Glacier Helicopter Tours: A Traveler's Guide
A helicopter tour over and onto a glacier compresses geography in a way that is difficult to achieve by any other means. In fifteen minutes of flight, you can cover the vertical and horizontal distance that would take days of technical mountaineering on foot. The view from the air reveals the full architecture of a glacier — the accumulation zone above the snowline, the network of crevasses on the ice fall, the sweeping ice tongue, the braided outwash plain beyond the terminal moraine — in a single panorama. And when the helicopter sets down on the glacier surface, you step out into an environment that most visitors to glaciated regions never access at all.
Helicopter tours to glaciers have grown significantly as an industry in New Zealand, Canada, Alaska, Norway, Iceland, and the Alps. Each destination offers a different character: the long glaciers flowing from the Southern Alps of New Zealand, the vast icefields of British Columbia and Alaska, the dramatic fjord settings of Norway, and the heavily touristed but still spectacular Alpine glaciers of Switzerland and Austria. Before booking, it helps to understand what each destination actually delivers and what conditions and considerations affect the experience.
New Zealand: Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers
The West Coast of New Zealand's South Island is the classic helicopter glacier destination, combining the unusual geography of glaciers descending close to sea level through temperate rainforest with flight approaches over dramatic coastal scenery. Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier both descend from the Main Divide of the Southern Alps to valleys at low elevation, and both have been served by helicopter landing operations for several decades.
Helicopter landings on these glaciers typically take you to the upper glacier surface above the heavily crevassed icefall, where guides lead short walks on the ice in crampons. The combination of flight views over the icefall and the hands-on experience of walking on the ice has made this the most visited glacier helicopter experience in the Southern Hemisphere. Both glaciers have undergone significant retreat and thinning, which has repeatedly changed the practicalities of landing zone management, but operations have adapted. Weather is the primary limiting factor: the West Coast receives among the highest rainfall in New Zealand, and clear flying days in the mountains are a minority.
Canada: The Columbia Icefield and Coast Ranges
In the Canadian Rockies, helicopter tours depart from Banff, Lake Louise, Canmore, and Jasper to access the Columbia Icefield and the glaciers of the Wapta and Waputik Icefields. Landings on the Columbia Icefield itself provide a sense of the vast scale of Canada's most accessible major icefield — roughly 230 square kilometres of ice straddling the Continental Divide. The view from the icefield surface, surrounded by peaks including Mount Columbia (3,747 m) and Mount Athabasca (3,491 m), is among the most expansive accessible in the Rockies.
In British Columbia's Coast Ranges and around Whistler, helicopter tours access glaciers that are larger and more remote than those in the Rockies but less visited. The icefields of the Waddington Range and the Monarch Icefield in the Cariboo Mountains are accessible only by helicopter or multi-day ski touring expeditions. Heli-skiing operations in these ranges use helicopter access primarily for skiing, but scenic glacier tours are also available.
Alaska: Juneau Icefield and Knik Glacier
Alaska offers some of the most dramatic helicopter glacier access in the world, partly because major glaciers lie close to the cruise ship port at Juneau and the city of Anchorage. From Juneau, helicopter tours land on the Mendenhall Glacier, the Norris Glacier, and glaciers of the Juneau Icefield, one of the largest non-polar icefields in North America at approximately 3,700 square kilometres. The Juneau Icefield supplies ice to numerous outlet glaciers flowing into Lynn Canal and other fjords of the Alaska Panhandle.
From Anchorage, the most accessible helicopter glacier destination is Knik Glacier, flowing from the Chugach Mountains into the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet. The Knik occasionally produces ice-dammed lake outburst floods when it blocks a tributary valley. From Seward and other ports on Kenai Fjords, helicopter access to the Harding Icefield — which feeds more than 40 outlet glaciers — provides one of the most spectacular high-altitude glacier landscapes in Alaska.
Norway: Jostedalen and Svartisen
In Norway, the Jostedalsbreen Glacier — the largest glacier in mainland Europe at roughly 474 square kilometres — offers helicopter access from bases near Sogndal and Stryn. The landscape of Jostedalen, with the icefield sitting atop a plateau and sending outlet glaciers down steep valley sides toward fjords, is visually dramatic and geologically distinct from the mountain glacier settings of the Alps or Andes. Helicopter tours land on the main ice plateau and on accessible outlet glacier surfaces.
The Svartisen ice cap in Nordland, the second-largest glacier in mainland Norway, is accessed from the town of Mo i Rana and the Svartisen visitor facilities. Helgeland Helicopter operates tours to both the Engabreen outlet, which descends to near sea level at the Holandsfjord, and the upper Svartisen plateau. The midnight sun in summer provides unique lighting conditions for photography from both the air and the ice surface.
Iceland: Vatnajokull
Iceland's Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Iceland and one of the largest in Europe by volume, is served by helicopter operations from Reykjavik and from local operators in the South Iceland lowlands. Landings on the main ice cap above 1,800 metres provide expansive views over an ice surface essentially unbroken to every horizon. Volcanic features visible through the ice above Grimsvotn and Bardarbunga — caldera depressions and eruption-melted hollows — add a dimension not present at other glacier destinations. Combined tours that include the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon and an ice cap landing are among the most comprehensive glacier experiences available in Iceland.
Safety and Practical Considerations
All glacier helicopter operations are subject to aviation regulations and weather-dependent scheduling. Operators in all major destinations require passengers to sign waivers and to follow specific weight limits, as helicopter payload and high-altitude performance are strictly constrained. Dress warmly — glacier surfaces are significantly colder than sea-level temperatures, and wind chill at altitude adds further to that. The ice surface is uneven and can be slippery; most operators provide crampons for any walking on the glacier. Never move away from the landing zone without a guide.
Weather cancellations are common in all glacier destinations. Book with operators that offer refund or rescheduling policies, and if your itinerary permits, build in a reserve day. The best glacier flying weather in most destinations is early morning before convective cloud develops.
Use the map to locate the major glacier helicopter tour destinations worldwide and explore the icefields and glacier systems that each serves.