randy over skagway grizzly falls zipline

Excursion Review: Grizzly Falls Ziplining in Skagway, Alaska

March 5, 2025 Randy Young

Alaska ports of call are some of the most breathtaking and stunning places you’ll see on a cruise. But sometimes, you want to do a bit more than take in the sites. While I was on the Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas, we decided to go for a bit more action when we tried ziplining in the old town on Skagway. We booked the Grizzly Falls Ziplining tour and had quite the adventure. Follow along for our full review.

An Action-packed Excursion in Skagway

If you Google excursions in Skagway, the activities you’ll see most involve the White Pass Scenic Railway. It’s a 2-3 hour ride to the top of the White Pass Summit and back down. Many excursions will pair this with another activity as well. For our stop in Skagway, we were looking for something a bit more active.

Then I saw Grizzly Falls Ziplining Expedition, where you zipline through the tree tops and over waterfalls, and that sounded like a lot of fun. The activity has 10 zip lines (including 2 training lines to start) and four suspension bridges. The four-hour excursion still allowed us to explore the town of Skagway afterward and before we had to be back on the ship.

Booking Grizzly Falls Ziplining Expedition

By the time we decided to book the excursion, the official one through Royal Caribbean was sold out. So, instead, we booked through a third-party excursion provider. Typically, I book my excursions through the cruise line. I find a lot of peace of mind in knowing that the ship will not leave without me. In addition, if anything happens (like a port gets canceled or the ship is late), Royal Caribbean takes care of everything and automatically credits your account. In this case, it wasn’t an option, and since we had a long time at port, I wasn’t overly concerned about not being back in time.

Tip: Book your Alaska excursions early. With more and more people cruising to Alaska each year, excursions routinely sell out months before your sailing. Also, unlike many Caribbean ports, there typically aren’t a ton of vendors with excursions right at the pier (especially the popular ones).

Typically, booking third-party excursions can also be cheaper or have smaller groups than the massive groups that cruise ships book.

Vendor	Cost (2025 season)	Link
Viator	$261	Viator Excursion Page
Royal Caribbean	$246 – $329*	Royal Caribbean Website
Carnival	$214.99	Carnival Website
Norwegian	$299.99	Norwegian Web site

*Royal Caribbean uses dynamic pricing and the cost can change depending on your ship/sailing and the date you purchase it.

The actual provider who did the tour, AlaskaX or Alaska Excursions, is the same one who did the Royal Caribbean official excursion. They kept us separate from the guests who booked through Royal Caribbean, but it clearly was the same provider.

See Grizzly Falls Ziplining Expedition on Viator

Getting to the Zipline

We met our tour group at the end of the pier and loaded on a small shuttle. Our group consisted of twenty-one people, half from our ship and the other half from the other two ships in port. The ages ranged from a 10-year-old boy to a woman in her 70s who said her husband chickened out last minute.

Our driver was a retired woman from Arizona who comes up to Skagway every summer to work and then drives back home at the end of the season. She was incredibly knowledgeable and gave us a lot of interesting information and facts about Skagway as we made the 35-minute drive to Grizzly Falls.

The scenery as we approached Base Camp was stunning; it was almost surreal how beautiful it was, the sun shining strongly on the vast landscape. Here, they had bathrooms and a small store with snacks and souvenirs. Also located here was the Sled Dog and Mushers camp, a separate excursion that’s also popular (you won’t see it unless you book that excursion).

grizzly falls base camp — The view of base camp at Grizzly Falls

We arrived at base camp and were transferred to an all-terrain vehicle to go further up the mountain. The truck scaled the mountain over bumpy roads and through tight trails, adding to the adventure.

Once we reached the top, the staff quickly worked to fit us with helmets, gloves, and harnesses. The staff was all very friendly, asking where we were from and learning about us as they suited us all up in our safety gear. We were allowed to bring our phones with us for pictures. Anything we didn’t want to carry like backpacks and waterbottles, we put in a tote that they moved down the mountain for us.

The Grizzly Falls Zipline Course

We were split into groups of 8 people and headed out with two guides for each group. The staff handled all the connections at every zipline; all you had to do was step up and jump off. One thing I really liked was that all the ziplines used automatic braking, so you don’t have to worry about stopping yourself from running into the tree. It lets you put all the focus on enjoying the experience.

The course started with a few relatively short training lines to get the feel of it, and then you move up to more exciting ones. The lines vary in length, the longest being 750′ long. It’s so long you can’t even see the end through the trees, and they have to use a walkie-talkie to communicate between the towers.

Now, I don’t like heights, but I also hate that I don’t like heights, so I refuse to let that stop me from enjoying an activity. The first platforms were relatively short, 10’ off the group, but the tallest tower stood 80’ in the air! I noticed that while on the zip line, I didn’t mind the height, but it got my heart pounding when I was standing on the platform waiting for my turn. The gentle sway of the pole tested my courage. I knew I was safe; you were connected to a zip line via a safety tether at every point, but it didn’t stop my heart racing.

zipline tower at grizzly falls — The platforms were sturdily attached to trees, some as high at 80′ in the air

At some ziplines, our instructors would give us a challenge you could choose to do. For one, you’d strike a pose while going through the zip line; the next person would have to do that and add another. With a group of 8 people, it was a challenge to remember them all. Another challenge on one of the longer lines was to flip over mid-line. Since I was already pushing my comfort level with this activity, I opted not to do the flip.

The first half of the course was fun, but with eight people in our group, it got slow when waiting on the platform for your turn. It was great to take in the scenery, but being a little more fast-paced would have been nice. Thankfully, the staff noticed the issue and called in reinforcements. In the second half, they had extra staff at each platform to get us hooked up and going. It sped up the process considerably, and I loved that they proactively saw and fixed the slowdown.

One of the final parts of the course, and my personal favorite, was a line right over Grizzly Falls. By that point, I had gotten past the fear and could just take in the view. Watching and hearing the powerful rapids right underneath me as I flew over the falls was amazing.

ziplining over grizzly falls — My favorite part was at the end, where one line ran right over the falls

Getting Back to Skagway

We finished all the lines and headed back down to downtown Skagway. The tour guide offered to drop us off downtown or back at the ship, whichever we preferred. It was only about a 10-minute walk from the cruise terminal to downtown, but it was nice not to save that time by having her drop us off downtown.

driftwood visitor center is Skagway — Not only is the Artic Brotherhood Hall visually interesting, but its a visitor center with lots of information on things to do in Skagway

She let us off at the Skagway Visitor Information Center, which was in the heart of the downtown area. The whole town was cute, and it was fun to explore for a few hours. I had a delicious Fish and Chips at Skagway Brewery company, and then we went on a tour of the Red Onion Saloon, a former brothel.

Who is Skagway’s Grizzly Falls Ziplining Expedition For?

I highly recommend this excursion to anyone who wants to push themselves a little. Even if you’ve ziplined before, doing it through a temperate rainforest adds an entirely different dimension to the experience. You don’t need a lot of skill at all, which is nice. The staff was also extremely friendly, personable, and safety-conscious. It was a solid choice for a fun, action-packed excursion.

See Grizzly Falls Ziplining Expedition on Viator