canada heli ski trip
Instead of lift lines and runs littered with a crowded weekend's casualties, canada heli ski dangles a skier's irresistible carrot: first tracks, wilderness solitude, and powder—lots of powder. First pioneered in the European Alps, according to Skiing Heritage editor Morten Lund, heli ski Canada took off in Western Canada in the 1960s. There, freethinkers like mountain guide Hans Gmoser, an Austrian émigré, started the world's first heli-skiing business, Canadian Mountain Holidays, by shuttling backcountry skiers to powder stashes in British Columbia's Bugaboos.
Canada Heli Ski Goes Snowless
The whirlybirds don't just hole up for the summer. Of course, the sexy stuff lies mostly in those unbelievably gorgeous untracked fields of fresh pow, but take away skiing and tack on any manner of outdoorsy activity when the snows melt: heli-hiking, heli-fishing, heli-paddling. It's the hottest way to flee the fanny-pack-wearing crowd and find wilderness all to yourself without the pesky effort of trekking in a week's worth of food and shelter. Rise early, eat, fly your way to seclusion, hike, eat, hike some more, fly back to your lodge in time for cocktails on the terrace.
Naturally, heli-trek prices come down a little in the summer months, though you're still looking at a cool $2,000 to $5,000 for a week's heli-hop-scotching and base-camp pampering. For example, Canadian Mountain Holidays runs three-night chopper-supported trips from its Bobbie Burns Lodge for around $3,400 for two.
Today, canada heli ski operations have spread across Canada, Alaska's Valdez region, New Zealand, and even places like Kamchatka in the Russian Far East and the Chilean Andes—basically, anywhere skiers and snowboarders are thirsting for fine new lines. Canada Heli ski outfitters offer a huge amount of territory to a limited number of skiers, and can take adventure-seekers to terrain previously only accessible in their wildest dreams. Of course, there is a flipside to all this powdery largesse: a week's canada heliski will typically cost the lucky few from $5,000 to $10,000.
Although once the sole domain of extreme skiers, these days intermediate-and-better enthusiasts with some G's to burn can get the thrill of snowy descents on user-friendly fat skis that let them float across powder. "You're skiing in untracked, pristine snow—all day, every day," says Marty von Neudegg, director of corporate services at Canadian Mountain Holidays, which has grown from accommodating a handful of skiers staying at three rustic shacks to hosting more than 7,000 skiers each winter at their plush lodges. And not only are the lines epic, but the after-party can be as decadent as you want—many canada heli ski operations offer everything from massage therapy to fine cuisine to help wrap up that perfect powder day.
But in the end, the wilderness exposure is really what it's all about. "You're discovering the essence of skiing," raves von Neudegg. Snow cat boarding
