Anchorage: Knik Glacier Helicopter and Ice Climbing Tour

About This Experience

Ice climbing on Knik Glacier, reached by helicopter, with no previous experience required. You meet your guide at Knik River Lodge, fly over the glacier, and land beside features that would take most of a day to walk to — frozen waterfalls, crevasse walls and seracs, all a short distance from where the helicopter puts you down.

You get up to four hours on the ice with an instructor — two of them in winter — and all the climbing equipment is provided: boots, crampons, axes, harness, helmet and ropes. The difficulty is yours to set. Guides will find something gentle and confidence-building or something steep, and most groups do both across an afternoon.

In winter the tour adds glacier ice cave exploration, which is only possible once meltwater channels have frozen solid and the surface is stable. That makes this one of the few tours on the site with a genuinely better winter version rather than a reduced one.

Lunch is included and eaten on the glacier — beside it in winter. Bring warm and waterproof clothing: the operator provides the technical gear but not the layers, and standing around on ice between climbs is where people get cold.

Highlights

• Up to four hours climbing on Knik Glacier with a professional instructor
• No ice-climbing experience needed — difficulty set to suit you
• All technical equipment provided: axes, crampons, harness, helmet and ropes
• Glacier ice cave exploration in winter, when the meltwater channels have frozen solid
• Helicopter access to features that would take most of a day to reach on foot

What's Included

• ✓ Round-trip helicopter flight from Knik River Lodge
• ✓ Guided ice climbing with an instructor — two instructors in winter
• ✓ All climbing equipment
• ✓ Glacier ice cave exploration (winter only)
• ✓ Lunch

Not Included

• Warm and waterproof clothing
• Hotel pickup and drop-off from Anchorage
• Gratuities

What to Bring

• Warm, waterproof outer layers — these are not provided
• Gloves, ideally two pairs
• A hat and sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Sturdy hiking shoes for the walk-in

Good to Know & Caveats

• A moderate level of fitness is required, but no ice-climbing experience is necessary.
• Winter departures add ice cave exploration and carry a second instructor.
• Warm and waterproof clothing is explicitly not included — bring your own layers.
• Alaskan weather changes fast and you should be prepared for cold wind and rain.
• Weapons, sharp objects, alcohol and drugs are not permitted.

Meeting Point

Knik River Lodge, Palmer