McKinley flight - Summit vs Landing

[gottagetout]

My DH and I will be in Denali at the end of August. Our cruisetour stops in Denali first for two nights and then Talkeetna for a night. We definitely want to fly to see Mt. McKinley. What trip is better? We like the idea of the summit flight where we would fly over McKinley, but the Grand Tour with the landing sounds incredible as well. We will be doing the X-Trek in Juneau, so we will have a lot of glacier time. I am sure the scenery would be quite different though. I am also thinking of if the x-trek got cancelled due to weather we would still have a glacier landing when we are at McKinley.

SO many questions!!! Please help! Thanks.

[Budget Queen]

I have done both and my clear prefernce is a summit flight. Be aware on a ski plane glacier landing, it is just about all snow, no ice, and sometimes too far of a walk to get to some. The experience of flying in a ski plane can be exciting, depends what your priority and experience is???

 

 

You do need to book either of these flights IN ADVANCE.

[gottagetout]

Thanks for the reply! What gives the summit flight the edge for you? Also, any difference between taking it out of Talkeetna or Denali? We will have 2 nights in Denali before Talkeetna and thought we would book in Denali with hopes of rebooking in Talkeetna if it is cancelled in Denali due to weather. I know it is more expensive out of Denali, but I would hate to miss it if we waited until Talkeetna and got bad weather there.

[NancyIL]

Thanks for the reply! What gives the summit flight the edge for you? Also, any difference between taking it out of Talkeetna or Denali? We will have 2 nights in Denali before Talkeetna and thought we would book in Denali with hopes of rebooking in Talkeetna if it is cancelled in Denali due to weather. I know it is more expensive out of Denali, but I would hate to miss it if we waited until Talkeetna and got bad weather there.

 

I believe you're actually farther from Mt. McKinley when leaving from Denali rather than from Talkeetna - which would explain the higher price.

[Budget Queen]

Having a full summit view from the top, is spectacular!!!! I have not flown out of Denali Park.