Yak tours.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: TRAVEL - Brief article

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"Alpine Ascents is a mountaineering company. We climb the highest peaks on every continent and we do a variety of trips, probably twenty or thirty trips around the world," says Todd Burleson, founder and owner.

He was raised on Sitkalidak, an island off Kodiak, until his family moved to Anchorage. At eighteen, he left Alaska to climb around the world. When he came back, he decided to bring the yak experience with him. "I spent so many guiding hikes on Everest and that area, and we used yaks all the time. I kind of fell in love with them."

For the past eleven years, Alpine Ascents has offered an incredible Talkeetna area experience: Hikers are responsible for moving themselves, and the yaks do the rest. "What's unique about these tours is that you're able to go into Alaska without carrying a heavy backpack: it's for everybody. We have ice chests on the yaks and...