Glacier City Snowmobile Tours — Local services in Alaska

My wife and I had a wonderful trip on the Blue Ice Glacier Snowmobile Tour! Huge shout out to our guide Erica!!! Neither of us had any previous experience riding snow machines before. You meet up with your guides and the other riders at a gift shop off of Seward Highway and Alyeska Highway. They provide helmets, goggles, and other gear that you do not have (gloves, winter boots, balaclava masks, etc). After everyone is geared up, you take a 15 minute drive in their van to the starting pointing. The starting point had all of the snowmobiles lined up and ready to go. The guides then go over the surprisingly simple operating instructions to use the snow machines and all of the safety guidelines. Our particular group had 8 visitors with 2 guides. We split into a group of 3 riders plus 1 guide and a group of 5 riders plus 1 guide. They have some snowmachines which have an extra back-support attached to the seat for people that wanted to pair up/people that wanted to just ride along and not drive. You then ride out 13 miles to the glacier. At the glacier, you hang out with snacks and take lots of photos. The blue-ness of the glacier is pretty surreal! The weather and snow conditions control how close to the glacier you can get. Make sure to listen to your guides! They showed us a video from previous riders who did not listen and snuck into the glacier (video taken by the riders) and who had to be rescused after ice broke and after being in the water for 45 minutes. There was 4ft of fresh snow the days before our trip so we were not able to directly touch the main glacier due to the extra weight near the pressure ridge. However, we were able to directly touch and hang out with some of the giant chunks (still larger than multiple buses combined) that separated from the main glacier. After a fun time at the glacier, you ride back to the start point and then ride back to the gift shop. The trip was a wonderful experience and the guides match your riding ability. You do need a little bit of strength to pull the handles and to shift your weight around to turn the snow machines. But again, my wife and I had no prior experience before this trip and we both felt fine operating the snow machines. The guides are extemely positive and full of energy and will make sure you have a fun time! Erica (our guide) managed to take a bunch of extra photos and videos of everyone riding and shared them at the end of the day. Overall, a must do trip if you are...

We booked the glacier tour on our vacation to Alaska this spring. Unfortunately, they weren't experiencing much snow this year and we were unable to do that tour. We went ahead and opted for the scenic tour since we were all excited to ride a snowmobile for our first time ever.

Our experience was great. We loved the snowmobiles, had a fun time on the path, had guides that made sure we were having a fun time and they even changed things up so that the slower people were able to go the speed they wanted, but everyone wasn't forced to go that slow. Our teens had an awesome time and got in some thrills on the path while checking out the great mountain views. We rode for some time, stopped for some reindeer sausage and rode briefly again before heading out. I would have liked a shorter break to eat and a little more ride time, but the reindeer sausage was tasty and we had a great day.

Like others who have been on the tour we did just go in circles on a path on some private property. (Where we live people regularly do this with four wheelers on dirt paths through the woods, so it was a similar experience with a different machine through the snow and amazing views.) We didn't really know what to expect , but we imagined we'd be going out more into the wilderness to ride, rather than just a track. That's probably unrealistic! Who knows. Even so, we would do it again and recommend it to anyone...

The tour was beautiful! And it was an amazing thing to do if you are visiting the area. But caution IF YOU GET MOTION SICKNESS ASK ABOUT TRAIL CONDITIONS I did not expect it to be smooth sailing but I also did not expect it to be THAT bumpy. The guide said it’s not always that bad .Our guide was the male guide and he was very nice and patient. If it’s your first time like it was mine , the female guide is much quicker , you may want to ask for him. I got my machine stuck and she made me feel really bad which killed any confidence I had vs the male guide saying even experienced people do it. (It was probably is super annoying I got stuck and dangerous, but the way it was handled when it was out in seconds made me feel scared and out of control, definitely a “It’s ok , we can get it out “ or something would be lovely since I’m already ashamed) But on the way back she helped me get through the part I got stuck in coming in! :) so if you are nervous , I would just ask them the help you through it the first time so you can maybe give it a try instead of being scared to get scolded . The guides were so knowledgeable, this was truly a...