Carving Paths Through Ice: A Glacier Guide’s Everyday Companion
By Johnson, Glacier Guide
What It Takes to Guide on the Ice
Every summer, returning to the glacier feels like coming home — if home creaks, shifts beneath your boots, and demands constant attention.
This is my third season guiding tours across the Alaskan ice. Our team just completed the first floating bridge of the summer. I led six guests across it that morning, the air sharp with cold and anticipation. The ice glowed with its familiar deep blue, and for a moment, everything felt steady — even though nothing here ever stays the same.
Packing for More Than Just Myself
Company policy says every guide must carry a sleeping pad and a complete first aid kit. That part’s easy to explain: when something goes wrong, you never lay a guest directly on the cold ice or jagged terrain. The pad protects them. The kit helps us respond.
But experience has added a few more essentials to my loadout:
And of course, I carry a DJI Pocket 3 and an Insta360 X4. Though to be honest, the X4 rarely got used. When your right hand is always gripping an ice axe and your left is helping guests or answering the radio, camera work usually takes a back seat.
Finding Something That Works
This summer, I started using the Coalax Lancer300 — a modular backpack with a built-in 300Wh power module and two Magic Arm mounts.
It’s been a quiet but useful upgrade. Guests can charge devices straight from my pack. I mount the Insta360 X4 on one arm, the DJI Pocket 3 on the other — and let them roll while I focus on guiding.
My first aid kit now clips to the right side of the pack, always within reach. Gloves go inside. The sleeping pad and trekking poles strap neatly to the outside.
A Small Mistake, A Good Reminder
On my first day with the Lancer300, I forgot to attach the waist belt. I carried everything with just the shoulder straps for three hours — and it still held up.
Later, the Coalax team helped me get it properly set up. My version’s an early model, so it doesn’t have the upgraded harness yet, but the frame is solid. It works for what I need, and that’s what matters.
What I Need, Nothing More
On the glacier, you don’t want gear that gets in the way. You want gear that disappears — until the moment you need it.
That’s what I’ve found with the Lancer300. It doesn’t change how I guide. But it lets me guide with more focus, fewer distractions, and more confidence that I’ve got what I need where it belongs.
A few of my coworkers have asked about the new setup. I tell them: let me keep using it a while longer. If it keeps holding up like this, I’ll have no problem recommending it
