McKinley Glacier Landing by airplane

[bearsmom24]

We will be in Denail Natl Park for 2 nights/3 days at the end of May. We are interested in the McKinley Glacier Landing Flightseeing Tour by airplane (through HAL on land tour portion of cruise). Of the time we are there, the tour is offered the first 2 nights at at 5:30p and the last day at 7:45a and 11:15a. Any thoughts on this trip - also - which time slot is better? Will the clarity of the mountain, etc be better first thing in the am or would later in the evening be better? If we are going to pay out the nose for this trip, we want to make every effort to try and plan correctly. We do know that we cannot predict the weather, but usually when is the better/clearer time to go?

 

thanks in advance for any advice/recomendations!

[kenish]

I'm not sure this is an option for you, but I recommend booking your own flightseeing using one of the independent operators out of Talkeetna. They are interested in having satisfied customers, not just collecting your money. We used Talkeetna Air Taxi but they all get good reviews here on CC. When we arrived they suggested we cancel; it was safe to fly but visibility was poor and they said we'd be disappointed but left it up to us. We rescheduled for 2 days later and then it was a definite no-go due to weather. :mad: When I called ahead and they informed me about the cancellation, they had already credited back my deposit. A class act and I intend to use them on a future trip.

 

If your itenerary doesn't allow for this, I'd recommend the 11:15am although it's a crapshoot. I'm a pilot and that's when weather around high terrain tends to be the best. Arctic air blows across the Gulf of Alaska from Siberia...Denali is the first tall object in the way. You get the picture. We were at least lucky to see Denali from the ground on our shuttle bus trip; only 20-30% of visitors see the mountain.

[Nancyquilts]

I vote with Kenish. Wait and see what the weather is rather than take a scheduled tour.

[tetleytea]

only 20-30% of visitors see the mountain.

 

That mountain looks like a thing from Mars. It's surreal.

[Budget Queen]

You indicate you are looking at a glacier landing flightseeing. This would be via ski plane or helicopter??? For clarification, neither will guarantee the full viewing of Mt. McKinley, since the top can be clouded over. My clear preference for McKinley is always the summit flights. flying over the top. I've done them all, and the ski plane is OK for the ski plane experience- but is all snow and nothing, that I got too excited over. Far superior for landings are glacier helicopter landings on ice.

 

Do your homework and understand the differences of aircraft and routes, they are significant.

 

I do disagree, however to wait until there for booking. These flights are VERY limited in availablity. You will be canceled if conditions are not favorable, and then have the ability for rebooking possible.

 

I have flown in all timeframes- didn't make one bit of difference on weather predictability. One trip had 4 successive cancelations over 2 days, in all the timeframes.

[styxscottii]

Not up here on a cruise, just business but I used Candice at Salmon Berry Tours reservations@salmonberrytours.com to arrange my tours here in Anchorage. She was very good getting the details worked out. She has several tours of Denali available that I'm sure you could book through her and save over the ships tours.

 

Scott