Chugach Backpacking & Hiking Guide

CMI offers guided backpacking and hiking trips in the Chugach Mountains from June into October for all ability and experience levels. In CMI’s opinion, the Chugach is the mightiest range on the planet. It’s huge, rugged, wild, and heavily glaciated. It spans the entirety of southcentral Alaska from Anchorage to near the panhandle.

As the name “Chugach Mountain Institute” suggests, the Chugach Mountains are a very special place worth honoring by an institute dedicated to improving relationships between people and planet through outdoor education and guided mountain adventures. No other guide service is as experienced and qualified as CMI to guide you in the Chugach. Fly-in and walk-in trips available from numerous locations.

Explore the links below for more information. Call 907-831-9686 or email Info@ChugachSnow.org to start planning an unforgettably sublime wilderness experience in this most spectacular area.

Hiking & Backpacking Valdez, Alaska

This is the heart of the Chugach. Valdez is a small community, but with all modern conveniences and services, nestled in a spectacular coastal area with big mountains and glaciers. The terrain is steep, rugged, and wild. It is a temperate rainforest, so it can be quite wet, but all that precipitation is what makes it such a wonderfully lush and glaciated environment. When it’s sunny, the views second to none. CMI offers guided trips, instruction, and outdoor education from the road, via water taxi, and fly-in.

Hiking & Backpacking Thompson Pass

Thompson Pass is the highest elevation road-accessible place in the Chugach. That makes for relatively easy access to the alpine where there are endless options for adventure. It’s about a 20-40 minute drive from the town of Valdez, depending on where you start your trip. Flying-in from Valdez is an option to explore the more remote areas. This area is still quite glaciated and lush with vegetation, but drier than coastal Valdez.

Hiking & Backpacking Tiekel Valley

This is the drier, interior Central Chugach. Often when it’s precipitating in Valdez and on Thompson Pass, it’s just partly cloudy here. This area is accessible from the road system with trip starting points 45 minutes to an hour from the town of Valdez. Fly-in trips are possible from both Glennallen and Valdez.