The boundlessness of the place will grab you first, for there is nowhere as far-flung as Alaska. It will alter your concept of space. Tundra, sky, mountains, and sea: Alaska is a place you don’t just visit; you experience it. Glaciers calve into the sea, Arctic tundra stretches beyond the horizon, rugged and expansive mountains reach into the sky, wildlife is abundant, and humans are scarce. The Land of the Midnight Sun has a whopping 238 million acres of public land, and you’ll have the chance to explore a slice of it.



Though part of the United States, this place is different. The around-the-clock daylight of summer, the vast geographic distance from the Lower 48, and the variety of cultures set it apart. Since 1971 we have established a state-of-the-art headquarters in the historic Matanuska Valley outside Palmer. From here (or one of our operations bases in Fairbanks or Petersburg) we’ll outfit you with everything you need for an expedition into the wild. Our headquarters is built to make your course a success, and our staff is handpicked to make your experience a great one.



No other organization offers the breadth of opportunities in Alaska that NOLS does. From the Arctic Circle to North America’s highest peak, Denali, to the Southeast Alaska archipelago, NOLS is there. Backpacking, sea kayaking, or mountaineering: No matter how you choose to explore Alaska on your NOLS course, you’ll learn all you need to know about living and traveling in this vast wilderness.

Your semester in Alaska includes everything from forested coastlines to the snow and ice of the high mountain peaks to the tundra and rivers in between.

In the long days of the northern summer, you’ll have plenty of time to learn about and travel through wild Alaska. Hiking takes you to the continent’s largest assemblage of glaciers and its greatest collection of peaks over 16,000 feet in elevation.

The semester’s mountaineering section travels even further into this area, an ideal training ground for learning to live and climb on snow and ice. Finally, you will spend 23 days sea kayaking in Prince William Sound.