Travel guide Alaska

The Alaska Natives, consisting of the Yup'ik, Cup'ik and Inupiak peoples, subdivided into many others, prefer the name Alaska Native or Inuit to Eskimos. A pejorative term tolerated by the Yu'piks but rejected by the Inupiaks, yet widely used by the Americans to qualify the indigenous peoples of the Arctic.

Red, green, blue... these draperies of the sky illuminate the polar night from September to March. For the Tlingit Indians it is the sign of the welcome to the sky of a fallen warrior. For scientists, the electrons and protons projected by the solar wind at the poles collide with the helium and hydrogen in the atmosphere, releasing photons

These pilots, true local heroes, maneuver the famous bush planes, these micro planes of the past that still fly in the Alaskan sky. Among them, the iconic floating planes, land on water or on skis! They serve the most isolated corners, to supply villages or for the pleasure of tourists.

This word means in Athabascan language "the one who is high". And for good reason, Mount Denali, renamed from its original name by Barack Obama in 2015, is the highest peak on the North American continent (6,193 meters). The eponymous national park is the most visited in Alaska, renowned for its hiking and its wonderful landscapes of bear-populated forests

100 000... This is the approximate number of glaciers identified in Alaska. They represent more than half of the known glaciers of the planet. The largest of them covers the surface of Switzerland! Here the retreat of glaciers due to global warming takes all its meaning: their underwater melting is 100 times faster than expected...

Temperatures hovering around -40°C, blizzards, snowstorms, and men alone with only their dogs for companions, traveling 1,800 km on their sleds through the Alaskan wilderness. This is the toughest annual dog sled race, comparable to single-handed sailing races

Mountain ranges and their eternal snows are omnipresent in Alaska. Indeed, the state gathers 17 of the highest peaks in North America, including Mount Denali, the highest point of the continent. These mountains will delight hiking, mountain biking, mountaineering and winter sports enthusiasts, including skiing at Alyeska Resort in Gridwood.

Moose are emblematic of Alaska, where there are over 150,000 of them. You will inevitably come across them during your stay, at the bend in a walk or on the side of the road. This massive herbivore can reach 700 kg. They are unfortunately responsible for more than 800 car accidents per year in this state alone.

From north to south, from east to west, in winter, the snow scatters its long immaculate coat for a large part of the year. It covers everything from October to April, with heights reaching 4 m in places. In summer, it is not uncommon to see snow here and there, not to mention the eternal snow that shimmers on Alaska's highest peaks

The black bear, the grizzly bear and the polar bear are the three species present in Alaska. There are nearly 100,000 black bears and 35,000 brown or grizzly bears (which can weigh up to 800 kg), while the world's polar bear population - all countries combined - is barely 20,000, because it is threatened with extinction by global warming.

There are five different species of Pacific salmon, the most famous of which is the King Salmon. Their fishing, both commercial and recreational, generates considerable economic benefits in Alaska. Bears are the biggest fans of this fish that leaves the ocean floor to go up the rivers and reproduce each summer

During the conquest of the West, the line separating the conquered territories from the wilderness, which still belonged to the Native Americans, was called the frontier. Once the region was unified and colonized in 1890, Alaska appeared as "the last frontier", a land not yet mapped in all its details that keeps its mystery.