The Best Alaska Helicopter Tour: Alpine Air- A Trip of a Lifetime
Have you been to Alaska before? The LAST FRONTIER. The land of the dancing sky (the northern lights). If you haven’t, you’re making a good choice by looking into it. If you’ve visited and are looking for something new to do, you’re also in the right spot. Alaska Helicopter Tours are the BEST way to apprecate the granduer of the landscape. Let me take you through the experience!
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HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT OUT OF YOUR ADVENTURE!
WHICH ALASKA HELICOPTER TOURS TO TAKE?
There are MANY Alaska Helicopter Tours around the Anchorage area, both helicopter and bush planes. All tours and companies will have their special features, pros and cons. I specifically came across Alpine Air Alaska by their social media page- many other companies don’t have one. Can you blame me? I lke to SEE what I can experience before I do it. They also have the BEST REVIEWS. INITALLY, I didn’t ike the fact that this company runs out of Girdwood, 45 minutes from Acnhorage wile the rest do run our of Anchorage. UNTIL I realized how STUNNING the drive to Girdwood is, and how I could make the experience into a weekend trip.
WE CHOSE ALPINE AIR ALASKA OUT OF GIRDWOOD, 45 MINUTES FROM ANCHORAGE.
WHAT TOUR SHOULD YOU DO?
Now that you’ve decided to take an Alaska Helicopter Tours with Alpine Air Alaska, you need to pick a tour option. You can choose to keep the price low with a 30 minute flightseeing tour (without landing). The views are stunning, so if this is what you can afford- it’s worth it! You can also do a 60 minutes tour with ONE LANDING on a GLACIER, or a 90 minute tour with TWO LANDINGS, on a GLACIER and A MOUNTAIN CLIFF. You may also choose to fly to the Prince William Sound. One thing I love about Alpine Air Alaska is that they do tours year-round (weather deending). Other companies only fly for summer.
If you are feeling more adventurous, you can do an adventure too. They can drop you off and pick you up to hike or pack-raft in the backcountry. You can also do weddings, elopements, or photography with them. In the summer, you can helicopter to a dog camp and participate in dog sledding.
ALPINE AIR ALASKA HELICOPTER TOURS
GETTING ON THE HELICOPTER
Alpine Air Alaska makes your Alaska Helicopter Tours adventure EASY! You only have to show up 15 minutes before take off, to get weighed and go through a short safety briefing which guides you on how to be kind to the helicopter! After that, we met our pilot who was SO NICE! We just chatted about life the whole time, and he showed us so many cool features in the landscape.
He told us taking off feels like a magic carpet ride, and he was right! This was our FIRST HELICOPTER RIDE, so it was all new to us. It’s so cool how they work. The Girdwood valley floor sits at about 100 feet above sea level, and we quickly climbed THOUSANDS OF FEET.
WHAT TO BRING ON YOUR ALASKA HELICOPTER TOURS?
You don’t need much- which is great! Here’s what I brought!
WATER BOTTLE!
Camera Gear
Women’s Long Blue Jacket (REI Stormhenge Down Parks)
Women’s Snow Boots (Sorel ONA Rmx Glacier Boot)
Women’s Hat (The North Face Salty Bae Lined Hat)
Women’s Dark Blue Leggings (Beyond Yoga Space Dye Pants)
GLACIER LANDING
After about 20 minutes of flying through epic mountains, we hovered over and landed on a glacier. Before landing, our pilot circled over brand new ice bergs and then landed on the glacier. I couldn’t believe it. We were sitting on hundreds of feet of ICE. Our pilot was helpful on keeping us safe and provided spikes for our shoes. If you visit a glacier in summer, you may see rusing blue water running THROUGH the glacier. We got to stay here for 15 minutes. I originally only chose this landing, but had to extend the trip because I was having so much fun!
Clothing Pictured:
Women’s Long Blue Jacket (REI Stormhenge Down Parks)
Women’s Snow Boots (Sorel ONA Rmx Glacier Boot)
Women’s Hat (The North Face Salty Bae Lined Hat)
Women’s Dark Blue Leggings (Beyond Yoga Space Dye Pants)
MOUNTAIN RIDGE LANDING
After we hopped back in the heli from the glacier, we flew another 10 or so minutes into the mountains. We were 4,000-5,000 feet above the valley floor- it was insane! This part was up to us on where we wanted to land, but we let our pilot decide! He chose a spot already used by another heli. It was CRAZY that you can just land on a mountain ride to me. The views were STUNNING. This was my favorite part of our Alaska Helicopter Tour.
Clothing Pictured:
Women’s Long Blue Jacket (REI Stormhenge Down Parks)
Women’s Snow Boots (Sorel ONA Rmx Glacier Boot)
Women’s Hat (The North Face Salty Bae Lined Hat)
Women’s Dark Blue Leggings (Beyond Yoga Space Dye Pants)
CHECK OUT MY INSTAGRAM POST FOR MORE PHOTOS OF ALASKA HELICOPTER TOURS
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR ALASKA HELICOPTER TOUR
This adventure was 100000% worth it. My experience with Alpine Air Alaska was 10/10. The pilot was amazing, the process was quick (leading up to the flight), the location was stunning, and I felt so safe.
CURIOUS ABOUT OTHER WINTER DESTINATIONS?
I love me a good winter vacation! Here’s a few options for you.
Colorado: 4-Day Itinerary from Colorado Springs to RMNP
Canada: Magical 6-Day Winter Banff Itinerary
Utah: Visit Zion in Winter
