Glacier Trekking Question

[Snowshooz]

Hi All..

We are going to Alaska July 3- 16 ( doing the Kenai Land Tour first)

We are planning our shore excursions now and would like any info at all

on specifically the Glacier Hiking/Trekking out of Juneau..

I am trying to look at ALL options, other that the trips exclusively booked

from Princess...I have found some information on> NORTHSTAR TREKKING<

 

Has anyone used this company for a Glacier Helicoper Hike? They seem a little less expensive but seem to provide the same service?

 

HOW STRENOUS are these hikes? My husband and I are used to hiking in the mountains...ANY INFO at all will be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks! Snowshooz :)

[Budget Queen]

Northstar is a LONG established Juneau company that gets consistant raves.

[jimiam]

sorry but I don't have any first hand experience. I did a lot of research on glacier tours and I finally settled on North star. I am booked at the end of may and I was able to book along with whale watching with Captain larry. Orca enterprises made arrangements for both tours.

[jrask]

Actually, last year, Princess used Northstar for this excursion. (If you compared the names of the Princess excursions to the names of Northstar's trips you will find they were (are?) the same and the same holds when you compare the pictures on Northstar's web site to the pictures in the Princess excursion brochure. In any event, Northstar is the company that you ultimately want to hike with.)

 

This was our best excursion (and we had great excursions overall) and its the one that gets the most jaw dropping from those who see our pictures (and we have pictures of us ocean kayaking, Mt. McKinnley clear, bears, caribou, whales breaching, and dall sheep walking a few feet from us). If you do hiking, you won't find this strenuous. The first level is a glacier walk which is not strenuous at all...and also far less interesting. The second level "glacier trek" is what we did. I rate it as far less strenuous than most other hiking I've done (a fair amount but nothing crazy) .... your adrenaline is high and your kept cool by the temp. They have a short tutorial on how to use the ice axe (walking stick with multiple uses for more advanced) and crampons (spikes on your boots) to walk uphill/downhill/etc. From there, the group explores ice formations, waterfalls and streams, 200+ foot deep holes wide enough for you to climb down with the most amazing deep electric blue color, etc. The glacier always changes, so you never know what you get. The guides take you 1-by-1 for any type of real grade, so you have breaks in your hiking that let you take pictures and never get tired. I've heard of some folks with smaller groups who ended up having shorter breaks, but didn't report anything different in the feeling. In some spots, the guides even used their ice axe to make steps so that it was even easier to walk up/down. [Often not necessary but they get upset when you don't use them.] The X-hike goes longer and takes you to some areas that are more interesting and challenging. Our guides pushed us a little because amazing stuff was in sight ... they claimed it was a stuff that is normally saved for the x-trek and it was a breeze. X also adds an ice wall climb. My legs are normally sore from hiking, but I felt no pain from this hike.

 

The guides are great and the people at base camp were incredibly friendly...chit-chatting, making sure we didn't leave without getting a map of the Juneau icefields with our route traced on it, etc.