Landing on a glacier below Denali
The plane slides to a stop on the snow and the engine goes quiet. For a while the loudest thing around is your own boots. Guests mention the glacier landing in their reviews more than any other part of a Denali flight. It also costs extra and depends on the snow as much as the sky.
What happens on the snow
The planes wear skis, and the pilot sets down on a smooth stretch of glacier high in the Alaska Range, several thousand feet above Talkeetna. Before touching down, the pilot may skim the landing spot once or twice to pack the snow with the skis; one K2 guest described these touch-and-go passes in a review. Then the plane slows to a stop and the door opens.
You get about 20–30 minutes on the glacier. The operators hand out over-boots that pull on over your own shoes, and you will want them, because fresh snow can reach your knees. Most people stamp out a few steps from the plane for photos, then go quiet and look up at the walls of rock and ice around them. The air is cold even in midsummer and the glare off the snow is fierce, so bring sunglasses; K2 lends them. What to wear has the layers that make the half hour comfortable.
Which flights include a landing
Only one of the five Talkeetna flights on our site has the landing in its price. K2's Denali flight tour with glacier landing from ~$544 flies past the south face of Denali and through the Great Gorge, then finishes on the snow, 105 minutes from take-off to touchdown back in town. On the other four it works like this.
- Southside Explorer, TAT. From ~$351 for the one-hour flight; with the landing it becomes a 1.5-hour trip;
- Mountain Voyager, TAT. From ~$469 for 75 minutes; 105 minutes with the landing;
- Grand Denali, TAT, our pick. From ~$586 for 90 minutes; a 2-hour outing with the landing;
- Guided Tour by Air, K2. From ~$335; the three options on this listing are flights, and K2 sells landings separately at $135 on its own price list.
The TAT "from" prices are for the flight alone. You choose the landing as an option when you book.
What it costs
TAT's own price list puts a landing at $125 on top of the flight in summer and at $150 in winter. On the Grand Denali that turns $430 into $555 in summer, and $500 into $650 in winter. K2 adds $135 to its flights. TAT passengers aged 16 and older also need a National Park pass for the landing, a $15 pass per person that is valid for 7 days and has to be bought online beforehand. Buy it the evening you book so it is not forgotten. Our price guide sets every flight and surcharge side by side.
Snow in the price, ~$544
K2's small-group flight has the landing built in, along with glacier over-boots and loaner sunglasses for the glare.
Making the most of the half hour
Thirty minutes passes faster than you expect. Keep your phone or camera in a pocket you can reach with gloves on, and walk a little way from the plane so it sits small in the frame against the peaks. Stay inside the area the pilot points out, since a glacier is moving ice and the pilot knows where the surface is firm. Then put the camera away for a few minutes. The silence on the glacier is hard to photograph and easy to miss if you spend the whole stop behind a screen.
When the flight goes but the landing does not
A clear sky over the range does not guarantee a landing. Pilots judge the surface as well as the clouds, and soft new snow or flat light that hides the shape of the glacier can rule it out on a day when the flight itself goes ahead. Cloud can also sit on the landing area while the route stays open. The pilot makes that call in the air, and nobody argues with it.
If you fly without landing, TAT adjusts the price to the actual flight time and to whether a landing happened, so you pay for what you got. With K2, ask how a skipped landing is handled when you book. Late in the season conditions change from day to day. One group in late September waited out the weather and landed in about 12 inches of fresh snow, while another lost its first day to cloud and flew the next. Weather and cancellations covers the refund rules in full.
Who should skip it
- Travelers watching the budget. The landing adds $125 to $150 on TAT's list, before the park pass. TAT's winter list puts a Mountain Voyager plus landing at $550, more than a Grand Denali flight without one at $500;
- Anyone who struggles in deep snow. Climbing down from a small plane into knee-deep powder takes some balance. K2 welcomes guests with limited mobility, with assistance, but the snow is the same for everyone;
- Travelers short on time. The landing adds 30 minutes on a TAT flight, which matters on a train day or with a lodge shuttle to catch. Our cruise guide works through the timing;
- Some nervous flyers. A landing means an extra descent and a take-off from snow. Some anxious guests find the break on solid ground calming, others prefer one smooth flight. Our guide for nervous flyers helps you decide.
Who should book it
Nearly everyone else. Several reviews of our pick urge readers to add the landing, and the pictures from the snow, with the plane tiny against a wall of granite, tend to be the ones that end up on the fridge. If you go for it, pair it with a flight long enough that the landing is not the only highlight. Which flight to choose compares the four routes, and our photo guide has tips for shooting on the glacier in bright snow.