Top 5 West Glacier Helicopter Tours: Reviews & Recommendations
So, you’re considering taking a helicopter tour over West Glacier? That, truly, is an amazing idea! There’s really no better way, it’s almost true, to experience the grandeur of Glacier National Park than from above. The park’s massive scale and raw beauty is so breathtaking when seen from the air. It just provides, in some respects, a completely new way to appreciate the place. Finding the right tour, that might be the hard part. With several operators and packages to choose from, well it’s nearly true that the choices seem endless. I mean, that’s where this guide comes in! I’ve actually put together a rundown of the top five West Glacier helicopter tours, to help you decide. In it, you will find a trip that is actually perfect for you and, honestly, you get to make the most of your visit.
Glacier National Park From Above: An Introduction to Helicopter Tours
Glacier National Park. It actually stretches for over a million acres, so seeing all its marvels from the ground is, basically, tricky, is that true? That’s where helicopter tours shine! Taking a helicopter offers you, kind of, an advantage point to see parts of the park others might miss, you know? Getting above allows for truly expansive views of those bright turquoise lakes, you know the ones, of course! Like your rivers snaking through thick forests. All these jagged, glacier-carved peaks! As a matter of fact, it is worth thinking of helicopter tours like quick trips to otherwise far-off places. The journey is both efficient, because it is getting there quickly, and just simply remarkable.
Yet, beyond just getting an overview of the landscape, that being the rivers and lakes, it’s more or less true helicopter tours present the opportunity to witness areas otherwise hard to get to. Inaccessible valleys. The high mountain lakes that would often require days of intense hiking. Plus, flying does let you enjoy all these views without too many people around, typically, just yourself and your fellow passengers.
Before really picking a tour, that really could be anything, of course! It’s usually important to remember to weigh what each tour provides. Flight duration. Route. If you’re there for any commentary about what you’re seeing. Price, clearly that’s an issue! These are things to think about before picking.
Top 5 West Glacier Helicopter Tours
I want to say, putting together this list involved researching all of the top tours. Looking into tour operator reputations. Weighing prices, of course! Also factoring in just what kind of sights you could see. What kind of amenities. A bit more importantly, all the factors that can influence how fun your helicopter ride could be!
1. Rockies Heli Tours: The Grand Park Experience
Rockies Heli Tours, for sure, gives you a genuinely impressive exploration of the park. You almost always, find people love their ‘Grand Park Experience’, right, so that trip is almost always great because it shows off so many iconic landmarks, is that true? The journey often starts by flying over Lake McDonald, you might’ve heard of it! It is that bright lake you see in those Instagram shots. From there, the tour often continues over towards the jagged peaks surrounding Logan Pass, very great for photos! After, that flight route goes over the glaciers themselves, sometimes. Honestly, some other secret viewpoints known only to the locals! You might just be riding in the hands of somebody who really, really likes this area, really. And basically wants to give an alright overview.
Yet, it goes further. One really nice thing? It’s that their helicopters tend to have big windows for great views, typically! That makes taking pictures way easier. As I was saying, pilots know this landscape well and usually want to talk about both the geographical details and the local history. Usually a good pick!
2. Glacier Heli Tours: The Livingstone Tour
Next up is Glacier Heli Tours. Usually thought of to have all of these awesome tour offerings. The one trip most people like? The Livingstone Tour, more or less, that lets you see this remote northern stretch of Glacier National Park. Typically, that includes the famous Livingstone mountain range. On a Livingstone tour, in a way, you see remote cirques, right? That’s usually where glaciers were ages ago, seriously, or even just those alpine meadows really way too high to get to any other way. You’d not, typically, wanna climb that without a helicopter, I’d assume!
Their selling point tends to be about making the ride custom for everyone, more or less. In short, the pilot usually goes along with what any individual wants to see, almost always that includes flying over locations where folks have spotted bears. Other things of interest to that specific passenger group.
3. BEARPAW Helicopters: The Swan Mountain Flight
BEARPAW Helicopters offers, could be, really interesting excursions centered mostly around getting folks out of the city, in fact. Among all their offerings, more or less, ‘The Swan Mountain Flight’ usually really shines as offering impressive panoramic views over not only Glacier National Park, honestly, yet all of the Flathead National Forest as well, alright?
Typically the best part, literally, includes getting up really close to those distinctive mountain peaks located close to Swan Lake. That tour includes the kinds of sights that allow someone to truly take in the dramatic geographic divide that marks this stretch of Montana, clearly! Often picked just for seeing how that topography interacts within the wilderness system!
4. Heli Montana: The Glacier Explorer
Heli Montana’s, in other words, known for being a provider that goes all about just ensuring folks are given detailed, intimate flying tours. ‘The Glacier Explorer’ is one trip folks really love, actually. It’s made to give you just a full immersion look over everything across Glacier National Park’s interior. So, of course, the flight plan shows off glaciers (duh!), alright. Yet also hidden alpine lakes. All those, naturally, stunning, remote waterfalls! Also featuring some detailed insight from whoever is in charge of flying the helicopter.
I want to say, you would not miss all the different geological highlights as all this commentary provides context about not just how that terrain shows. Also including context about those factors forming it up over so many thousands of years!
5. Three Rivers Aviation: The North Fork Adventure
Three Rivers Aviation generally centers its flying trips on remote park destinations, as a matter of fact. One tour which often interests people? Their ‘North Fork Adventure’ actually gives people the rare opportunity of seeing parts located far outside of West Glacier’s central area. More or less flying into an otherwise completely, totally inaccessible place. In short, just this means really incredible perspectives featuring the park, also highlighting its rugged, often unpeopled, regions.
In that case, you’ll be up seeing these pristine rivers plus expanses featuring prime wildlife habitat, typically! Don’t skip on binoculars!
How to Choose the Right Tour For You
Thinking about tour specifics, that’s usually the hardest thing! Right, so before picking just which flight might be most fun it might actually help thinking over a few critical considerations. Honestly, just what that includes might really alter someone’s preferences so, honestly, listen to these considerations before you actually commit, alright?
Usually important might really be thinking over just what stuff each tour says they provide for travelers, actually. Is it that everyone actually wants specifically seeing a specific landmark? Basically then it’s probably not worth actually forgetting to pick that corresponding trip with that view you almost literally paid to have! So if that’s Livingstone Glacier you’ll often almost pay whatever someone is requesting! A certain alpine lake. Wildlife viewing spots.
Think on budget restrictions. Are there ways anyone actually wants reducing how costly your trips would typically become, okay? Because in that case? Longer excursions aren’t the way to go for reducing that price, actually! Some tour operators typically give those price reductions, for example, those that are off-season, literally reducing down pricing compared against peak durations.
Tips for Making the Most of Your Helicopter Tour
You’ll really get the most from a tour so long as you really follow the stuff written down beneath, okay? Those things usually guarantee how successful folks’ outings come when wanting incredible viewing!
You would have the best photographs, alright, with stuff, very, such as polarizing filters over cell phones. Actually preventing down all any that excessive light, and seriously reducing on sun’s glare from interfering across any photograph taken via that helicopter. Try out those sunglasses with lens film!
Wearing those right clothes. The perfect, really, layers usually prepare folk really right versus drastic highs and then lows with temperatures, usually getting colder up through altitudes! Don’t disregard any advice offered there!
West Glacier Helicopter Tours: Are They Safe?
Thinking that a flight might typically come across all as frightening actually just comes out to someone’s thinking everything can feel really dangerous. Is that not real life? Is anyone worrying they would typically get this bad impression by helicopter operations due really much from having concerns regarding passenger wellbeing? No sweat! Actually all this goes generally addressed below through thinking over any critical factor guaranteeing each tourist is feeling safe when going through a glacier helicopter adventure, typically, yeah?
Almost certainly really making a booking via operators having well tracked histories and a clear indication across both that FAA’s approval/certifications! These things probably guarantee strict wellbeing laws come adhered really strictly via companies.
Just go closely listening directly onto all these initial safety trainings just being demonstrated on travelers via pilot teams on scene before just moving right out with things that excursion trip. Often ask a lot! And then usually be ready for any questions!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is Typically the Cost with a West Glacier Helicopter Tour?
Rates generally differ through route distances! Tour amenities, in that case budget with somewhere around starting prices beginning approximately near from close against about $200 almost onto near $600 (but actually make really quite confirm over whatever is this ongoing cost because operators just keep these changed regularly sometimes!)
Can Sightseers Actually Be Prepared About Turbulence at Air When Traveling All Though over Those Mountains?
For what? That is really very very unusual with severe fluctuations for being experienced. Skilled captains could probably adapt a helicopter safely through getting flown usually around any potential issues across turbulence. Really that isn’t that extremely standard with experiences being completely unsettling! These experts do manage doing really solid performances.
Just what’s, honestly, typically any, seriously ideal one on, with schedules across any flying via this location when anyone usually wishes acquiring better sight over pictures via a plane?
Actually, those daylight spans at the onset but those daylight points at ends during whatever day, for instance, really, you know, mornings/late night, would often seriously showcase ideal picture capturing because sunshine seriously highlights shapes inside topography giving just better shadows. I like it actually myself really that those, too, look beautiful through photographs being brought via drones at any local park!
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