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| Our advisors are a team of Alaska's
top park rangers, wildlife biologist, bush pilots, naturalist, photographers,
hoteliers, and other seasoned travel professionals sharing their best
insights with you. Learn
more about who we are» |
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Airplane or helicopter tour? |
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| Helicopter |
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Plane |
 Floating
above the Alaskan wilderness in a powerful, quiet helicopter is
a dreamy experience that almost seems to unfold in slow motion.
Because they fly slower than fixed wing planes, helicopters are
better for studying features and viewing wildlife. (But helicopters
aren't permitted to hover over animals-that's considered harassment.
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 Fixed
wings are the workhorses of the Alaskan Bush-the machine that opened
up Alaska. Just climbing into one is an adventure; it makes you
feel Alaskan. You'll fly in reliable planes with good safety records:
Cessna 185's, Cessna 206's, Piper Navajos, and Twin Otters (listed
in increasing order of spaciousness). Smaller planes have the advantage
of intimacy; larger ones more leg room. |
The flip side is helicopters don't
cover as much ground, so you'll see less. And because helicopters
are more costly to operate, tours are shorter and more expensive
(50 minutes versus 1-1½ hours; $260 versus $140-240).
As far as seeing McKinley goes, most helicopters operate out of
Denali (not Talkeetna). Helicopters aren't permitted to land within
Denali Park, so if you want a helicopter glacier landing, you'll
take a different tour which flies east and lands on the Yanert Glacier
at the foot of 13,500 Mt. Deborah. While breathtaking and remote,
the scale is not as impressive as the Ruth Amphitheatre glacier,
where fixed wing planes land. |
For a McKinley flight, we recommend adding
a glacier landing (roughly $60 more). Get out, take photos,
make snow angels, throw snowballs, and just feel what's it's
like to stand on the surface of an ancient glacier, surrounded
by scale you've never before seen.
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| Depending on weather, you'll
land either at: |
- The Ruth Amphitheatre,
one of the most dramatic mountain amphitheatres on earth
with mile-high granite walls, crevassed glaciers, and
enormous hanging ice blocks, or
- Climber's base camp on the
Kahiltna Glacier where you'll likely see tents
pitched on the glaciers and climbers readying their gear
for the ascent.
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