Aurora nights, with the stove already lit.
Small groups, a heated canvas tent on a frozen lake off the Ingraham Trail, and a guide who watches the sky while you warm your hands.
The night
Pickup to pillow, one February night
Every tour keeps the same shape. Only the sky changes.
9:30 pm
Pickup
We collect you from any hotel in town, in a van that has been warming up for twenty minutes.
9:45 pm
The drive out
Thirty-five minutes east on the Ingraham Trail, past Prosperous Lake, until the glow of town drops behind the hills. Your guide talks through the night's forecast on the way.
10:20 pm
The warm-up tent
A canvas wall tent on the lakeshore with the wood stove going since supper. Hot chocolate, tea and bannock, and a line over the stove for wet mitts.
Midnight
The wait
Step out onto the ice whenever you like. Your guide keeps an eye on the sky and the magnetometer readings, and opens the tent flap the moment the curtains start to move.
1:45 am
The drive back
Back at your hotel before half past two, a little frozen and very ready for bed.
The tent
Most of the night, you are warm.
The aurora keeps its own hours. Some nights it is up before the tea is poured; some nights it waits until well after midnight. So we built the tour around somewhere warm to wait.
The tent seats twelve on plank benches, the stove is fed spruce and birch all night, and nobody minds if you nod off. Your boots stay on; your parka comes off.
Out on the ice
Tours
Choose your nights
Book one night, or give yourself a few chances at a clear sky.
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- The heated tent, hot drinks and bannock
- Photos of your group, sent the next afternoon
- Everything in a single night, three times
- Pick your nights, back to back or spread out
- A fourth night free if all three are clouded out
Private tent
Your own tent, guide and van, on a schedule that suits you.
$1,150for up to six
Ask about a date- Pickup at the time you choose
- Stay out as late as you like
- Good for families and photographers
Prices in Canadian dollars, plus GST.
Gear
Sized before you land
A ski jacket from home will not be enough for a night on the ice.
Parka, wind pants, boots and mitts
Expedition parkas and boots rated well below anything the night will do, sized from your booking and waiting in the van.
$45 a night
Tripod and camera help
A sturdy tripod, and a guide who sets your phone or camera for long exposures before the lights come up.
Included
Airport pickup
Met at arrivals with your parka in hand if you land on the evening flight, then straight to your hotel.
$35 per group
Hand and toe warmers
A basket of them by the tent door. Take what you need.
Free
Guests
What the nights were like
Worth the second night
Night one was solid cloud and they called it before we had our boots on. Night two, the whole sky moved for an hour. I cried a little in my borrowed parka.
Hana
Vancouver
The tent made it
My kids are nine and eleven, and they lasted until two in the morning because of that stove. Our guide, Tess, set up my phone so I actually came home with a photo.
Marc
Montréal
Colder than I imagined
I thought I knew cold from Winnipeg. I did not. The rented boots were the best money I spent all trip.
Sunil
Winnipeg
Questions
Before you book
Nobody can promise that, and anyone who does is guessing. Yellowknife sits under the auroral oval, so a clear night gives you a good chance, but cloud and a quiet sun both happen. That is why the three-night tour exists.
We read the cloud forecast every afternoon. If the whole night looks socked in, we phone you by five and move you to another night or refund you in full.
January and February nights often sit in the minus thirties before the wind. Wear wool or synthetic layers, never cotton, and rent the parka set if you have any doubt.
Most recent phones can, in night mode, if the phone is held perfectly still. That is what the tripods are for.
Yes, from age six, and children up to twelve pay half. The warm tent makes the late hours manageable.
Late August to mid-April. Autumn nights reflect in open lakes; winter nights are longer and colder, and the tent is at its best.
Bring a warm hat. We will watch the sky.
Planning for a family, a group or a photography trip? Call and talk it through with a guide.
Bookings
Tell us your dates
We reply within a day with the nights we have open and the long-range outlook.
Call
(867) 555-0138Serving
- Yellowknife
- Yellowknife Airport
- Ingraham Trail
Hours
- Monday–Sunday
- 12pm–8pm
Phones answered from noon. Tours run nightly from late August to mid-April.