Guide · On the icefield

Juneau Icefield helicopter tour: from a short landing to a trek

A Juneau Icefield helicopter tour puts you on one of the glaciers that pour off a vast plateau of ice behind town. Here is what the icefield is, where the flights land and how long you can stay.

Check availabilityfrom $429 · no cancellation fee

Editorial team, juneau-helicopter-tours.comUpdated October 17, 2026read in 6 minutes27 sources

The tour this guide is about Juneau helicopter glacier landing tour 4.9 (49 reviews) 2.5 hoursAbout 25 minutes on Herbert GlacierPickup from your ship or hotel from$429per person Check availabilityFree cancellation until 3 days before start

The essentials

01The icefield: 1,500 square miles of ice, 2,000 feet above downtown Juneau.¹
02Its glaciers: 38 major glaciers flow from it, the Mendenhall among them.²
03Short landing: About 25 minutes on Herbert Glacier, 2.5 hours with pickup, from $429.
04Longer on the ice: NorthStar offers about 1 hour, 2 hours or 3 hours on the glacier.³ ⁴ ⁵
05Changing ice: Between 2005 and 2019 it lost 63 of its 1,050 glaciers.⁶

The plateau of ice behind Juneau

A visit to the Mendenhall shows you one outlet of the Juneau Icefield, not the place where the ice comes from. The source is a high plateau that lies 2,000 feet above downtown, covers 1,500 square miles and ranks as the fifth largest icefield in North America.¹ It stretches from Taku Inlet to Skagway and feeds 38 major glaciers.²

Travel Juneau estimates the icefield at around 3,000 years old.⁷ It is not a single glacier but a whole system: besides the 38 large valley glaciers there are more than 100 smaller ones, and the Taku, Eagle and Herbert glaciers are among the big neighbours of the Mendenhall.⁸

A Juneau Icefield helicopter tour is the quick way to see that system from above. Within minutes of leaving the airport the rainforest falls away, the ridges thin out and the white begins, broken by dark rock peaks. The landing that follows is on one of the outlet glaciers, where the ice is firm enough and the operator holds a permit to set down.

The icefield through time

Thousands of years, and the last few decades

About 3,000 years

The icefield forms

Travel Juneau's estimate of its age.⁷
Before 1765

The Mendenhall reaches far

Its face sat 2.5 miles farther down the valley.⁹
1999

Landings counted

The authorized level of icefield landings that year was 19,039.¹⁰
2005 to 2019

Glaciers vanish

63 of 1,050 glaciers lost, with 10% of the ice.⁶
1986 to 2024

The Mendenhall pulls back

About a mile of retreat, up to 2,000 feet thinner.¹¹

Why you have to fly

There is no road onto the icefield. Travel Juneau puts it simply: you have to fly to get there, unless you set out on foot.¹² NASA once chose the icefield as one of the places on Earth that captured the sensations of walking on the moon, and from a landing zone in the middle of all that white it is easy to see why.¹³

Flights onto the ice are permitted, not improvised. The Forest Service authorizes helicopter landing tours on the Juneau Icefield through special use permits for specified locations, and in the same review it covered dog sled tours and glacier trekking tours.¹⁴ ¹⁵ In 1999 the authorized level of landings stood at 19,039.¹⁰

The permits also reflect a concern of people who live under the flight paths. Helicopter noise over residential areas, wildlife and people on the ground was among the issues the Forest Service listed when it reviewed the tours.¹⁶ It is fair to ask an operator how it keeps noise down over town and over the trails when you book.

Time on the glacier

Hours on the ice, by type of tour

hours

NorthStar's three levels as the company states them; a landing tour gives about 25 minutes.³ ⁴ ⁵

Side by side

Ways onto the icefield

Tour	Glacier	On the ice	Effort
Landing tour sold here	Herbert	About 25 min	Easy
Dog camp and walkabout	Herbert	Camp and a walk	Easy to moderate
NorthStar walkabout	Mendenhall	About 1 hr	Moderate
NorthStar trek	Mendenhall or other	2 hrs	Strenuous
NorthStar Extended Trek	Mendenhall or other	3 hrs	Most strenuous
Floatplane, packraft and hike	Norris	Walk in micro-spikes	Strenuous

Times as the listings and operators state them; the effort column follows each description.³ ⁴ ⁵

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Three ways onto the ice

Shortest day

Glacier landing

Herbert Glacier by helicopter

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

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Juneau Dog Sledding and Helicopter Tour with Glacier Landing

Two landings

Dog camp and walk

Two landings on Herbert

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

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Juneau: Norris Adventure Seaplane, Paddle & Glacier Hike

Most active

Floatplane and packraft

Paddle to the Norris Glacier

Price: from $851
Length: 5 hrs
Group: at most 6

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Decision helper

How much icefield do you want?

Choose by time and effort

A taste of the ice on a port day An unhurried hour on the ice Crampons and an ice axe As long as possible Paddle as well as walk

Landing tour

About 25 minutes on Herbert Glacier, 2.5 hours in all.

NorthStar walkabout

About 1 hour on the Mendenhall.³

NorthStar trek

2 hours on the glacier with full gear.⁴ ¹⁷

Extended Trek

3 hours on the glacier.⁵

Floatplane and packraft

A lake by the Norris Glacier, then a glacier walk.

Apparently, NASA chose the icefield as one of the places on Earth that "captured the emotional sensations that one might encounter while walking on the moon."

Travel JuneauSource 13

A short landing: the classic flight

The simplest way to stand on the icefield is a landing tour. On the tour sold on this site, Coastal Helicopters flies about 15 minutes from the airport, across the Tongass National Forest, to Herbert Glacier, sets down for 25 minutes of photos and a guided walk, and flies 15 minutes back. With pickup and the safety briefing the outing takes 2.5 hours and starts from $429.

On the ice your pilot doubles as your guide. On a glacier like this, expect firm, gritty ice near the landing zone, pools of meltwater the color of glass, and long views up the glacier toward the plateau. Travel Juneau notes that the most intense blue in glacier ice is found in crevasses and where the ice breaks off.¹⁸ Stay where the pilot shows you; the ice changes from week to week.

If you want the same landing with more room on board, the private version keeps the helicopter for your party: 15 minutes of flying each way and 25 minutes on Herbert Glacier, from $3,140. It includes a new Nalgene bottle to fill with glacier water.

Map

From the docks to the airport to the ice

Where pickups happen downtown, where the helicopters take off and which glaciers the flights head for.

Map of Juneau from the downtown cruise docks and seaplane base to the airport and the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center — Downtown to the airport

Map of the Juneau Icefield with the Mendenhall and Herbert glaciers north of the airport and Taku Glacier Lodge to the east — The glaciers

1
Goldbelt Tram
The red Goldbelt Tram building by the downtown cruise docks, listed among the pickup points of the landing tour.
In Google Maps ↗
2
Seaplane base
Floatplane trips leave from the downtown waterfront; Wings Airways is based in the blue Merchants Wharf at the head of the harbor.¹⁹
In Google Maps ↗
3
Juneau International Airport
Where the landing tour holds its safety briefing and the helicopters lift off, about 15 minutes by van from the pickup points.
In Google Maps ↗
4
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center
The road-side view of the Mendenhall, 13 miles from downtown.²⁰
In Google Maps ↗
5
Mendenhall Glacier
TEMSCO and NorthStar land their walking tours on this glacier.²¹ ²²
In Google Maps ↗
6
Herbert Glacier
The landing tour sold on this site spends about 25 minutes on this glacier.
In Google Maps ↗
7
Taku Glacier Lodge
The floatplane flight-and-meal trip lands on the Taku River here.
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Ready for the ice

Wear

Layers for a colder glacier
Sunglasses against the glare
Closed shoes with good grip

Leave behind

Bags, backpacks and umbrellas
Drones and selfie sticks
Anything that does not fit in a pocket

Cost calculator

Your party on the icefield

Enter the number of travelers and compare the totals.

Glacier landing2.5 hrsfrom $429 Dog camp and walk3.5 hrsfrom $839 Floatplane and packraft5 hrsfrom $851 Private landing2.5 hrsfrom $3,140

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

Over the Juneau Icefield to a landing on Herbert Glacier

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Walkabout, trek and extended trek

A landing gives you a taste of the ice; a walk gives you a feel for it. NorthStar's walkabout lands at a base camp on the Mendenhall and gives you about 1 hour on the glacier, after roughly 30 minutes of flying.³ ²² It suits anyone who can walk steadily on uneven ground and wants time to look rather than rush.

The Juneau helicopter glacier trek steps up the effort. NorthStar's trek gives you 2 hours on the ice, and the guide fits you with crampons, a helmet and an ice axe before you set off.⁴ ¹⁷ Travel Juneau describes the range in one line: helicopter companies can land you on the ice for a short walk or a two-hour hike.²³

For the fittest, NorthStar's Extended Trek is its most strenuous level, with 3 hours on the glacier.⁵ NorthStar runs most of its treks on the Mendenhall, but its permits also cover the Taku, Hole-in-the-Wall, Thiel, Gilkey, Norris, Battle and Herbert glaciers, and the location depends on weather and glacier conditions.²⁴

A second landing among crevasses

Some tours combine a dog camp with a walk on bare ice. The Juneau Dog Sledding and Helicopter Tour with Glacier Landing spends about 1 hour at the dog camp on Herbert Glacier, then flies to a lower level of the glacier for a guided walkabout among moulins, crevasses and ice falls. It takes 3.5 hours, starts from $839 and takes no more than 6 guests.

Lower on a glacier the winter snow melts away and the ice shows its structure: blue ridges, deep cracks and the vertical shafts that meltwater drills into the ice. That surface is very different from the packed snow at a dog camp higher up, and a second landing lets you see both in one morning.

A wholly different route onto the ice uses a floatplane. The Norris Adventure lands on a lake fed by the Norris Glacier, continues by single-person packraft and finishes with a glacier walk in micro-spikes: 5 hours, from $851, with at least 4 guests needed to run.

An icefield in retreat

The icefield is changing fast enough to see. Between 2005 and 2019 10% of its ice melted away and 63 of 1,050 glaciers disappeared, according to NASA.⁶ Its best-known outlet, the Mendenhall, pulled back roughly a mile from 1986 to 2024 while its surface dropped by as much as 2,000 feet in some spots.¹¹

From the air, the signs are plain once you know what to look for: bare gray rock high on the valley walls where the ice used to reach, lakes where glaciers once ended, and ice tongues that stop well short of the water. The Mendenhall has been retreating since the mid-1700s, and before 1765 its face reached 2.5 miles farther down the valley.⁹

That makes a flight onto the icefield more than a thrill. It is a chance to see a landscape at a particular moment of its history, and to stand on ice that is part of a system thousands of years old. Ask your pilot or guide what has changed on their glacier in recent seasons; the people who land there every day see it close up.

Planning your day on the ice

Choose by fitness and time. A landing of about 25 minutes fits a short port day and asks little of your legs. A walkabout of about an hour suits steady walkers. A trek of 2 hours, or the extended helicopter glacier trek in Juneau with 3 hours on the ice, needs strong legs, a head for slippery ground and a full morning.⁴ ⁵

Dress for cold even in summer. NorthStar tells guests to expect a drop of 10-15°F from the cruise docks to the glacier.²⁵ Wear layers, gloves and sunglasses, and closed shoes with grip. Leave bags at home; the landing tour sold here does not allow bags, backpacks or umbrellas on board.

Plan around the weather. Travel Juneau says glacier viewing is often best on overcast days, which is good news for the view, but overcast skies also bring the flat light that pilots have to watch for.²⁶ ²⁷ Book an early flight, leave space after it, and keep a ground plan in mind for the morning the icefield stays hidden.

Book your seat

Herbert Glacier is waiting for you.

Pick your date, give your weights and cancel at no cost up to 3 days before.

See datesfrom $429 · no cancellation fee 4.9 · 49 confirmed reviews

You ask,we answer.

How big is the Juneau Icefield?

1,500 square miles. It lies 2,000 feet above downtown and is the fifth largest icefield in North America.¹

How many glaciers flow from it?

38 major glaciers. There are also more than 100 smaller valley glaciers.² ⁸

Where do the helicopters land?

On outlet glaciers. The tour sold here lands on Herbert Glacier; NorthStar mostly uses the Mendenhall.²⁴

What is a walkabout?

About an hour on the ice. NorthStar's helicopter glacier walkabout in Juneau gives about 1 hour on the glacier after roughly 30 minutes of flying.³

Do I need experience for a trek?

No, but you need fitness. The guide fits crampons, a helmet and an ice axe; the trek gives 2 hours on the ice.⁴ ¹⁷

Is the icefield shrinking?

Yes. NASA counts 63 of its 1,050 glaciers lost between 2005 and 2019.⁶

Can I get there without flying?

Only on foot. Travel Juneau says you have to fly, unless you set out on foot.¹²

Sources