Backpacking: Denali National Park
All Levels – Custom
Denali National Park
Max 8 students: 2 instructors
5-day / Float plane:
$3,350
Price per person with 3-8 participants
Contact AMS for more details
AMS’s Backpacking course is an unforgettable experience, where hikers find themselves surrounded by the vast alpine tundra, active glaciers, and lakes of the Alaska Range within Denali National Park and Preserve. Alaska’s wilderness is a national treasure. AMS courses are both educational and enjoyable ways to move among stunning scenery and pristine, photographic mountain and glacier views of the Alaska Range, as well as learn about the unique glacial moraine and tundra ecosystem underfoot. Our scheduled backpacking course and many custom courses fly into the Alaska Range’s Backside Lake area, home to foxes, wolverines, northern pika, ground squirrels, ermines, bears, ptarmigans, and eagles. Backpackers will always keep a keen eye open to see these animals throughout the course.
The AMS curriculum emphasizes essential wilderness skills that allow you to be safe and comfortable in a backcountry setting: tent setup, stove use, cooking, safe camping in bear country, basic knots, map and compass use, and first aid. Those with little to no backpacking or camping experience benefit from instruction on hiking techniques, camping skills, and map use. Experienced backpackers will enjoy our flexible schedule, as well as options to add more mileage, challenging terrain, and peak ascents to the itinerary. Natural history enthusiasts benefit from discussions on plant identification, animal sightings, and the human history of the region. There is something in this course for anyone who enjoys being outdoors and immersed in the untamed beauty of the true Alaskan wilderness.
Features
- Living within 360-degree scenic opportunities
- Learning basic backpacking and camping skills
- Traveling and camping safely in bear country
- Leave No Trace camping and traveling techniques
- Wildlife viewing
- Understanding the ecosystem, identifying flora and fauna
- Elevations from 1,000 to 4,000 feet (900-1500m)
- 1:4 instructor/student ratio
- River crossing, boulder and scree techniques
- Traveling and camping in bear country
- Backpacking and camping on alpine tundra, glacier moraine, and bare ice terrain
- Map and compass skills
All Levels – Custom
Denali National Park
Max 8 students: 2 instructors
5-day / Float plane:
$3,350
Price per person with 3-8 participants
Contact AMS for more details
Schedule
Contact us about custom options
What's Included
- Professional mountain guide(s)
- Round-trip float plane flight
- All meals and snack foods in the mountains
- All group camping and hiking equipment: tents, anchors, portable bear-resistant food containment, bear spray, and air horns
- Kitchen equipment: community kitchen tent, cooking stoves, utensils, and fuel
- Mountain communications: emergency-use satellite phone, FRS on-mountain radios, Delorme inReach
- Maps, GPS
- Medical protocols, first aid, medication, and repair kits
- Fully equipped staging area at AMS HQ and AMS Mountain Gear Shop in Talkeetna
- 24/7 support from staff at AMS in Talkeetna during your course
- Social media updates during your course
- Luggage storage during your course
- Camping at AMS HQ
- 10% discount at the AMS Mountain Gear Shop in Talkeetna
- Welcome back table with fresh foods and drinks after your course
- Knowledgeable staff to assist with lodging and shuttle logistics, both before and after your course
All Levels – Custom
Denali National Park
Max 8 students: 2 instructors
5-day / Float plane:
$3,350
Price per person with 3-8 participants
Contact AMS for more details
Sample Itinerary: Backside Lake
Day 1
Gear checks in town, lunch, fly to Backside Lake. Hike for one mile, establish a campsite and go for a short hike to get familiarized with the area. Classes on bear awareness, bear spray use, campsite selection, tent setup, sleeping warm and dry, and camp hygiene
Day 2
Wake up, cook breakfast and pack for a day of hiking. Classes on natural history, glaciology, bird and plant identification, movement over multiple types of terrain
Day 3
Travel down to Backside Glacier, cross an outwash and travel up medial moraine to snowline on the glacier. Classes on navigation, map and GPS use, glacier hazard recognition, stream and river crossing.
Day 4
Pack up basecamp and move gear to the lake for pick-up. Spend the rest of the day hiking and exploring near Backside Lake. Float plane pickup in the afternoon. Classes on efficient packing and movement technique, planning a backpacking expedition, gear care and maintenance.
Check in with AMS to view itinerary for 6-day backpacking traverse via floatplane.
All Levels – Custom
Denali National Park
Max 8 students: 2 instructors
5-day / Float plane:
$3,350
Price per person with 3-8 participants
Contact AMS for more details
The Wilderness Hike and Trek are introductory wilderness courses with the following prerequisites for each participant:
- arrive in good physical condition
- possess a positive attitude and a desire to learn
- be willing to work hard, have an open mind,
- be a team member
All Levels – Custom
Denali National Park
Max 8 students: 2 instructors
5-day / Float plane:
$3,350
Price per person with 3-8 participants
Contact AMS for more details
Perfect trip, professionally guided, good organization and sense of humor!
— Elisabetta Pallavicini
I can easily say this was the most amazing trip I have been on in the 31 years of my life.
—Jason Patel
The guides MADE the trip. The route was great, but the guides made it spectacular.
— Steve Gabbert
Given the weather window, our guides put us on the summit perfectly. It would not have been possible without them.
— Fred McGuinness
Thank you so much for everything! Time off is a precious commodity for me, and I am grateful to have had Simon as our guide on this trip. I feel challenged, sore, and rejuvenated, and I walked away from AMS a better, more knowledgeable, happier version of myself. Thank you for assisting my personal growth! Your organization is truly a blessing.
—Marci Macareg
A first class operation — ran locally by people who know the mountain.
— Si Matthies
AMS is a first-rate operation all around. They were more than prepared for every aspect of our trip. Thanks for an unforgettable experience!
—Sam Greenberg
