exploring the Juneau ice field [closed]

Question

I think it'd be cool to do some limited exploring of the Juneau Icefield but I'm not entirely sure the best way to do so. I'd prefer to go with a group because I don't have any experience with camping under those conditions and would probably get lost and die if I tried to solo it lol. ( https://www.viator.com/Juneau-attractions/Juneau-Icefield/d941-a12941?sortType=featured doesn't mention any tours of the Juneau Icefield. Not sure if that's a result of COVID-19 or if they just don't normally have any tours.

https://alaskapowder.com/terrain/ seems like they might do skiing trips on the Juneau Icefield but I don't have any experience skiing. I could certainly pursue it but I'd kinda prefer a hiking trip (well, with snow shoes or crampons) or just a helicopter tour that flies over it.

Answer 1

I did a bit of Googling, and found I was getting some likely hits with the search terms "juneau alaska wilderness glacier excursion" - the term "excursion" gets you more involved trips than "hike," which gets you hikes near a glacier, or "tour," which gets mostly cruises and helicopter rides. Also many of the glacier activities that actually take you on top of a glacier are called "trek" or "trekking" so try putting that term into a search for more options.

Alaska.org has a list of Juneau glacier tours, including:

• Northstar Trekking - they offer glacier tours with varying levels of involvement, from looking at a glacier from a safe distance, to hiking on the glacier, to ice climbing with ropes and ice picks.

• Liquid Alaska Mendenhall Glacier Ice Adventure - paddle a canoe to near a glacier, then hike on the glacier with crampons

• TEMSCO Mendenhall Flightseeing & Glacier Walk - helicopter tour plus a glacier walk

• NorthStar Trekking Glacier Dog Sled Adventure - fly over a glacier to a base camp, then take a dog sled on a glacier

My experience with small-group and private tours like this, is that if you contact the tour company and tell them what you want to do, they are often willing to do a custom tour for you. It doesn't matter so much if the company has pre-scheduled tours listed on their website. Find a company or guide that does something similar to what you want to do, contact them and tell them what you're looking for. Even though most of the activities I listed didn't involve camping on the glacier, the guides that do those activities would be likely know whether and how you could do a multi-day excursion with camping on the glacier. Based on the usual activity dates on the Alaska.org page I linked above, it looks like your excursion will need to wait until May, so you have plenty of time to plan.

Regarding COVID safety, even though the actual excursion is out-doors, it likely will involve sitting in a vehicle of some sort to get there. So be sure to ask about how many people in the vehicle and ventilation and so on, and factor that into your risk assessment.