] transl. Base of the Flounder's River), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of what was then the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. On July 1, 1970, the City of Juneau merged with the City of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current consolidated city-borough, which ranks as the second-largest municipality in the United States by area and is larger than both Rhode Island and Delaware.

Downtown Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and it is across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2020 census, the City and Borough had a population of 32,255, making it the third-most populous city in Alaska after Anchorage and Fairbanks, but the sixth-least populous U.S. state capital. Juneau experiences a daily influx of 21,000 people or more from visiting cruise ships between the months of May and September.

The Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of the Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the south central region of Alaska.

As of the 2010 census, the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) had a population of 380,821. However, 2016 population estimates increase that number to more than 400,000. This is a census definition only, and many of the settlements considered within the metropolitan area are in fact quite distant from the city center and may be very small and isolated, for example Lake Louise is about 170 miles (270 km) from Anchorage proper and has fewer than 50 year-round residents.

Augustine Volcano (Sugpiaq: Utakineq; Dena'ina: Chu Nula) is a stratovolcano in Alaska consisting of a central complex of summit lava domes and flows surrounded by an apron of pyroclastic, lahar, avalanche, and ash deposits. The volcano forms Augustine Island, colloquially called Mount St. Augustine, in southwestern Cook Inlet in the Kenai Peninsula Borough of southcentral coastal Alaska, about 70 miles (113 km) west of Homer and about 175 miles (282 km) southwest of Anchorage.

The volcano is frequently active, with major eruptions recorded in 1883, 1935, 1963–64, 1976, 1986, and 2006. Minor eruptive events were reported in 1812, 1885, 1908, 1944, and 1971. The large eruptions are characterized by an explosive onset followed by the quieter effusion of lava. Augustine Island has a land area of 32.4 square miles (83.9 km), while West Island, just off Augustine's western shores, has 2 sq mi (5.2 km). The irregular coastline of Augustine Island is due to the repeated catastrophic collapse of the summit dome, forming debris avalanches down the flanks and into Cook Inlet.

Southcentral Alaska, also known as the Gulf Coast Region, is the portion of the U.S. state of Alaska consisting of the shorelines and uplands of the central Gulf of Alaska. More than half of the state's entire population lives in this region, concentrated in and around the city of Anchorage. The region is Alaska’s best-connected region, with the Port of Anchorage, Ted Stevens, Anchorage International Airport, and the Alaska Railroad servicing the area.

The area includes Cook Inlet, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound, and the Copper River Valley. Tourism, fisheries, and petroleum production are important economic activities.

King Salmon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bristol Bay Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is 284 miles (457 km) southwest of Anchorage. As of the 2020 census the population was 307, down from 374 in 2010. It is home to Katmai National Park and Preserve. King Salmon is the borough seat of neighboring Lake and Peninsula Borough, but does not serve that purpose in its own borough, whose borough seat is in Naknek.