Mendenhall Glacier Question

[mciverjm]

Looking into booking a Whale Watching/ Mendenhall Glacier excursion when we are in Juneau my question is when i search mendenhall glacier i keep seeing photos of these incredible ice caves, will we get to walk in those on the regular tour or do you have to take a special tour to see those.

 

THANKS

[pklein9747]

You should post this on the Port of Call - Alaska board. You will get responses from many people who have traveled to Alaska and Juneau.

[schlogee]

I don't know much about Mendenhall but we went on this independent whale watching tour and loved it! Found them on Trip Advisor. http://www.harvandmarvs.com/alaskawhalewatching.html

[Loonbeam]

Most of those require small group tours, not the big bus tours. As noted, the AK forum will give you more specifics. The big ice caves themselves require a kayak, experienced guide and some climbing, so it also depends on which ones you mean.

 

It's also incredibly dangerous. Apparently, part of one of the most popular caves collapsed in July - http://www.adn.com/article/20140718/popular-mendenhall-glacier-ice-cave-collapses. The article also tells you what it takes to get there.

 

We did the helicopter landing (which is a regular, if pricey ship excursion) - small ice caves are constantly forming and vanishing as the glaciers shift. This is us hiking into one in 2009:

 

 

It was only big enough for one of us at a time to go in and turn around then come out. You never know what you will find on the ice, it changes weekly.

Looking into booking a Whale Watching/ Mendenhall Glacier excursion when we are in Juneau my question is when i search mendenhall glacier i keep seeing photos of these incredible ice caves, will we get to walk in those on the regular tour or do you have to take a special tour to see those.

 

THANKS

[ar1950]

If there is an excursion that is a "canoe" trip to the Mendenhall Glacier, my answer is don't bother. Too much work, not worth how close you can get, take one of the other tours. I don't know if the tour that we took is still available, but, ours wasn't worth it. It is a neat spot, but, we have since found out that there were better ways to see it. Not saying that it wasn't fun, just see almost as much, or more, with other tours. :cool:

Edited January 8, 2015 by ar1950

[dickinson]

We took a bus over to Mendenhall glacier. No caves that I was aware of. You walked down a trail to get up close to see the glacier. There is also a visitor center near the parking lot which gives lots of info about glaciers. We were then picked up to go to a whale watch tour with Harv and Marv's.

[geoherb]

We booked a kayaking excursion independently a couple of years ago. It would have been better if we had had better weather. Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing a different view of the glacier. We did not get as close as we could have safely gotten.

[SlyOldLady]

No, you will not see the ice caves on any ship sponsored excursion. This is too bad but understandable. We have wanted to explore the caves for years, they can be found on the opposite side of the lake from the visitor station and are dissappearing quickly. Seeing how fast the glacier is receading we hired an independent tour company during a september cruise last year to take us. An awesome experience but not easy for us old people. 9miles often scrambling and climbing. Having said that the 20 and 30 somethings in the group didn't even break a sweat. Lol. It was simply spectacular and I would recommend to anyone younger than me...

 

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[furb]

We've been to Mendenhall Glacier several times and are always amazed at the change from visit to visit.

 

One of the cable stations is currently playing The Love Boat on Thursdays, and during one show they had cast out there at Mendenhall; we were astounded at where the glacier was in the early 80's compared to our recent trips.

[LeeW]

If you just want to go to the Mendenhall Glacier, there are at least five companies that run busses there from the base of the tram for around $8 roundtrip. We found that after a whale watching tour (Orca Enterprises) we didn't have that much time to visit the glacier on either trip - just a quick up and back with an hour or so to walk around up there.

[Merlinite]

our helicopter landed twice. at an ice cave and again at an abyss. no entering the cave as they calf a lot and it's considered dangerous :eek:

[iceleven]

Harv&Marv whale-watching tour (absolutely great) is a small boat holding approx. 6 passengers and you get real close to the whales. They will drop you off at the Mendenhall glacier if you want, or they will bring you back to the ship (in town). No added costs. There is the Blue Bus at the glacier that will take you back to town. It's about $8. You must keep an eye on the time at the glacier as the bus will take about 30+minutes (more if there is traffic) from the glacier. You will not have time to take any extended hike.