Why should I choose your tour over a Fairbanks tour? ▼
- My tours are all private. A comparable private tour in Fairbanks costs MUCH more (by as much as multiple thousands) because Fairbanks tour operators are focused on booking a van full of tourists every night and you would have to pay for their empty seats. In fact, groups as small as two people may find my rates cheaper than some non-private tours in Fairbanks, and larger groups will find my rates significantly cheaper. I consult directly with you regarding where we go to view and how long we stay out, and you receive 100% of my attention when we're photographing.
- I provide clients an option to shift their tour date after they arrive to align with an optimal weather/aurora forecast, and clients may purchase additional tours during their stay at discounted rates if they desire more guided time photographing the aurora. Other tour operators simply don't offer such flexibility or discounts. Be careful when they mention their high "success" rates; what they call a "successful" aurora sighting may be the kind I wouldn't bother to view from my bedroom window, let alone drive 300 miles overnight to see, and operators often cancel tours when viewing conditions are poor. If you want a high chance of seeing a good aurora display during your tour and capturing good images, you need flexibility.
- In my standard service area, it is much easier to escape light pollution. In fact, you can view the aurora through your window at the Lodge at Black Rapids or many places in Delta Junction.
- If you want mountains in your aurora images, Fairbanks is the wrong place to be! Delta Junction is close to abundant natural scenery including mountains, rivers, and lakes that can be used to create impressive foreground in aurora images. At the Lodge at Black Rapids, the mountains are literally in the backyard.
- I am willing to help you create the aurora images you want to make. Many Fairbanks tour operators simply drive you to a location with a clear view of the northern sky, whereas I can help you plan a shot [like the ones I take][1]. If you want to try something adventurous like snowshoeing to a glacier or climbing a mountain ridge to shoot the aurora, I'm all ears—good luck finding another tour guide who will do that!
- Some other tour operators will only pick up customers staying at hotels within the city limits of Fairbanks, which is a poor place to stay if you want to see the aurora because of the light pollution. They may also not pick you up at a vacation rental property, cabin, or other alternative lodging.
- Young children are welcome on my tours. Some other tour operators do not allow young children because of their potential to inconvenience other customers.
- Customers interested in daytime adventures including hiking, snowshoeing, ice cave treks, and landscape or wildlife photography can save money by booking an Aurora & Adventure package.
[1]: /aurora-borealis
What will I experience during a tour? ▼
On the night of your tour at a time arranged with you in advance (usually between 8 to 11 PM) I will pick you up at your lodging establishment in the tour vehicle. Smaller groups ride in a Nissan Pathfinder SUV with 4WD, heated seats, and a dual panel moonroof--the perfect ride for aurora viewing on cold nights. Larger groups generally ride in a 12-passenger van. Depending on where you are staying, I may help you adjust your camera settings and practice shooting before we leave the hotel so you don’t have to fumble around in the cold trying to learn! If we haven't already planned a shooting location, I will describe the different places we could go that night and offer recommendations based on the weather, moonlight, the amount of snow cover on the ground, the dynamics of your group, the kind of shots you are hoping to achieve, and any other relevant factors. I typically don't drive more than 50-75 miles one-way to reach a shooting location or escape clouds. Typical mileage often ranges from 5 to 50 miles, however, and depends on where you stay and what you want to shoot. We may visit several locations to add a little diversity to our shots, and we will stay out as late as you want with me as your coach photographing the aurora. Typically, clients are returned to their hotel somewhere between 2-4 AM, though this may vary based on aurora activity, weather, where we go, and your personal need for sleep. Members of your group who become tired or feel cold can relax in the warm vehicle. You also have a high chance of seeing moose, caribou, lynx, and other wildlife during your tour.
Is the aurora portrait included in the price? ▼
Yes, conditions permitting, I will take a portrait of you and your group under the aurora during your tour for no extra charge, and you’ll receive the full-resolution digital image file(s) after your tour. Obviously, this is impossible if the aurora doesn’t show up. If you have a special portrait idea in mind or your portrait is your highest priority, please let me know beforehand. Be prepared to hold your breath and stand completely still without blinking for several seconds!
What lodging do you recommend in the Delta Junction area? ▼
The Delta Junction area has several cozy vacation rentals available that can be found on Airbnb/VRBO/etc., some with great views of the aurora. Most of these are in quiet, wooded locations where you might have a moose come through your yard! I also recommend staying at the Garden B&B in Delta Junction if you are looking for a nice place with no light pollution and proximity to restaurants, a grocery store, good cell phone service, etc. The Lodge at Black Rapids is an upscale lodge located in a more remote, very scenic area of the Alaska Range and is a great place for people celebrating special occasions or photographers looking for landscape photography opportunities. Some other locations in Delta Junction that I recommend are the Alaska Country Inn, Diamond Willow Inn, Hillcrest B&B, and (for customers on a tighter budget) the Trophy Lodge or Alaska Frontier Inn, though you might have to drive a mile or two down the road for better views of the aurora at some of these places. Most of these properties require a call to check rates/availability or to book. I disrecommend Silver Fox Roadhouse (due to its long distance from the town center) and the Draft House & Lodge (trucker motel) due to low quality accommodations.
Can I book a tour if I’m not staying in Delta Junction or at the Lodge at Black Rapids? ▼
Yes, but only on short notice. I only conduct tours in Fairbanks when the auroral activity & weather forecasts are favorable, and this is not possible judge until approximately 3 days in advance. Note that customers staying in the Fairbanks/North Pole areas are also charged an extra $100 due to the higher logistics fees I face conducting tours in the area. I do not offer tours for customers staying in more remote lodging such as Chena Hot Springs, Northern Sky Lodge, Borealis Basecamp, Aurora Borealis Lodge, etc., under any circumstances. Unless you have non-refundable lodging booked already, I highly recommend staying in my standard service area because the available natural scenery for photography is better, closer, not crowded whatsoever, and I am much more familiar with it. Good aurora viewing spots near Fairbanks have become well-known and are typically crowded when the skies are clear, especially Cleary Summit and Murphy Dome. I avoid spots like this whenever possible but there are simply not as many scenic, public, and uncrowded viewing locations near Fairbanks. Note: Many travelers think Chena Hot Springs Resort is the best spot to view the aurora, but there is nothing special about it viewing-wise compared to any other location away from light pollution. (It does have hot springs, though.) Be advised Chena Hot Springs is also at the dead-end of a 50+ mile road and the light pollution of Fairbanks is at the other end, so your options are limited if it's cloudy there. Their "tour" where they drop you off in a heated building on a hilltop without a guide for several hours is also low quality and they take their customers' money even when they know the viewing conditions will be 100% cloudy and their customers will be unsuccessful and generally miserable waiting for nothing with nowhere to go. I don't recommend Chena Hot Springs as an aurora-viewing location unless you want to experience the hot springs and the other non-aurora activities available there, most of which can be done on a day trip.
Do I get a refund if I don't see the aurora? ▼
No, all tours become non-refundable less than 10 days in advance of the first night of your reservation. The weather and quality of the aurora display you might see are always uncertain, so I design my tour options with more flexibility than those offered by other tour operators to give you a better chance of a decent aurora sighting during your tour. In rare cases where the forecast appears hopeless during your entire reservation, I try to shift tour dates for customers if possible or I may cancel a tour at my own discretion, but I don't leave that decision up to customers because many experience mild to extreme anxiety if they see even one cloud in the 10-day forecast before their trip and may unnecessarily consider canceling when conditions actually turn out to be good. While I can almost always find a sliver of aurora on a given night through gaps in the cloud cover, on some nights this may be the only thing we see and if I expect that to be a high probability then I will explain the risk/reward to customers and depending on the situation we may cancel the tour or take a chance and possibly get lucky...or unlucky. Like wildlife viewing or other natural phenomena that can't be controlled, there is always chance for disappointment, and I incur significant cost (and loss of sleep) when I conduct tours whether the aurora satisfies or not. If you are booking a few days in advance, you will have a reasonable weather/aurora forecast to consider before booking and I will give you my honest opinion regarding what you might see. You will receive expert aurora photography instruction whether the aurora shows up or not so you will be ready to photograph on your own during the rest of your Alaska visit, and I will also help you plan shooting locations and track the aurora during your entire visit to Alaska, not just during your tour. I’m dedicated to making your aurora quest successful during your stay in Alaska.
Will the aurora be active when I visit? ▼
Aurora forecasts are always estimates. Forecasts made less than 3 days in advance are usually roughly accurate, but beyond 3 days they become less reliable. You can check the 27-day aurora forecast published by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which gives an estimate of the maximum Kp index expected each day for the next 27 days. It's based on UTC time (which is 8 or 9 hours ahead of Alaska time depending on whether Daylight Saving Time is in effect), so be advised that strong displays often show up one night earlier in Alaska. Usually, you can expect more intense aurora displays the higher the Kp index. Also note that the Kp forecast is an estimate of the maximum that will be seen on a given day, and that the Kp index and aurora may vary considerably over the night. (It is very common to see the aurora brighten and fade repeatedly throughout the night, even when the Kp index is high.) At Kp 1, the aurora is visible from Delta Junction low on the horizon, and at Kp 2 or 3 it’s possible to see great displays higher in the sky. Many of my best aurora photos were taken at Kp 2 or 3. At Kp 5 and above, the aurora is usually rocking across the sky—you have to see it in person to understand how amazing it truly is. At Kp 7, 8, 9…let’s just say it’s worth buying your plane ticket at the last minute. Reliable aurora forecasts are generally only available 3 days or less in advance, which can be found on the SWPC’s website or Spaceweatherlive.com. When the aurora is expected to reach Kp 5 and above, a “geomagnetic storm” watch will be announced by the SWPC and there are a number of websites and apps available that will provide alerts. The Aurora Borealis Notifications Facebook page is a great resource for tracking aurora sightings in real-time and seeing what’s going on in Norway, Iceland and Canada before the skies get dark in Alaska. I’m happy to offer my honest assessment, but understand that it will only be an educated guess, and that the aurora frequently tends to surprise in both good and bad ways. (Even the scientists at the SWPC are completely wrong sometimes.) The aurora can sometimes be unexpectedly stronger near the fall and spring equinoxes, but good displays are possible anytime the skies are dark enough to view them. Note that twilight persists throughout the night during the summer months in Alaska making the aurora generally impossible to see from late April to mid-August. Long-term, we are advancing toward the maximum of the current 11-year solar cycle, so great aurora displays should continue to be relatively frequent for the next several years and potentially improve over the next 2-3 years. The next solar minimum should occur somewhere around 2030 +/-, and there will be less frequent great aurora displays around that time.
How do I select the date for my tour if I book the Flexible 3-Night Option? ▼
There is no deadline to choose the date for your tour. I will be in touch with you before your arrival and throughout your stay to provide recommendations based on the weather and aurora forecast. Generally, the first night in your window with relatively clear skies will be the one I recommend, though this might not be the case if an enhanced aurora is expected on a different night and you aren’t interested in multiple tours. We may also wait until late afternoon to make a go/no-go call on a given night, but will usually make the call before dinner so you may enjoy your evening. Clients make the ultimate decision!
What happens if my tour is canceled? ▼
Your tour may be canceled due to severe weather that presents a risk to your safety, but not simply due to cloudy weather, snow, or cold temperatures. (-40 °F is a possibility!) For example, a tour might be canceled due to a high wind warning producing excessively low wind chills or a blizzard creating dangerous driving conditions. If your tour is canceled, you will be offered a full refund for the tour or the choice to reschedule your tour without charge if there is availability. If you reserve a multi-night window for your tour, I will not cancel your tour or extend your tour window for severe weather except in the rare circumstance that your entire tour window is affected. Tours may be canceled for other reasons beyond our control, including natural disasters, road closures, etc., in which case I will provide the same options to refund or reschedule your tour. Trip insurance is recommended for clients in case they miss their tour due to travel delays, illness, etc.
If no one in my group is a photographer, is there any benefit to booking a tour? ▼
Yes. People seldom realize until they arrive in Alaska how difficult tracking the aurora and weather here can be. (Tip: Check the overnight weather, not the daytime forecast!) In fact, just figuring out which direction is north is tough for many. The aurora tends to follow certain patterns throughout the night, which take considerable time to learn from many long nights watching the aurora, so people without any experience will be at an extreme disadvantage trying to decide where & when to look. Many people often don’t recognize weak aurora displays, which may look black and white and appear like clouds in the sky or the glow from distant city lights. On cloudy nights, we may sometimes find clearer skies by driving 50+ miles on icy roads that can be extremely daunting to those without experience driving on ice, though usually we drive about 25 miles or less to find an optimal viewing location. (Please drive slow and watch for moose.) Even though most people who visit Interior Alaska in the winter do so to see the aurora, you'd be surprised how hard it is for many of them to stay up at night to look for it on their own; waking up every hour to check for the aurora is a great way to miss an amazing display that only lasts for a few minutes! By booking a tour, you'll have me as your local expert to make sure you are looking for the right things in the right places at the right times, and you'll be "forced" to stay up and look for the aurora at least once. And I will also take your portrait under the aurora!
Can I join a tour that has already been reserved by others? ▼
No. Tours are private and booked on a first-come, first-served basis. You may register for the waiting list if there is no availability on your desired date(s).
How do I purchase additional tours during my stay? ▼
Clients who wind up with great weather and aurora activity during their stay may wish to purchase more than one tour. If you reserve a multi-night window, you are able to book an additional tour on any night during your window for $300 + $50 per each extra person with guaranteed availability. All customers may purchase additional tours outside their reserved window for $400 + $75 per each extra person if there is availability. (You may not swap or add new people on additional tours without paying $75 per person for each new person.) Clients simply indicate to me they would like another tour and payment of the additional fee will be arranged then. For example, a family of six books a 3-night window for $875 and decides to pay $550 for an additional tour on the last night of their window after having a successful first tour, paying a total of $1425 for two tours. Two non-private tours with another well-known Fairbanks tour operator would cost this family almost $3600+, and they would not be able to guarantee availability on all three nights in advance without paying full price for THREE tours, or $4800+! If you want to book multiple aurora photography tours during your Alaska visit, you could possibly save thousands of dollars with me!
How should I dress? ▼
Temperatures in Interior Alaska can drop below 0 °F (-18 °C) at night by mid-October and -40 °F is a possibility starting in November and lasting through March. To stay marginally comfortable in temperatures this cold you need to wear multiple thick layers, including a heavy base layer for your upper and lower body, insulated pants, a mid-weight upper layer covered by a heavy upper layer, and a big, puffy coat on over everything. Wool or synthetic materials work well for base layers but cotton is actually great for your other layers—trust me, you won't be sweating if you're not engaging in physical activity so your cotton layers will retain their insulating properties. Tuck your upper layers into your pants to help retain the heat produced by your body. You need mittens, not gloves, and you should wear glove liners so you can take your mittens off briefly if you need dexterity. Do not handle any cold objects with bare hands, especially metal—this includes your camera, tripod, door handles, etc., and avoid tightly gripping objects or letting your fingers rest against cold objects even if wearing gloves or mittens. (Example: Carry your tripod in your arms rather than holding it with your hands.) If your fingers or hands start to get cold, it's better to take your mittens off and place your fingers directly against your body until they warm back up. Hand warmers inside your mittens can work wonders. You'll need a head covering and something to cover your face on very cold nights such as a balaclava or scarf. (The tip of your nose and ears are more susceptible to frostbite.) You need heavy winter boots rated to -40 °F that don't fit too tightly with wool socks on to prevent cutting off circulation to your toes. I have hand warmers and toe warmers to help keep your digits warm, which are at the highest risk of frostbite, but you may want them for the rest of your trip. We'll have a heated vehicle nearby to warm up if you need to, and moving around will help you stay warm. If you dread the cold, consider a September & early October trip, or late March & early April when temperatures are warmer at night. You can rent full cold weather gear in Fairbanks, although I have some limited gear available to loan clients if they only need it for their tour. Please let me know if you need help procuring winter gear. PHOTOGRAPHING IN SUBZERO COLD IS EXTREMELY CHALLENGING! Your fingers will get cold, so come mentally prepared. Many people have seen temperatures around 0°F and below, but most have never stood still outside in it for long periods. Don't underestimate it!
What photography equipment do I need? ▼
If you’re serious about taking high-quality images of the aurora, you need a full-frame camera, either DSLR or mirrorless. The larger sensor sizes on full-frame cameras result in much lower noise which is critical when shooting at the high ISO settings required in aurora photography, and they also provide a wider field-of-view for a given lens which allows you to capture more of the sky and aurora in your images. However, a newer crop-sensor DSLR or mirrorless camera can suffice for beginners and those on a tighter budget, but note that older crop-sensor cameras may have extremely limited high ISO performance. (My old crop-sensor Canon Rebel Xti from ~2007 looked terrible at ISO 800 and maxed out at ISO 1600. My full-frame Canon 6D from 2012 produced better image quality at ISO 3200!) You also want a wide to ultra-wide angle lens, in the range of 11-24 mm for a full-frame camera or 10-16mm for a crop-sensor camera. Preferably, this lens should have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster to permit shorter exposures which preserve more detail in the aurora, but f/4.0 lenses are still usable as long as your camera offers good image quality at high ISO speeds. Longer focal length lenses can be used for creative effect, especially portraits, but they don’t provide an angle-of-view wide enough to capture an expansive aurora display. Some third-party lenses perform very well like the Sigma Art 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM, while some cheaper (and mostly lower quality) third-party lenses (Rokinon, Tokina, etc.) will still work better than a cheap kit lens or a lens with a longer focal length. A tripod is mandatory! For more info, see my aurora photography guide.
Do you rent photography equipment? ▼
Yes, see the rentals page. You can also find quality gear for rent at Alaska Camera in Fairbanks, Stewart’s Photo in Anchorage, or from online vendors like BorrowLenses.com or LensRentals.com.
Where can I learn more about the aurora and aurora photography? ▼
My aurora photography guide How to Artistically Photograph The Aurora provides a good primer on photographing the aurora, including information on the camera gear and settings you should be using as well as tips for planning and composing your shots. For an exhaustive treatment, I recommend Patrick Endres's e-book. There are many aurora photography tutorials on the web, but most are simply concerned with gear and camera settings rather than the artistic aspect, and some of them offer poor or outdated information (camera capabilities have changed a lot in the past 10 years since aurora photography has become popular), so be careful what you read. I'm happy to answer questions you may have in advance, especially about cameras & lenses.
When should I visit? ▼
It depends on what else you want to see and do during your Alaska visit. If you come in September you can see the fall colors and enjoy hiking during your stay. If you come in December you can contemplate the serene austerity of winter in the Alaska Range while you relax by the fireplace. If you come in early March you can see the Iditarod or enjoy playing in the snow with a decent chance of "warm" temperatures during the day. Yes, March statistically features slightly more clear nights but it's not a guarantee, and I've seen jaw-dropping aurora shows in every month ranging from late August to mid-April. If you plan a stay of a week or more you've got a great chance at seeing the aurora no matter what month you visit while also having plenty of time to experience the rest of Alaska's offerings. If you stay three nights, you'll spend almost as much time traveling as you do enjoying your vacation and you could easily wind up with three cloudy nights in a row no matter what month you visit, or you might catch the aurora during a period of low activity. If you're making a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska to see the aurora, stay for 10 days or two weeks, but don't waste your time sitting around a hotel in Fairbanks or Chena Hot Springs waiting for the clouds to clear every night. Have yourself a memorable vacation in case the aurora fails to appear or meet your expectations.
Why are aurora tours so expensive?! ▼
Besides costs including tour vehicle operating expenses, photography equipment & software, website hosting and advertising, etc., a lot of work goes into preparing clients for their trips before their tours ever start. Tourists who haven't seen the aurora before and who haven't been somewhere as cold as Alaska generally have A LOT of questions and need help planning their trips beyond what I can cover with an FAQ. Like standard portrait photography services, additional work also goes into processing your aurora portraits and delivering them to you after your tour is over. So, while the cost may seem excessive for a single night's work, it isn't bad when you consider the pre- and post-tour work along with the aforementioned costs, and the private nature of my tours. Aurora tours (including others besides mine) are also expensive in general because everything is more expensive in Interior Alaska, from groceries to winter heating bills. Also, the aurora is not visible all the time due to weather or periods of very low auroral activity, and Alaska visitation rates vary widely throughout the season (fewer customers visit in the coldest months of Nov-Dec-Jan) which translates into an undpredictable stream of customer bookings for most operators. So, in order to maintain a quality tour experience while simultaneously remaining available for customers, tour prices must compensate for the limited opportunity available to serve clients. You may find that some aurora tour operators (like me) offer other services and tours or work second jobs in order to survive and keep their prices reasonable.