Valdez Ski and Splitboard Adventure

We’ll tour the Thompson Pass or Hatcher Pass area. Other areas are available upon request. If you’re interested in the Alaska Range, check out our trip here.

Thompson Pass is the default and the reason people come. It sits about 30 to 45 minutes from town, and the terrain starts at the road — powder faces and couloirs reachable on skins with virtually no approach.

Hatcher Pass is the alternate. If the snowpack or the weather is better on the Anchorage side in a given week, we will run the trip from there rather than force a bad forecast. It is a different character of terrain and a perfectly good week of skiing, and we would rather move than waste your days sitting out a storm cycle.

Other Chugach zones are available on request. Tell us what you have been looking at and we will tell you honestly whether it goes in the window you are coming.

How the Five Days Break Down

Three to five days human-powered. Skinning from the road to access powder faces and couloirs above. This is the core of the trip and what the week is built around.

One heli bump day (optional). A single helicopter ride to the top of one big line — often the biggest of the trip — then you ski and climb your way back to the road under your own power for the rest of the day. This is frequently the day guests name as their favourite, because it opens terrain that would otherwise cost you a full day of approach.

One full heli day (optional). A complete day of heli-skiing with one of the operators based around the pass. Runs are often 2,000 vertical feet or more, and the lines are steep. If you still have energy after the allotted runs, you can buy more.

A note on the helicopter days

We are not a helicopter operator, and we do not pretend to be. What we are is the people who know which operators in Valdez are good, how to time a heli day around a weather window, and how to make it count when you get one. We coordinate the booking and we guide you on the heli bump day. You pay the operator directly.

If what you want is a straight week of heli-skiing, we will point you at the right operator and tell you so. If what you want is to earn your turns in the Chugach and use a helicopter as a tool rather than a package, that is this trip.

This 2027 season we will be offering two separate private sessions. If demand is more than expected, we will add a third session during one of the dates below. These dates do not include your flight dates and travel to and from Valdez. We will consult with you on the best flight and transportation options. There is potential that the entire crew and guides can rent a vehicle together to get from Anchorage to Valdez and back.

• Our season for human powered guided skiing in Valdez is from mid-March through end of April
  • Contact us to inquire and book one of the private sessions. You can also inquire if there is a public group and good fit for you to join.

We will stay in the town of Valdez in comfortable lodging. Don’t expect luxury, but you can expect a comfortable bed, a warm shower as well as a nice place to relax after a big day of skiing. There is also a washer and dryer and small kitchen for our use. A basic breakfast is provided, but we can also supplement if we want something more hardy. Dinners are up to you to decide. It’s nice at least a night or two to check out one of the restaurants in town. But there is not a lot to choose from, so often we just buy groceries and cook something up at the Airbnb. Whichever we decide is fine. We can discuss before we leave. We will rent a vehicle in Anchorage and drive it down for our use during the trip. It takes between 30-45 minutes from town to the pass and other starting locations.

Trip Includes

• 1-2 IFMGA/AMGA Certified Mountain Guides
• Liability Insurance
• 3-5 days of human powered backcountry skiing/splitboarding
• 1-2 days of helicopter skiing (does not include payment to helicopter operations, see below), and we will be your guide on the heli-bump day
• Transportation from Anchorage to Valdez and in Valdez, to and from trailhead for 5 days
• Transportation back to Anchorage
• Lodging
• Memories to last a lifetime

Trip Excludes

• We will help coordinate your flight days and provide transportation and liability insurance, but you will pay the local operator directly:
  • 1 full day of helicopter skiing
  • 1 ride helicopter assist
• Flight/Transport to Anchorage
• Food
• Alcohol
• Personal Insurance

• We proved the human-powered case here. Todd Passey was among the first IFMGA guides to demonstrate that Valdez works without a helicopter, and we have run it that way for over a decade.
• 3:1 maximum ratio. Small enough that the terrain choice is built around your group rather than the median of a crowd.
• IFMGA and AMGA certified guides, working within the AMGA Scope of Practice.
• We move the trip if the weather says to. Thompson Pass is the plan; Hatcher Pass is the alternative; other zones are available. Nobody sits in a motel for five days.
• Heli access without the heli package. We coordinate the operators, we guide the bump day, and we are straight with you about what a helicopter is and is not worth.
• Everything on the ground is handled. Lodging, the vehicle from Anchorage, trailhead transport, and the drive back.
• Transparent pricing. From $5,500, published. Most operators in this market make you email for a number.

• Strong advanced intermediates and above. You should be comfortable skiing variable snow in big terrain with a pack on. You do not need to be an extreme skier, and most guests are not.
• People who are fit enough to earn it. Three to five days of skinning at sea-level-to-alpine relief is a real workload. Arrive fit.
• Backcountry travellers, not necessarily experts. Previous touring experience is strongly preferred. Avalanche training is valuable but we do not require it.
• Skiers or splitboarders. Splitboards are entirely welcome and common on this trip.

No. This is a human-powered backcountry ski and splitboard trip with two optional helicopter days built into it. Three to five days of the week are spent skinning from the road. If you want a straight week of heli-skiing, Valdez has excellent operators and we will happily point you toward one.

You pay the operator directly, and rates vary by season and operator. We coordinate the booking and will give you current pricing when you inquire. Budget for it separately from the trip price.

No, but you do need to be a strong advanced intermediate. You should be comfortable on variable snow in consequential terrain, carrying a pack. Most guests on this trip are experienced recreational skiers rather than professionals.

It is valuable and we recommend it, but it is not required. Your guides make the terrain decisions. If you want to build that background first, our Avalanche Level 1 course runs through the Utah season.

It is Alaska in spring, so some of it will be. We build flexibility into the itinerary; moving between zones, shifting the heli days to the windows that open, and skiing lower-angle terrain when the alpine is closed out. If conditions on the Anchorage side are better, we can run the trip from Hatcher Pass instead. Our Alaska weather write-up explains what to expect.

Yes. Splitboarders are common on this trip and the terrain suits a board well. Let us know at booking.

By February at the latest. Lodging in Valdez is limited during the spring season and helicopter time has to be reserved in advance. Earlier is better.

Fly to Anchorage. We rent a vehicle there and drive down to Valdez as a group, and the drive back is included. Your flights to and from Anchorage are not included.

Valdez is road-accessed, lodged in town, and built around Chugach terrain that starts at the highway. Our Alaska Range Ski Adventure is a glacier camping expedition. You fly in, you live on the glacier, and there is no town. Different trip, different commitment.

Mid-March through the end of April. Earlier in that window tends to be colder and drier; later brings longer days and more corn potential.