Glacier Tours
Dave and his dogs spend the summers on the glacier field near Juneau giving tours for Alaska Heli Mush/ERA Aviation
The human gang members live on the glacier in walled tents on skis. They each tend 20 to 40 dogs each day with the help of tour guides. Each team of 8 or 9 dogs pulls two tandem sleds with 3 clients and a tour guide on a 1 hour long 2 mile loop trail on the glacier. There are 5 runs a day per team with an average of 30-35 people riding throughout the 12 hour day. The gang works 8am to 9pm and enjoys the attention from the trouists between tours. Great weight training for the race season!
SEE A 2008 SLIDE SHOW OF DAVE & THE GANG ON THE GLACIER
Getting to the Glacier
Around the 1st of June each year, the gang starts staging for the tour season. First Dave gets the dogs down to Linwood Fielder's place then they pack the dogs into two large trailers holding 80 dogs each. That's 160 dogs. They then drive the two trailers down to Haines Alaska where they board a Ferry to Juneau. At Juneau the take the trailers up to the base camp north of Juneau on the Norse Glacier Ice fields. They then take out the seats of four helicopters and put dog boxes in them capable of carrying 10 dogs. They load up the dogs and fly them out to the mushing camp. You can do the math 160 dogs four copters with 10 dogs = 4 trips per chopper. All the food, equipment and personnel are flown in by helicopter. You enviornmentalists will be glad to know they pack out the dog dirt and trash the same way. The only thing left are some footprints, paw-prints and imprints of sled runners when they are finished at the end of the summer.
The staff consists of 21 people, Linwood Fielder, Dave Dalton, Kathy Fielder and Zac Richter are the primary mushers then there is 1 cook , 4 handlers, 1 photographer and 7 part time back up mushers and handlers. They take three day breaks during the summer and stay at facilities in Juneau provided by the company.
Literally thousands of tourists will be flown in to the glacier to get the experience of running dogs the old fashioned way. If you get the chance it can be a wonderful experience.
Please Contact
Dalton Gang Kennels
P.O. Box 345
Healy, Alaska 99743
Glacier Tours
Juneau's wild backcountry and spectacular glaciers are a wonderland only accessible by helicopter. These tours are given by Alaska's oldest and largest helicopter company ERA Aviation. You start with The Four Glacier Adventure exploring the massive Juneau icefield with four unique glaciers in different stages.
- Advancing Taku Glacier
- Cascading Hole in the Wall Glacier,?
- Retreating Norris Glacier
- Mysterious Dead Branch Glacier floating in its own melt water
Next you Land on a remote glacier for an exploration of its ice pool and crevasses with your pilot guide. A basic 1 hour tour includes a 15029 minute glacier landing. This is where your Glacier Dog Sled Adventure begins as you land on a remote glacier at the Dog Sled Camp. You can meet Dave and the gang as well as Lynwood Fiedler and his dogs both veterans of the 1000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. You will ride on the sled over the snow-capped glacier for about 45 minutes and spend another hour or so at the Dog Sled Camp with the dogs and mushers.
Want to visit the gang on the glacier? Call 1-800-843-1947, email fltsg@eraaviation.com or Visit the ERA Aviation website at www.eraaviation.com