Frequently Asked Questions

Alaska Mountaineering School is a climber owned and operated guiding company and mountaineering school in Denali National Park. We are the only guide service directly based in Talkeetna, which gives us priceless real-time access to mountain weather and climbing beta on our own backyard, the Alaska Range. Our exceptional Talkeetna facility features an extensive food pantry, expert climbing gym and fully equipped mountain shop. Since our founding in the 1980s, we have guided more than 2,500 Denali and Alaska Range climbers and taught more than 3,500 students. Each season and every climb we fold in what we learn with skills and research to improve and update our mountaineering programs. AMS guides and instructors are the cream of the crop of Alaska Range teaching and guiding community. Year after year we provide you the best courses and expeditions to Denali, Foraker and more.

Wilderness travel in Alaska is serious, and the rewards of the journey are priceless. Safety is our number one priority, and risk management integral to every climb and course. We take your climb to heart, providing a solid foundation of care and expertise to make your experience the safest and best it can be. Although we cannot eliminate the possibility of an accident, AMS goes well beyond the minimum expectation for safety for an organization of its size. Leading our backcountry medicine team is world-renowned high altitude doctor Peter Hackett, full-time life-flight nurse Lance Taysom, and well-known wilderness medicine author Buck Tilton. Each year the team updates medical protocols for new developments in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of wilderness medical emergencies and altitude-related injuries. AMS programs are insured, carry all necessary permits, and leave for the field with medical kits, radios, cell phones, and emergency procedures for all areas of operation. AMS guides and instructors are certified Wilderness First Responders, many are EMT certified, and some are nurses or doctors. All staff are authorized to carry prescription drug kits and perform lifesaving actions in an emergency.

Alaska Mountaineering School is proud of our ability to prepare unparalleled menus. We take notes every year to better our food program, and it shows; our mountain menus have been refined since 1983 for the finest quality, lightweight, tasty food available. Eating good food and enough of it is one of the most important things on a course or expedition. Proper nutrition allows people to better acclimatize and to relax a little bit more without worrying about being hungry. We contract with specialized organic food wholesalers out of Washington who consolidate and ship to Alaska. Alaska Mountaineering School stores course and expedition field rations in giant freezers until departure time. Arriving on the blistering hot glacier with frozen food prolongs freshness and keeps cheese and butter free of mold. Any delay into the mountains is hard on perishables; other operators, with no base in Talkeetna, have no choice but to leave their expedition food in their air service’s hangar.

Alaska Mountaineering School consists mainly of the office and staging area, Mountain Shop, and Yurt, along with the Matt Porter Rock Gym. With its graceful lines, this unique cave-like structure has been featured in a number of climbing magazines. The gym allows AMS guides and participants a place to exercise and hone their climbing techniques and safety systems, as well as practice fixed-line ascension before heading into the mountains. Our facilities are top-notch; we know you will be pleased.

Alongside our five-star courses and guided expeditions, AMS offers custom climbs. We are the best choice for a custom climb anywhere in the Alaska Range given the forty guides who work for us, many of whom are out climbing in between contracts. Whether your goal with us is to take a skills building course, manage a climbing objective like the West Ridge of the Moose’s Tooth, or accomplish a more technical route on the West Face of Mt. Huntington, we are keen about helping fulfill anyone’s dream.

Along with program safety staffing is our top priority, and AMS keeps its staffing manager employed all winter to ensure the job gets done right. Knowledge of the Alaskan mountains and technical prowess are not the only attributes we look for in our guides. Guides are chosen also for their kindness and ability to teach others to become better mountaineers. Like our clients and participants, AMS staff are fully co-ed. Alaska mountaineering as a whole tends to attract more men than women, but having men and women present in most groups makes for a higher quality experience for everyone. Our ratio of female to male participants is 35:65; the ratio for guides and instructors is 40:60. Twenty-five percent of all of our field staff are women. AMS staff are the cream of the crop of Alaska Range teaching and guiding community.

The summit is inherently a main objective of mountaineering, but it is the journey there that truly counts. At Alaska Mountaineering School, our participants feel as though they are a part of the decision-making process. This approach does not slow us down in reaching our goal of the summit but rather makes the entire group that much more equipped to get there.

The average student’s age on our courses is 35 years old; the age range is between 15 and 70. We find that age plays a minor role due to the high pace of instruction and fast learning curve for our programs. The minimum age for students on our courses is 15, and the minimum age for members of our expeditions is 18, with very occasional exceptions made on a case-by-case basis. Our maximum age for regularly scheduled Denali expeditions is 65. However, we can happily accommodate older climbers by arranging a custom program to best suit your needs.

Depending on your previous level of experience and ultimate goals, AMS programs can prepare you for high-altitude wilderness mountaineering. For example, a stark beginner adult who ultimately climbed Denali successfully took these AMS programs spread over four years: Glacier travel and crevasse rescue, 7 day backpacking, 12 day MTC , 12 day MTC with hike out, ice climbing, Denali prep, and finally, Denali West Buttress. To learn more of your options with AMS, see our recommended skills and courses. And in the pipeline? We are currently developing a full guide training for past-military under a two-year GI Bill program.

We do our utmost to match clients and students with the best guide for their expedition or course. And though we cannot guarantee your pick, you can easily request a particular guide. Assigning guides to expeditions and courses is a dynamic process, and we do our best to let you know as soon as possible who will be leading your expedition or course. Of one thing you can be certain, your AMS guide will be excellent. We make a goal to have a female instructor on every course, especially when there are female participants.

The weather in the Alaska Range, fickle and unpredictable, will dictate our every move, forcing us to be flexible, patient, and sometimes spontaneous. Weather is the one thing we cannot change, only accommodate. Time is best spent being prepared for all types of weather, and you’ll be collecting morning and evening weather observations as part of avalanche hazard forecasting. That said, the saying goes, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” Everyone gets accustomed to changing layers frequently, especially high in the mountains. Between April and September, depending on elevation, you can expect temperatures between -30 degrees Fahrenheit to +40 degrees Fahrenheit. The low-lying Talkeetna Mountains or Peters Hills are exceptionally mild compared to the glacier-covered Alaska Range.

Bush planes can fly only when the weather is suitable. Usually weather that prohibits flying persists for only a day or two. If the mountain weather prevents us from flying and courses or expeditions are unable to get to the glacier at the scheduled time, we base out of the Mountain Shop. Clients and students can stay on track with the course curriculum, view slideshows and additional educational media, or practice fixed-line ascension and other climbing techniques in the gym. We have a campground with tents and pads ready for everyone to sleep: you don’t have to spend additional money for accommodations. This allows everyone to stay organized. The moment we get the call from the air taxi, we can mobilize to be there in minutes. Occasionally courses or expeditions can be weathered in the Alaska Range beyond their end date. We will do our best to ensure that your course ends on schedule and most do. Still, we recommend allowing 2-3 days on the return end of your travel plans or purchasing flexible airline tickets in the event that weather inhibits your course from flying off the glacier on time.

AMS operates year round, but winter ascents in the Alaska Range are not everyone’s cup of tea. Courses and expeditions typically run from mid-March to mid-September. That said, global warming has shrunken the spring season and we are launching expeditions earlier each year. The best time should also reflect what works for you. Please see our full schedule to see main programs for the 2017 season.

Expedition timing depends on the mountain and route. Denali and Foraker are thousands of feet higher than any other peak in the range, and starting in April or earlier makes it too cold for most climbers. Some routes, such as Denali’s West Buttress have only one landing option. We schedule our last Denali expedition to return to the landing strip by mid-July over concern that the pilots may tell us we have to walk out. Ice oriented routes like Ham and Eggs on Mount Hunter are best in April; rock oriented routes in Little Switzerland are better in July or August. Plane access dictates when (and where) we go. Courses have many options and can choose locations with higher landing zones with firmer snow conditions.

Brian Okonek who has studied the weather on Denali over the course of 30 years and 30 climbing expeditions explains it like this, “The more I have tried to decipher a pattern with the weather the more I have learned there is no pattern. The same sequence of weather events can lead to vastly different outcomes. The best thing is to be prepared all the time.”

The popular climbing season on Denali begins late April and lasts through most of July, shrinking the acceptable window down to 90 days. All of the launch dates of an AMS expedition have a high chance of success. We make it our goal to get to high camp in as strong a shape as possible, dig in, and wait for a summit day. Ultimately, it is patience and perseverance that will reward you with a view from the top.

Although predicting when storms will roll through the Alaska Range is impossible, April to the middle of May typically provide the best window of time for favorable snow conditions on steeper, lower elevation mountains such as Mt. Hunter. That said, the first ascent of Hunter’s West Ridge was in July so timing is not a hard and fast rule.

There are many locations in Denali National Park and Preserve that were first scouted by AMS. We leave the final selection up to the guides, who take into consideration current snow conditions, temperatures, and students’ strengths. The guides also have to work together with the air taxi service as they decide course location. All courses plan to fly into the Alaska Range glaciers; the Pica, Ruth, and Eldridge glaciers are the most popular for our courses.

Phone reception is available only within line of sight to the Susitna Valley (at a mountain pass, summit, or 14,000′ on Denali). Coverage varies throughout the day. You might be talking and have full bars and the next minute your phone is dead because the satellite went out of range. You can contact AMS for a list of recommended satellite phone rental agencies. AMS team phones are analog with large, reliable batteries. For emergencies and check-ins to the office they are tied to a local provider. Outside of that coverage, we carry a satellite phone.

On our Alaska Range Mountaineering Courses and Expeditions the load is often split between a backpack and a sled. We also double carry to most of our camps to minimize the load and to aid in acclimatization, which allows for lighter packs. On a mountaineering course, under most circumstances, the heaviest a pack weight is around 50 pounds. On a Denali expedition, 60 pounds is a good average except for a couple of days on the upper mountain when pack weights are 75 pounds plus. Because of terrain constraints, as we move higher on Denali, we can put less equipment in our sleds and have to carry more on our backs; pack weights are often 75-pounds plus. That weight goes down as the expedition uses up food and fuel and since soon you’ll be wearing, not carrying, more of your clothes.

Skiing may be a possibility with guide approval and if every individual on a rope team is an excellent skier and. Skiing in climbing boots on glaciers while roped, carrying a backpack, and pulling a sled is challenging even for the most experienced skiers. Unless prior arrangements are made, we use snow shoes to travel to 11,000 feet.

AMS Guides and Instructors are professionals in their field and work hard to ensure your Expedition or Course is safe and successful. They have a real love of what they do. We ask that you observe your guides at their jobs and if you have a positive experience, gratuities are an excellent way to show appreciation. We believe gratuities should be based on the level and quality of your experience and in an amount that meets your budget.

The following information is a general recommendation: Guiding industry standard gratuity is 8-12% of the cost of your program. Typically, this will then be divided equally among the guides/ instructors. Gratuity of any amount can be given directly to the Lead Guide/Instructor or to AMS office staff, and it will be distributed to them. Most Guides greatly appreciate tips, yet tips are not what drives them. Gifts and kind gestures are appreciated but are not required.

You can tip with cash, check, Venmo, or PayPal. We are unable to process gratuities by debit or credit card. ATMs are located a short walk from AMS in downtown Talkeetna. Envelopes are available from our front office. Please contact our office if you have any further questions or to discuss gratuities in more detail.

AMS instructors and guides demonstrate high performance in the field all the time, every trip. Their performance is documented with written evaluations from peers and clients as well as a meeting with the directors before and after every contract. All guides have AMGA or UIAGM mountain guiding certification. First time instructors have successfully completed the AMS Guide’s Course, twelve days of specific teaching techniques and guiding strategies unique to Alaska’s mountains. But most instructors who come to AMS already have an established history of excellence and lead-instructing experience at other well-known outdoor organizations. AMS requires all staff to maintain current Wilderness First Responder certification with biennial re-certification or refresher courses.

In many ways, Alaska demands the most from an instructor because it has the most going on: remote wilderness, extensive glaciation, year round avalanche hazard, extreme winter camping during summer months, mile-wide river crossings, grizzly bears. There are many “certified” guides who do not know how to build an igloo, run a kitchen at 17,000 feet, or teach a class on glaciology. Each of these skill areas requires a thorough knowledge of the discipline in order to effectively lead and teach others. AMS maintains high standards: directors Colby Coombs and Caitlin Palmer know firsthand how all of their guides perform. This knowledge is gained through careful selection and by getting to know the staff personally.