Talkeetna Alaska

Summit McKinley in the comfort of a twin-engine aircraft. Land on a glacier and step into the awesome scenery of ice, rock, and snow. Experience the grandeur of Mt. McKinley and the Alaska Range with Talkeetna Aero Services, with flightseeing tours out of Talkeetna and Denali National Park.

Each tour includes a 15-minute pre-flight briefing and tour description with maps of the flight plan. Experienced pilot-guides narrate your tour, offering geology, history, and local lore. Safe and reliable intercom-equipped aircraft provide everyone with a window seat for incredible views and photography. The best way to see Alaska is from an airplane!

The Summit McKinley Tour is Talkeetna Aero’s most popular flight. Experience flying right over the top of Mt. McKinley, where you can look down both sides of the McKinley massif and Alaska Range. The Wickersham Wall, the longest continuous granite ice wall in the world, drops from over 20,000 feet to almost sea level. Included in this flight is an extensive tour of both the north and south sides of McKinley. You begin your flight over the beautiful Susitna Valley and head into the Alaska Range. Tour the south side of Denali in its full splendor from the Kahiltna “Climber’s Base Camp”to the Ruth Glacier and Don Sheldon Amphitheater and through the Great Gorge. Witness where the magnificent glaciers are formed and begin their journey to the sea. See all the peaks and glaciers on the south side: Ruth and Kahiltna Glaciers, Don Sheldon Amphitheater, Great Gorge, Moose’s Tooth, climbers’base camps (in season), Mt. Hunter, Foraker, and Huntington. On the north side, the original climbing routes will be pointed out as well as the Muldrow and Peters Glaciers. During the climbing season, you have a good chance to see climbers on their way to the top.

The South Side Glacier Tour covers the glaciers and peaks on the south side of McKinley: the Ruth and Kahiltna Glaciers, Mt. Hunter, Foraker, and Huntington, Moose’s Tooth, the Great Gorge and the Don Sheldon Amphitheater. Add on a glacier landing and step out of the plane onto age-old ice. The vastness and beauty of the glaciers will awe and amaze you.

The Circle Denali Tour is an extension of the South Side route and includes all the Summit tour highlights minus the fly—over—making it a great tour for families with younger children, who sometimes experience ear trouble t higher altitudes. Glacier landing add-ons are available for this tour as well, and Talkeetna Aero is the only operator that offers the option of a glacier landing on the mountain’s south side, i.e. a Denali departure. Their Denali Landing Tour adds a glacier landing to the Circle Denali route that departs from Denali.

he North Face Glacier Tour flies over the wilderness of Denali National Park and up Stampede Trail. On days when McKinley may be overcast, this tour will introduce you to the beauty of the area and the glaciers in the area.

For travelers with limited time or who would prefer to base out of Talkeetna or Anchorage, Talkeetna Aero Services offers their exclusive Denali Day Trip. Enjoy a scenic McKinley flightseeing tour enroute, then tour the park via the Tundra Wilderness Tour, a 6-8 hour guided bus trip. A deluxe box lunch is provided with snacks and beverages.

Air-taxi flights between Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Denali National Park are available with advance reservations and space available.