Hiking difficulty on Tour in Skagway

[Rock712]

Has anyone out there ever taken the White Pass & Glacier Station Hike out of Skagway. Description shows it to be a " moderate " difficulty hike of 4-5 hours. Just wondered if anyone has done this and their impressions on the degree of difficulty.

[Budget Queen]

Laughton Glacier hike? A lot of uneven hiking, up and over "stuff". Glacier lackluster, compared to the many others I've seen. This does require fitness, up hill a good part of the way.

 

My son and I did this several years ago, I haven't heard of any "upgrades". The prices were not in the range they are now, which I think a little excessive.

[SlyOldLady]

We did it last year, easy hike for starters. Last mile is river rock and loose footing. We enjoyed the trip and would do it again.

 

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[Normal 1]

If you are referring to the Laughton Glacier hike, I did it last September and consider it to be the best excursion we did during our 2 weeks on the Carnival Miracle (hit each port twice). I booked through the cruiseline and it was pricey but I felt totally worth it.

 

It is fairly rugged but they provided each person with a hiking pole, crampons, lunch and snacks. This was an all day excursion and we were running late getting back on the train. There were many on the train who were concerned with the lateness of the train and they were very happy to hear we (there was about 20 of us) were on a ship excursion thus, the Ship was not likely to leave without us.

 

True, it is not as fabulous as the Sawyer Glacier or Glacier bay but Laughton is still a substantial chunk of ice. The scenery along the hike is amazing and being able to hike on the glacier was pretty impressive to me.

 

I am early 50s and fairly fit. My DH has bad knees and did not go all the way up to the glacier (the last 1/2 mile or so is very rugged going).

 

Do dress in layers and have hat/gloves if you go. We were in shirt sleeves on most the hike but once on the glacier, coats/hats/gloves are very welcome.

 

The tour operators provided waist packs for the lunch/snacks.

 

Here are some pictures.

 

The white on the bottom is ice 10-15 foot deep.... we walked on this!

 

 

 

The green in the middle of the next pic is 1/2 mile or more away and is more rugged than it looks.

 

This is a pic of a crevasse from the area we walked on the glacier. Very deep and big enough to be hurt if you fell in it. Guides carry ropes just in case. we were warned to not get too close...

 

 

This is the 'face' where we got on the ice. Was about 5-7 foot deep at this point and the higher we went, the deeper the ice got....

 

 

This pic shows the vertical area (we were not allowed up on that part) as well as the side. The brown area under the green on the left side is actually ice under the brown dirt.

 

The pictures really do not capture how massive this really is. The last pic shows the loose rock. It is difficult trekking due to the unstable footing. But it was magnificient and I would repeat this excursion if I am in Skagway again.

 

Your mileage may vary. If you enjoy hiking and nature, you will enjoy this excursion.