| WELCOME TO THE JUNEAU TRAVEL NEWS - Summer 2004 |
Last summer I said yes to trekking on our "backyard" glacier. The 12-mile long Mendenhall Glacier is Alaska's most accessible glacier (within 4 miles of the airport). It's also a favorite outdoor recreational area for locals...you'll find plenty of Juneauites hiking, biking, dog walking and picnicking nearby.
I went with a local glacier tour operator to have an in-depth experience on what is truly, a living river of ice. The package included the helicopter ride, ice climbing lessons and equipment...courage, however, was not included. You had to bring your own!
Trust me, I had no previous climbing experience, and thankfully none was required. I also took my 13-year-old daughter for a little mother-daughter bonding. Believe me, after a full day of making our way around and over crevasses, learning to use an ice axe and how ropes and knots work...we bonded plenty (and we're still speaking).
The glacier is amazingly stable so those mental images of crevasses suddenly gaping open underneath your feet don't apply here...and the surface of the glacier is like walking on a bed of rounded ice cubes, not the hard, glassy sheet of ice you might expect.
In a word, EXHILARATING and highly recommended!
Situated between the Juneau Icefield, Tracy Arm Fjord, and Glacier Bay National Park (which just happens to be a short flight or boat ride away), Juneau offers plenty of opportunities to enjoy glaciers from the land, sea or air...from flightseeing to trekking to dogsledding, there are options suited to everyone's interests.
If you are ready to say "yes" to an adventure, here's a list of Juneau's glacier tour operators:
Coastal Helicopters
Northstar Trekking
ERA Helicopters
Temsco Helicopters
Wings Airways/Taku Glacier Lodge
Keep trekking!
Lorene Palmer
President/CEO
Juneau Convention & Visitors Bureau
Read Summer 2004 Issue
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| Issue Archives |
SUMMER 2004
contents:
Independence Day,
the Independent Way
Glacier Touring Is Out
Of This World
July 4, 1898 --
Early Juneau Celebrates
SPRING 2004
contents:
Melding Musical Methods
Fish On At The Derby
Fish Wheels Spin Through
Time
WINTER 2003
contents:
Winter Arts Hit Full Bloom
Snow Sports Soar at Eaglecrest
Doing The Iceworm Wiggle
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