NorthStar Helicopters (NorthStar Trekking) - Juneau, Alaska

Alix Richter

What an amazing experience!! Worth every penny!! Our guide Aristotle was awesome. He took us into some beautiful crevasses and took pictures for us. He made sure we had the best experiences within our skill set. He showed us how to use the crampons in the ice and spotted us on the steeper climbers to make sure we were safe. Very professional. You could see that he really had a passion for his job. He truly went above and beyond. While on our trek we came across Owen digging into the ice to make an easier path for us. Both Aristotle and Owen made a safe pass for us to a beautiful waterfall for some amazing pictures! Aristotle also took us to an amazing crevasse against the mountain and then dug out an huge rock to throw down it so we could hear how deep it was! Absolute best tour in Juneau!! All the staff is fun and enthusiastic making it such a fun tour from start to finish!

Rikki Nawotka

Had a fantastic experience start to finish at NorthStar. From the van driver, to the helicopter pilot, to the guides on the trek- all friendly, professional & knowledgeable. The helicopter ride was smooth and so scenic. The guided trek was fun, always felt safe and got to adventure a bit. Overall, loved!!

Jasmine leoncini

Had such an incredible time on this tour! Everything ran very smoothly and everything was exactly as listed and pictured. They also have a beautiful and clean facility for you to use the bathroom and change before and after your tour. The tour guides and pilot of the helicopter were amazing. Everyone working in their building was very friendly and welcoming! Great experience!

Chris Gates

Really exciting excursion. The whole team was so excited about what they were doing it made for a great afternoon. The trek on the glacier was not only fun it was very informative. I highly recommend. Just make sure that you take advantage of all of the cold gear that is offered. It really helped.

Andrea DeBusschere

Hands down the best excursion we did in Alaska. It’s a once in a lifetime experience! Our guides went out of their way to make sure our kids (14 and 12) had an incredible time on the Glacier Trek. We can’t recommend this experience enough. Thank you NorthStar!

david mcdaniel

This is one of those things that you just need to do. Took a trekking tour in June 2024 as an excursion from a cruise. It was myself, my wife, and 2 of our kids (15F) & (13M).

One thing that I did not realize was the sheer size of the glacier. 1st flying in on a helicopter, it was amazing to see as we went past multiple mountain peaks and eventually got high enough to get a full view of everything. It really is amazing. Such natural beauty.

For the hike itself the colors are so clear and blue with the water, snow , and ice. Although we spent about an hour and a half walking around the area we covered was so small. We also had the opportunity to drink directly from the melted ice. It tasted so fresh and clean. We kept quoting lines from "The Waterboy", mainly "That's water, from a glacier, in Alaska" and also "That's what I call High-Quality H2O". This is literally one of the only places in the world that we can use that quote and be correct. =)

If you are planning a trip to Alaska, although expensive, this is worth doing. Also, plan on taking the longest amount of time that you can for you will want to enjoy every moment out there. The NorthStar Helicopter company did a great job and we would recommend planning your trekking tour with them. Safety briefing was comprehensive (no injuries), helicopter ride was amazing, guide on the ice (I believe her name was Ann(e)), did a fantastic job in explaining everything and kept us on track and moving safely along. At the end make sure to ask them about the ball of taped names that they have created over the years/decades. See if, when adding your name, that you can help get the ball back to a round shape.

Just review the pictures and please keep in mind that these pictures do not fully capture the natural beauty and also the sheer size of everything. Some are from the helicopter ride in.

Elaine Milne

Adventure of a life time, is how my husband and I call this excursion, we had the opportunity to experience on May 15th, 2024 through Royal Princess Cruise. We arrived at the new large, spacious building of the Northstar Helicopters at the airport, just outside of the town of Juneau, Alaska. We were greeted by three very friendly staff who lead us into a room where our equipment was laid out ready for us to get suited up with rain jackets & pants, boots, safety harness, warm gloves and a side pack which had a can of alaska pure mountain spring water & granola bar. After an informative safety briefing, we headed outside in single file to the helicopter to assigned seats. John, our pilot gave us a tour of the Mendenhall Lake, crisscrossing Mendenhall Glacier, viewed waterfalls, local mountain sides looking for wildlife and Suicidal Glacier before touching down at the base camp on Mendenhall Glacier. Our lead guide Bill and his associate guides Aristotle and Coneor met us as we took our first steps on the Glacier. The Guides were very helpful and friendly fitting us with helmets, boot spikes and a pick followed by a safety briefing before starting our walking adventure. Bill was a very informative, courteous, attentive, educational and story telling guide through out the walk. Aristotle and Coneor were very attentive and courteous when we needed help. We were the first group of 6 lucky guests to walk on the Mendenhall Glacier for 2024. Our weather wasn’t great, but the misty rain that came down the entire time didn’t put a damper on our adventure. It was an incredible adventure you have to experience!! The crunching of the ice as we walked, the magnificent ice structures and crevasses, crystal clear, baby blue bodies of water which you can’t see the bottoms and hearing the running water through cut out streams are our fondest memories. A huge Thank You to John our helicopter pilot, Bill, Aristotle, Coneor our guides and the staff of the Northstar Helicopters for making this an unforgettable adventure and the highlight of our Alaska Cruise.

Garfield Green

Absolutely fantastic. This was our favorite excursion in Alaska. Our pilot, Oceana, was excellent and our glacier walk guide, Robert, was too. Next time we'll upgrade to the longer excursion. It was amazing.