view of Quantum of the Seas from the red gondola in Icy Strait Point
When booking the 1pm time for the ZipRider at the Icy Strait Point port stop on an Alaskan cruise on Quantum of the Seas, my sister Barbara and I assumed that meant we would need to jet off the ship as quickly as possible after a noon docking and get up the mountain for our ride.
view of the beach by the Ocean Landing dock from the ship
Instead our tickets said to meet in the theater on the ship at 1pm. After a bit of a wait they sent all the excursions out, with ours called last. The others were all to meet at a building right at the end of the pier, but we were to take a green transport gondola to catch a red gondola up a mountain for our ride.
green gondola station
After walking to the green gondola the line was so long a girl working there said we’d get to the other side faster by walking the beach trail, which we did. On the far end the line to the red gondola extended quite a long way. There’s a building up at the top of a small hill next to the entry to the gondola where ZipRider and gondola excursion tickets are exchanged for wristbands. The people in that building where you go to sign the waivers and get your wristband for the ZipRider were not happy with whoever organizes excursions on our ship at all. They expected the 1:00 people at the top of the mountain to check in for their ride by 12:45. Our instincts that we should have gotten off the boat and up the mountain as quickly as possible had been right, only to be thwarted by bad instructions on our excursion tickets. What they should have done was have our excursion meet before docking and insure that we were the first people off the ship and to the green gondola before that monstrous line had a chance to form.
trees and plants alongside the beach trail after it goes into the woods
Our excursion organizers weren’t smart enough to have our excursion meet before the ship docked send us out before they opened the gangway to anyone else though. That may not have guaranteed there would be no line at the green gondola at all since the Norwegian ship at the other dock arrived first, but there certainly would have been far less people there since passengers of that ship started out on the other side and only would need that transporter to return to the side they started from if they had come down the zipline or came over there for the shops. It was of course long past the time we should have been done with our zipline ride when we finally got our wristbands and we still had the mile-long red gondola line to get through. There was no walking up the mountain to avoid that one. We did find mom and Linda partway through that line though. They probably got off the ship before we did. We held their place in line while they went to get gondola wristbands and then all rode up the gondola together.
top of the mountain
When we finally got there the people at the ZipRider check-in booth at the top didn’t care that we were long past our scheduled time and sent us on down the trail to the top of the ZipRider along with some other people who happened to be there at the same time we were. Before sending us down the trail we were given thorough instructions on what to do if we encountered a bear along the way. These instructions did not include anything about not being the slowest person in the group.
trail to the ZipRider
The pathway from there to the zipline is a sometimes rough dirt road running through the woods. Even though large piles of deep snow lined both sides of the road in some places it was a nice day and not cold at all. We did not see bears or any other wildlife. When we were nearly to the top of the zipline we passed a row of 4 honey buckets. I guess they want to make sure anyone who is nervous about heights or ziplines has a chance to empty their bladder before they go to avoid any fear-induced accidents along the way. It’s also useful when it takes a really long time to get there and you need to go anyway, or if you just want to avoid lines in the more crowded areas of the port. It even had a handwashing station with actual water next to the honey buckets.
top of the ZipRider
At the top of the ZipRider people are put into groups of 6 because there are 6 lines. Each of the 6 gets assigned a number from 1-6, then when they are ready you go to the line with the number you were given. I had number 3 and Barbara number 4. When Melissa and Jennifer went several hours later they were assigned 1 and 2. #1 of our group asked if they could switch around, to which the guy in charge replied that the numbers were assigned for a reason. He did not expand on that reason. There are lockers by the lower gondola station in the building where people get their wristbands, but they did say people could put things like backpacks on their laps. Hats will fly off, but there’s a little pouch on the back of the seat/harness apparatus where small things like that can go – just remember to get them on your way out. Taking photos and videos on the way down is allowed, but if you drop anything along the way you’ll never get it back.
Barbara harnessed in and ready to go
This ZipRider is billed as the largest in the world at 5495 feet and has a vertical drop of 1320 feet. The average grade is 25% and the top speed 65mph. That largest ZipRider in the world billing is apparently because of the 6 simultaneous lines rather than actually being the longest. The longest in the world is Jebel Jais Flight in the United Arab Emirates at 1.76 miles long with a top speed of 93mph. The fastest is Velocity in New Zealand which can reach 118 mph.
view from the top of the ZipRider
Like most tourist attractions everywhere, the ZipRider exits through a gift shop. It was deserted when we walked through it. A sign said they were short-staffed and had nobody working there that day, but people could buy t-shirts at a different shop. The t-shirts said I survived the ZipRider like it was a terrible frightening experience or something to be survived rather than the really fun thing to be enjoyed that it actually is so I wouldn’t have wanted one anyway even if I were inclined to buy souvenir t-shirts, which I’m usually not. There were also signs about getting pictures there, but they weren’t running the camera that day so getting a picture from your ride down wasn’t an option either.
view of people coming down the zipline from the building at the bottom – and you can see the station at the top too
The little building at the bottom of the zipline had an area to view people coming down, and TV screens that showed the top where you could see who got on next and watch them take off at the top. They look like little specks on the side of the hill until they get closer. It doesn’t sound loud while you are on it, but from the ground it comes screaming down with a good deal of noise. They don’t send everyone at the same time so they come down staggered a bit rather than all at once. Likely not everyone descends at the same speed either. There are giant springs at the end of each line to stop people when they reach the bottom.
landing area at the end of the ride
After everyone is unharnessed and out of the way the empty harness chairs go flying back up the mountain for the next group. You don’t wear any of the harness like on most ziplines, it’s all permanently attached to the line. The bottom of the zipline is at the Ocean Landing area where our ship was docked, right near the station for the green gondola. The bottom of the red gondola is at the Wilderness Landing area where the other dock is.
view from the ZipRider on the way down
It’s really a fun ride and it comes with an excellent view. At least if you get a clear sunny day like we had. It also comes with unlimited gondola rides so you can ride the red gondola back up the mountain again after the ride. You only get one time on the ZipRider per ticket, but if you go up again you can ride the gondola back down. The green gondola between the two cruise dock areas is free so you don’t need a wristband for that one. There was no line at the green gondola when we got done with the zipline so we took it back to the other area and went back up the red gondola, whose line also had cleared by then. We were going to hike the trail at the top, but somebody said there were bears nearby and wouldn’t let anyone go on the trail unless they were in a guided group, which had just left.
inside the red gondola
The green gondola is a ground transport from one port area to the other, but the red one goes up to the top of Hoonah Mountain, ascending over 1500 feet. Views are excellent both from the gondola and from the mountain. There’s also a cell tower up there so the higher you get in the gondola the more bars you get on your phone. Cell service at the bottom isn’t all that great, but at the top it is.
view of the red gondola from the top of the mountain
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