Quest.

Here’s how it all works.

One-hundred days prior to you arriving in Alaska, we meet with you and your team via teleconference and walk you through the route-planning process. We utilize various imagery and mapping resources to plan our remote routes on the regular because here in the far north, there aren’t many trails to tell you where to go. There’s also very little information from anybody who’s been to the places that we will take you. So we’re on our own and reliant on modern technology and our ability to still accept a great deal of uncertainty.

We use our good friend Luc Mehl’s online tutorial to teach you the ins and outs of route planning. You can expect to spend three hour-long teleconference calls, any individual help you might need from a guide over additional calls, and somewhere around four total hours to get a basic route drawn-up. It isn’t as much time as it seems as the routes we build are only a foundational guide from which to build on in the field. At the end of your first teleconference call, we give you coordinates for your drop-off and pick-up. The rest is up to you and your team.

We build two full days into the schedule prior to departing for the field so that you and your team can have a buffer between your busy life and the profound experience you are about to have in the backcountry. We want you to sleep well, eat well, forget about your phone, and connect as a group. We also go through your gear to make sure everybody has what they need. Our prior cohorts have told us that this two-day period was one of the defining factors of their quest. It is meant to help you mentally transition and to settle your mind and body after all the build-up and travel leading to your arrival in Alaska.

The majority of Alaska is accessible only by bush plane or not at all. It is not uncommon to have two small-craft flights to get to the starting point of your quest. Alaska is also known for its weather. These two factors can sometimes combine to make for a lesson in patience. We want to put that out there just to let you know. Please come with plenty of patience to spare.

In the field, you and your team will set-out on your intended route with your guides’ keen awareness toward safety and stewardship. The landscape will prove to be challenging, no matter how well you thought you knew it on a map. Likely, your team will be forced to change course multiple times and what you had planned will unravel and be reformed into new plans, built on the fly. But that is why we go into the Alaska backcountry—it teaches us to take everything as it comes and to be careful about our expectations.

While in the field, your guides will be using their experience to read conditions of river crossings, mountain passes still covered in snow, weather, and areas frequented by bears. They will allow your team to make route decisions but will speak up when they feel it’s necessary. Each morning, you will have time to go be alone and to practice any routines you might have such as meditation, yoga, or journaling. Throughout the day, the terrain will engage your mind and body and focus you on the present.

Our quests are physically and mentally challenging. For this reason, we ask that you come prepared. You do not have to be a super experienced backpacker to come on a quest but you do need to have enough experience backpacking to understand your gear, your body, and how you handle the wilderness. The physical standard we encourage you to start from is being able to carry a fifty pound pack for ten miles within six hours. We also ask that you show up ready to work as a member of a team and to have the ability to honestly assess yourself throughout the duration of your quest. You will be challenged and Alaska will make you uncomfortable and uncertain. If you’d like to speak to us in more detail about what to expect in the field, please reach out. We are very willing to talk with you.

Deep nature is the original teacher. It is likely that the backcountry will allow space for you to see your life more clearly. You might see some changes you’d like to institute in your personal life and you might feel a calling to continue building your relationship with nature. We want to help you navigate that new space.

You will have one full day back in town with your team and your guides to debrief and discuss your quest. Perhaps you learned that being silent and not engaging with media or technology for long periods of time was of great value to your contentment. The question then becomes, how do you integrate that realization into your day to day busy life? There are many ways and we can help point you in the right direction. So, after we say goodbye in Alaska, you will have two more teleconference calls with one of our coaches who can help you navigate your integration post-Alaska.

We can also offer consulting for your own explorations in whichever wilderness is closest to you. And of course, there’s always ALICE Level 2, a quest where we help you further your relationship with a different region of Alaska and with even more autonomy.

Cost for Summer 2022 Level 1: $30,000 per person

This includes all lodging, food, well-paid guides, group gear (such as tents and stoves), all phases described above, and transportation within Alaska.

• A 50% deposit is due to reserve a spot. This is 50% refundable up to 100 days out.

• Full balance is due 100 days prior to arrival in Alaska.

• No refunds less than 100 days prior to arrival in Alaska.

ALICE’s COVID Policy:

If your trip is canceled due to COVID-related issues, we can offer you the choice of either a 50% refund up to 100 days out or a trip credit up to the amount deposited for three years.