Mendenhall Glacier isn't going to be available in the second half of the season.

[deelightfull]

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/unprecedented-visitors-at-mendenhall-glacier-rapidly-outpacing-allowed-capacity/#:~:text=A service day equates to,do not need a permit.

 

From the article, the tour companies are not booking tours they don't have permits for, so if you have a tour with a tour component you'll be fine.  

 

But, if you're visiting in August or September (or October!) It looks like getting a tour of otherwise visiting is going to be an impossibility.

 

If visiting the glacier is vital, you need to go earlier in the season, which is not helpful now, but could be for those planning for 2024.

[GTJ]

Deleted.

Edited July 8, 2023 by GTJ

[donaldsc]

10 hours ago, deelightfull said:

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/unprecedented-visitors-at-mendenhall-glacier-rapidly-outpacing-allowed-capacity/#:~:text=A service day equates to,do not need a permit.

 

From the article, the tour companies are not booking tours they don't have permits for, so if you have a tour with a tour component you'll be fine.  

 

But, if you're visiting in August or September (or October!) It looks like getting a tour of otherwise visiting is going to be an impossibility.

 

If visiting the glacier is vital, you need to go earlier in the season, which is not helpful now, but could be for those planning for 2024.

 

Why do you need a tour to go to Mendenhall.  Just take a city bus.  Really easy solution.

 

DON

[naturelovergirl]

7 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Why do you need a tour to go to Mendenhall.  Just take a city bus.

Visit Juneau (on their social media) and city officials are encouraging visitors to find other transportation methods and not to use the city bus because locals use them- they are concerned that a huge influx of tourists using the city bus (because of the Mendenhall shuttles running out of their capacity limits) will affect the locals negatively

[SightCRR]

By the time they get it figured out and build something the glacier will have receded so it is not visible anymore like from the Portage Glacier visitor center. 

[quack2]

Doesn't the city bus drop you a loooooong way from the Visitor Center?

[kasowell2]

If visitors are being limited, wouldn’t that affect all means of transportation getting there. It reads to me that after reaching a certain number of visitors then no one will allowed in

[MacGuffin3]

We can't ride the bus and now they say it's receding, please it can't be so!  This is what it looked like when the Love Boat went there.

[copper6606]

On 7/9/2023 at 2:05 AM, donaldsc said:

 

Why do you need a tour to go to Mendenhall.  Just take a city bus.  Really easy solution.

 

DON

It's my understanding that there are only so many permits issued to visitors for the year. That quota has been met! So you can't just take a cab there and buy a ticket... they are all gone. 

This is what a tour operator told me when I called last week. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by copper6606

[Aquahound]

I'm having a hard time understanding this.  What's to stop anyone from driving to the parking lot and viewing the glacier?  Tickets?  What tickets?  There's no gate.  It's wide open.  

 

Ref the city bus, it does not visit the glacier.  It's a city bus on a standard route.  The stop closest to the glacier is about a mile away.  But again, what's to stop people from walking to the lot?  

 

But to naturelovergirl's point, that bus is not meant for tourists.  Filling that bus will not go over well.  

Edited July 13, 2023 by Aquahound

[wreckem2013]

On 7/9/2023 at 11:37 AM, quack2 said:

Doesn't the city bus drop you a loooooong way from the Visitor Center?

It’s a 25 to 30 minute walk from bus stop to the visitor center. About 20ish minute walk to trail head for trail of time(which also has the trail head for the east loop).

 

 

[wreckem2013]

2 hours ago, copper6606 said:

It's my understanding that there are only so many permits issued to visitors for the year. That quota has been met! So you can't just take a cab there and buy a ticket... they are all gone. 

This is what a tour operator told me when I called last week. 

Taxis and tour operators have a permit quota that was exceeded by July 4.

 

If you drive your self or take public transit you can get in easily and you only have to pay the park fee if you are doing photo point or the visitor center. If you hike Trail of Time, Nugget Falls, or the east loop there is no fee.

 

 

[vampiress]

so i booked a tour through princess, will the tour be cancelled or modified?  i don't really understand how this is affecting the tours.  i get some tour operators are being denied new visits and cancelling tours, but i've only seen mention of the local operators.

 

[TSUmom]

7 hours ago, vampiress said:

so i booked a tour through princess, will the tour be cancelled or modified?  i don't really understand how this is affecting the tours.  i get some tour operators are being denied new visits and cancelling tours, but i've only seen mention of the local operators.

 

I too am curious about this - we booked a ship excursion to Mendenall glacier with a whale watching tour.

[Jeeden]

So the forestry service provides a certain number of permits to all the commercial operators each year at the beginning of the season. In years past they have expanded how many of those permits are allowed about half way through the season. They did not do that this year. 

 

Many tour operators used their initial allotment of permits in an unlimited manner assuming that the forestry service would provide more. They made a bad assumption and as a result used everything they were provided. 

 

Any tours that are continuing to operate are likely:

- Using permits that they self rationed to last the entire season

- Going places that don't require drop off permits to the visitor center (example, flying onto the glacier, kayaking up to it, going to the side of it for viewing, possibly visiting it as part of another tour like whale watching (I'm not sure how that is determined) basically not going to the visitor center parking lot to drop off/pick up people

 

Rental cars, taxis, ubers, etc are not restricted by this limitation because they do not require permits to drop off / pick up there. Mainly because:

- You are not a commercial operation using a rental car

- Uber and lift are not permitted to go into the visitor center for pick up/drop off and need to do so down the road (I think that was a battle several years ago)

 

The cruise lines all just contract out with local providers for most excursions. It is possible the cruise line has not been informed of a cancellation from the provider yet or the provider still has some permits left.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Jeeden

[vacation44]

On 7/14/2023 at 7:13 AM, TSUmom said:

I too am curious about this - we booked a ship excursion to Mendenall glacier with a whale watching tour.

We booked this too.   I am going to call NCL tomorrow and see what I can find out.   If it is going to be cancelled, I would rather know sooner than later to try to plan another excursion.    

[MacGuffin3]

If NCL is working with somebody who doesn't already have the permits in hand you may be out of luck.

https://www.ktoo.org/2023/07/21/as-mendenhall-glacier-hits-tour-capacity-juneau-visitors-are-opting-for-the-city-bus/

[rwstout]

On 7/26/2023 at 11:24 AM, vacation44 said:

We booked this too.   I am going to call NCL tomorrow and see what I can find out.   If it is going to be cancelled, I would rather know sooner than later to try to plan another excursion.    

what did you find out?