Guide · Dogs on the ice

Juneau helicopter and dog sledding: a summer camp on a glacier

Juneau helicopter and dog sledding tours fly you to a camp of huskies on the icefield in the middle of summer. Here is where the camps are, how long you spend with the dogs and what the options cost.

Check availabilityfrom $429 · no cancellation fee

Editorial team, juneau-helicopter-tours.comUpdated October 17, 2026read in 6 minutes15 sources

The tour this guide is about Juneau Dog Sledding and Helicopter Tour 4.7 (17 reviews) 3 hours from$709per person Check availabilityFree cancellation until 3 days before start

In brief

01The basic flight: Dog sledding on Herbert Glacier by helicopter, 3 hours in all, from $709.
02With a glacier walk: A second landing for a walk lower on the glacier, 3.5 hours, from $839, at most 6 guests.
03Time at camp: About 1 hour at the dog camp on both tours.
04On the Mendenhall: TEMSCO runs its own camp on the Mendenhall, booked direct.¹
05Cancelling: Both helicopter listings allow free cancellation up to 3 days ahead.

Huskies on a glacier in July

Snow in Juneau town is a winter story, but up on the icefield it lies all summer, and a few operators keep sled dog teams there through the cruise season. A helicopter is the only practical way in. You lift off near the airport, cross the forest and the first ridges, and land beside a camp of kennels, sleds and very excited dogs. It is a helicopter flight and a dog sled run in a single morning, with a glacier as the venue.

Travel Juneau describes the glacier tours as a helicopter flight with a landing, gear and a guide, and notes that you can extend them to include dog sledding.² The Forest Service, which permits commercial use of the icefield, reviewed dog sled mushing tours alongside the helicopter landings when it set the rules for the area.³ Coastal Helicopters, for one, says it operates under a Forest Service special use permit on the Tongass National Forest.⁴

The operators describe a visit along similar lines: a welcome at the camp, the mushers explaining how the dogs live and work, then a run on the sled, and on the tours sold here a chance to trade seats along the trail. After that comes time with the dogs, photos, and the flight back. What differs from one tour to the next is the glacier, the length of the stay and whether you get a second landing to walk on bare ice.

The morning, in order

From the dock to the dog camp

Pickup

Van to the heliport

Pickup is included on both helicopter listings.
Flight in

Over the forest

Coastal Helicopters describes a 15 minute flight to its camp on Herbert Glacier.⁵
Dog camp

Meet the team

About 1 hour at the camp, with a ride behind a racing team.
Optional

Second landing

The longer tour flies on to a lower level of the glacier for a walkabout.
Back

Flight and drive

Transport and preparation add about 1.5 hours to the flying time.

The Herbert Glacier dog camp flight

The Juneau Dog Sledding and Helicopter Tour flies to a dog camp on Herbert Glacier. The whole outing takes 3 hours with pickup and the drive back, it starts from $709 and it is rated 4.65 from 17 reviews. The listing breaks the time down: about 1.5 hours from lift-off to landing, and about 1.5 hours more for transport and preparation.

At the camp you spend about 1 hour, including a ride on a sled behind a racing dog team. Pickup is included, the guide speaks English, and you can cancel for free up to 3 days before the flight. The listing adds a surcharge of $150 for heavier passengers; check the weight band at booking.

Coastal Helicopters, which flies to a summer dog camp on the Herbert Glacier, describes a 15 minute flight and 1 hour at camp, and says its sledding is run by a third company, Alaska Icefield Expeditions.⁵ ⁶ On those flights, then, the musher who greets you at the camp works for a different company from the pilot who flew you there, and questions about the dogs are best kept for the camp.

Time from pickup to drop-off

How long each flight takes, in hours

hours

Total length in each GetYourGuide listing, transfers included.

Four dog sled flights

Dog sled flights from Juneau side by side

Tour	Glacier	Time or distance	Booked
Dog camp flight	Herbert	About 1 hr	GetYourGuide
Dog camp and glacier walk	Herbert	About 1 hr	GetYourGuide
TEMSCO dog sledding	Mendenhall	1 hr	Direct
NorthStar dog sled trek	Norris	About 1 mile of mushing	Direct

Camp time or mushing distance as the listings and operators state them.¹ ⁷ ⁸

Pick your flight

Dogs, dogs and ice, or ice alone

The classic

Dog camp flight

Herbert Glacier camp

Price: from $709
Length: 3 hrs
Rating: 4.65

See dates

Juneau Dog Sledding and Helicopter Tour with Glacier Landing

Small group

Dog camp and walk

Second landing lower down

Price: from $839
Length: 3.5 hrs
Group: at most 6

See dates

Lower price

Glacier landing

No dogs, a walk on the ice

Price: from $429
Length: 2.5 hrs
Rating: 4.90

See dates

Decision helper

Which dog camp flight fits your day?

Start from what you want most

The dogs, at the lowest price Dogs and a walk on blue ice A small group It must be the Mendenhall The ice, without dogs

Dog camp flight

About 1 hour at the Herbert Glacier camp, from $709.

Dog camp and walk

A second landing for a guided walkabout lower on the glacier.

Dog camp and walk

Limited to 6 participants.

TEMSCO, booked direct

Its camp is on the Mendenhall Glacier.¹

Glacier landing

About 25 minutes on Herbert Glacier, from $429.

The tours include the helicopter flight with a glacier landing, appropriate gear, and a guide. You can also expand your Juneau glacier tour to include dog sledding.

Travel JuneauSource 2

Adding a walk on bare ice

The longer version, the Juneau Dog Sledding and Helicopter Tour with Glacier Landing, keeps the dog camp and adds a second stop. After about 1 hour at the camp on Herbert Glacier, a second flight takes you to a lower level of the glacier for a guided walkabout among moulins, crevasses and ice falls. Down there the snow gives way to bare blue ice, a very different surface from the camp's packed snow.

It takes 3.5 hours in all, starts from $839 and is limited to 6 guests, so the group at the camp and on the ice stays small. Its 5.00 rating comes from 7 reviews, too few to compare fairly with longer-running listings, and it is worth reading them rather than trusting the score alone.

The listing spells out the weight bands: a Plus Seat costs $150 extra for passengers of 118 kg to 136 kg, and from 137 kg a Premium seat reserves a second seat. About 2 hours of the outing pass between lift-off and the final landing, with about 1.5 hours more for transport and preparation. If your group mixes keen walkers with people who only want the dogs, this is the tour that serves both.

Checklist

Packing for a dog camp on the ice

Wear

Warm layers you can open and close
Gloves that work a phone or camera
Sunglasses for the snow
Sturdy, closed shoes

Check when booking

Each guest's dressed weight and the seat bands
Free cancellation up to 3 days ahead
Group size on the tour you pick

Cost calculator

The family on the ice

Add everyone who is flying and compare the totals.

Glacier landing2.5 hrsfrom $429 Dog camp flight3 hrsfrom $709 Dog camp and walk3.5 hrsfrom $839

People 2

Total from$858

pp from $429

Check availabilityfree cancellation

GetYourGuide from-prices, converted with the ECB reference rate. The exact figure comes at checkout.

Video

A helicopter flight and a dog sled ride on a Juneau glacier

The video starts loading once you tap play.

Dog sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier and the Norris

If the glacier itself matters, two other operators run their camps elsewhere, and both are booked on their own websites. TEMSCO Helicopters flies to a dog camp for dog sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier: about 30 minutes of helicopter time and 1 hour at the camp, of which roughly 20 to 25 minutes are spent mushing.¹ TEMSCO decides about weather close to departure and refunds in full if the flight cannot go.⁹

NorthStar runs all of its dog sledding on the Norris Glacier, at a camp about 35 km outside Juneau that can only be reached by helicopter.¹⁰ Its guides lead a mush of about 1 mile across the snow, and the trip is booked on NorthStar's own website.⁸ A camp that far out means more time in the air over the icefield than on the short hops to the glaciers nearest town.

Those direct bookings come with their own cancellation and weight rules, and they differ from the GetYourGuide listings on this page. Compare like with like: total time from pickup to drop-off, the minutes of actual mushing, the group size and what happens to your money if the helicopters stay on the ground.

Weather, season and what to wear

The camps are a summer affair. The Forest Service expected most icefield tour use between May and September each year.¹¹ Snow on the glaciers changes through the season, and the camps close when the operators decide conditions no longer suit the dogs. If you travel late in the summer, check that the camp is still running before you plan a port day around it.

Even in June, downtown Juneau averages a daily high of 16.8 °C, and the glacier is colder than the dock.¹² NorthStar tells its guests to expect a drop of 10-15°F from sea level to the ice.¹³ Wear warm layers, gloves you can handle a camera in, sunglasses and sturdy shoes. Some operators hand out boots or overboots, but check what your tour provides rather than assuming.

Rain in town does not always mean a grounded flight, and a clear sky in town does not guarantee one either. Coastal Helicopters says many of its tours fly in the rain.¹⁴ Flat light, when cloud hides the shape of the snow, is the real problem for pilots near a camp, and the FAA notes that it usually comes with overcast skies.¹⁵

Which dog sled flight to book

For most people the choice comes down to two things: whether you want the extra glacier walk, and whether the small group is worth the difference in price. The basic Herbert Glacier flight gives you the dogs and the camp for less money. The longer tour adds the bare-ice walk and caps the group at 6, at a price from $839.

If the dogs are not the main reason for the trip, the plain glacier landing may be the better buy. It takes 2.5 hours, starts from $429 and gives you about 25 minutes on Herbert Glacier for a walk with your pilot. You see the same icefield from the air for a little more than half the price of the basic dog sled flight.

Book as early as your plans allow, especially for the small-group tour. Leave a margin before your ship sails, read the cancellation terms, and keep a ground plan in your pocket. Juneau has plenty to do if the camp is closed by cloud, and a whale watching trip or the Mendenhall visitor center will still fill the morning.

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