Conquer an Alaskan mountain just outside Skagway, regardless of your previous experience! Climb a granite wall, rappel down 75 feet, and zipline through a canopy of trees, all with the encouragement of enthusiastic professionals. Their corny jokes will soothe your nerves as they guide you to heights you never thought possible.
Alaska Mountain Guides – those experts who conquer mountains the world over – have designed the perfect active excursion to get you out in Alaska’s beautiful places. You can focus just on rock climbing and rappelling, choose a zipline course that takes you platform to platform through the trees, or select the combo adventure to try it all. These activities are the perfect length to fit into your busy vacation schedule, and are especially fun for families, since kids love nothing better than to climb high and fly through the air.
Start out with a 15-minute narrated bus ride through historic downtown Skagway and along the Klondike Highway, followed by a short nature hike that leads to either the base of a granite cliff for climbing, or to the zipline adventure center. Your guides will provide a safety orientation, get you outfitted with gear, and – quite literally – show you the ropes.
Scale a granite wall
Glaciers carved this area millennia ago, leaving behind narrow valleys, rocky promontories and granite walls for you to scale in the “Klondike Rock Climbing & Rappelling” excursion. AMG’s rock climbing course is set up with 12 routes at varying levels of difficulty (rated 5.4 to 5.9), perfect for beginning to intermediate climbers. It’s a particular treat for those who have been developing their climbing skills in a gym and can finally get the granular texture of granite under their fingers.
Try one route and then climb back down and test yourself on another, all with plenty of encouragement from your patient and attentive guides. Finally, hike up to the rappel station, taking a few minutes to enjoy amazing views of the Skagway River and White Pass and Yukon Railway before you begin your 75-foot descent down a sheer cliff wall. While the first step over the edge might seem terrifying, the support and direction of your guides will help you embrace the moment to enjoy the wind in your hair, the radiating strength of the rock surface, and the feeling of being on top of the world.
Zip through a rainforest canopy
Encouragement from your guides will help even the faintest of heart experience the exhilaration of zipping through a coastal rainforest high above the ground in the “Adventure Park and Zipline” tour. After donning a harness and helmet, you’ll start off with a ropes course to get you used to the safety protocol and the feeling of being a little off balance but completely secure at the same time. Tackle three different suspension bridges, crossing along planks, Burma loops and suspended balance beams.
The zipline portion of the adventure starts off nice and easy, with a short, low-angled “baby” zip. You’ll experience the thrill of the zip, build your confidence, and be ready to tackle increasingly longer, higher zips through the trees. The five-zip course takes you from platform to platform and features lines with lengths from 100 to over 200 feet, and heights up to 70 feet off the ground.
It takes about an hour to complete the full course, with enough time in between zips to enjoy the breathtaking views around you. Be sure and rent a GoPro camera for your helmet – you’ll get to take the memory card with you. Watch it later to relive the excitement (and to hear what it sounds like when your excited screams echo through the forest!).
You can do it all
Choose the combo adventure, “Rock Climbing, Rappelling and Ziplining,” if you want to try a little of each activity. Over 4.5 exciting hours you can attempt two climbing courses, rappel down the 75-foot cliff, and complete the five-zip course from platform to platform.
About Alaska Mountain Guides
Alaska Mountain Guides is managed and run by local Alaskans who are passionate about showing off their backyard to visitors. Every single guest is like having a friend come visit, so excursions are designed around favorite recreational activities in locations that are both accessible and inspiring.
AMG Guides are friendly, accommodating, and incredibly knowledgeable, mostly because they work in remote environments around the world. Outside Alaska, AMG offers day-trips, courses, and multi-day experiences in regions of South America, Africa and Asia. Your guide might have just come from climbing Kilimanjaro, the Andes or other famous spots, so be sure to get some advice for your own next big adventure.