Before booking, please read our review so you can be aware of the risks of booking with Kenai Backcountry Adventures. The only employee we were able to speak to, Karley, said she and the company handled our trip so poorly, she was going to quit her job.
We booked the 5 day base camp trip through Kenai Backcountry Adventures, where we were supposed to be snow machined up into the backcountry and camp with a guide for 5 days with all meals included. One week before the trip, they called us and said they were changing our trip to be a town based one due to the guide saying it was "too cold." We were very saddened by this because we were no longer able to do the main thing we had paid for: staying overnight on the mountain to access exclusive terrain. We understood that conditions can be unpredictable, but when we checked the weather we discovered it was the warmest week all year. Later, the woman we booked with told us she had lied, and that they had changed our trip not because of conditions but because they had messed up their schedule and were no longer able to logistically support an overnight stay.
We were never given the opportunity to cancel the trip because cancellations due to weather results in zero refund, and we were only told that they lied about changing the trip because it was "too cold" when we confronted them halfway through the trip. Already we had lost 24 hour guide access, overnight stays on the mountain, and access to the most exclusive terrain.
The switch to town based meant they would not pay for our dinners even though we already paid for all meals. After a long back and forth, they agreed to a small reimbursement, which we appreciated. They claimed that with the new town-based trip we would have 12 hours of guide access, be snowmobiled further into the mountains each day, and not have to drive ourselves.
We did not receive what they promised for the updated trip either. The morning of our first day of skiing, we were told we were required to drive our own car to spots off the highway to ski. We got 7 hours of skiing with the guide a day, no snowmobiles, and drove 2.5 hours each day ourselves.
When we discussed the issues with Kenai Backcountry Adventures, they gave us a small reimbursement for gas. However, they did not acknowledge or provide reimbursement for the other faults (no snowmachines, no 12 hour guide availability, no exclusive terrain, and poor communication in which we were told by an employee that they had lied to us about the reasons for modifying the trip, likely in order to prevent us from canceling and getting a refund). Also, we discovered that they did have snow machines available, but chose to rent them out to other people rather than provide us with them. When we confronted them about this, they last minute offered us snow machine access for the last day, but only for terrain our guide said would not be exclusive or have good snow conditions.
While we appreciate the small refund we received, to pay so much money for a trip and then receive a trip that was nothing like what we asked for and to be lied to to prevent our cancellation is fraudulent. For any future customers with backcountry capabilities, this trip provided nothing that you cannot do for yourself for a fraction of the price. read more