The trip begins at 10 am from our basecamp, where you can get a sneak peek of the glacier from the parking lot as you get ready to gear up and head down the road to the toe of the glacier.

A trip like this requires a bit more gear, like harnesses and ice axes, which we get you geared up with as you check in. Your guide will also carry all the heavy gear (rope, ice screws, etc.).

Unlike the 4-hour-long Ice Fall Trek, the Advanced Trek is 7 hours, giving you plenty of time on the ice to explore, so make sure you have plenty of energy because you will be out and about all day. With more time, you can also trek into the backcountry, which is not accessible to those on shorter trips. The trek into the backcountry is a few-mile hike through the Glacial Moraine, which looks like the moon.

Once you arrive in the backcountry, your guide will help you get your gear on and start showing you around one of my favorite parts of the glacier. For one, the only other people you’ll come across on this part of the glacier are other folks on a MICA trip, so it is pretty quiet and serene. Not to mention that you’ll get to picnic on the glacier (we recommend a homemade 907 bowl for the trip)!

One of my favorite things about this type of trek is that with the rope and harnesses, you get the opportunity to clip in and lean into some crevasses, moulins, blue pools, or whatever other cool features the guides have found recently. Our other trips don’t offer this type of exploration, and there’s something exhilarating about leaning over a 50ft drop or staring into the icy waters of a blue pool from the comfort and safety of a harness and a knowing guide.

Would you consider spending your day on the Matanuska doing an Advanced Trek? Find booking information here!