Cirque of the Unclimbables Trip > Detailed Itinerary
Day 0: WHITEHORSE, YUKON.
Hopefully you enjoyed your travels and have arrived safely in Whitehorse, the Yukon’s capital city, nestled among the wilderness.
Please arrive in Whitehorse in time for an orientation meeting at 8:30 pm the night before our departure. Guests are responsible for accommodation and meals while in Whitehorse. Whitehorse is a splendid little city and we recommend booking some additional time at either the beginning or the end of your trip to see Whitehorse.
Day 1:
Cabin Fever Adventures staff will pick you up from your hotels starting at 7:00 am with a planned departure from Whitehorse by 8:00 am. We will drive southeast on the Alaska Highway for five hours, stopping for a picnic lunch in Watson Lake. The last two hours of our travels will be on the Robert Campbell Highway as we reach our destination at Finlayson Lake. Here we will rendezvous with our float-plane charter that will fly us and our gear 150 km (93 miles) across some of Canada’s most remote wilderness to our landing site on Glacier Lake, Northwest Territories. After saying goodbye to our pilot we will make camp on the shores of this stunning, aqua-blue lake with towering mountain pinnacles surrounding it, and dream of the alpine adventures that await us in the coming days.
Day 2-6:
Our route around the Cirque will take us from our landing site on the stunning Glacier Lake, up into the alpine surrounding the Cirques. Here at a series of high alpine lakes we will set a base-camp to explore the high country and investigate a possible pass that will hopefully allow us to access a glacial lake at the back side of the Cirques, set in one of the steepest, highest-walled valleys in all of Canada. After exploring this alpine area we will descend to Glacier Lake and camp for the night once again.
Day 7-10:
After a relaxing night on Glacier Lake we will make our way west along the valley bottom and then up to the very base of these mammoth granite spires. We will camp at the “fairy-meadows” after making a steep and challenging climb of 750 m (2460 ft). The meadows were named for their quaint, fairytale-like appearance amongst an army of monolithic giants. If you ever imagined standing in a scene from “The Lord of the Rings”, well this is as close as reality can get you. After spending a two nights at the Cirques we will descend once again to Glacier Lake and our rendezvous with the float-plane the following morning.
Note: As this is a new route we don’t have a library of images available to show you. Please google “Cirque of the Unclimbables” under images and you will see numerous images of this hiking region.
Please Note: This trip operates in an expedition format and due to the variables of weather, and the needs and safety of the participants, Cabin Fever Adventures can not guarantee that the itinerary will proceed as listed above. The itinerary may be modified at the discretion of the guide.
Cabin Fever Adventures expressly suggests that participants book at least one additional day in the Yukon at the end of their trip to avoid problems associated with delays such as, but not limited to:
- Delayed air charters (inclement weather, wild-fire smoke)
- Delayed transportation (mechanical breakdown, unsafe road conditions or closures)
- Delay of wilderness itinerary (inclement weather, wind-bound, injury, illness)
Cabin Fever Adventures can not be held responsible for any expenses you may incur associated with delays of our wilderness trips. Delays could be several days in length under severe circumstances.
What if this itinerary doesn’t quite fit your needs? Cabin Fever Adventures is more than willing to modify an itinerary to fit your needs. We can:
- Add time to the trip for greater leisure, fishing opportunities, photography etc.
- Some trips can be safely shortened in length of time, assuming clients are willing to expend more effort paddling, hiking or cycling as required by the itinerary.
- Some routes can be shortened in terms of distance.
Combine this trip with other Yukon attractions and or wilderness activities.
