About 6 months ago a close friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him with a group of friends to go heli-skiing this January. I think I replied in the affirmative within 5 seconds. I've always wanted to go, but I've never been able to convince enough friends to make it a full group.
Our motley crew
We booked our trip with the Selkirk-Tangiers Heli-skiing group in Revelstoke, Canada. They rocked and made the trip great both on and off the slopes. A quick nod to our guides Phil and Paul. You guys kicked ass.
Phil waiting for the helicopter to pick us up. He waits with our equipment while we wait on the other side of the landing spot.
Having never been heli-skiing, I was quite intimidated by the idea. The only reference I have are the Warren Miller films where you drop from the helicopter 20 feet above the powder, and then proceed to board down semi-vertical slopes with an avalanche following gracefully behind you. I wasn't sure if I was up for the task, but hey, there are probably worse boarders out there that have heli-skiied, and what's the worst that could happen? Frozen death by avalanche? Fiery death by helicopter? Pretty cool ways to go if I had to choose.
Actually looks pretty cozy doesn't it?
It turns out that the helicopter does land for us learner-heli-skiiers. And the slopes are quite manageable. The big deal, and most awesome thing in the world, is the sick amount of powder. Since I've been a powder hound since I first put on my board, this was definitely not a problem.
The first day the helicopter was grounded because of icing. Apparently the first heli went up and lost all vision out the front windows because of ice. The pilot had to fly sideways, looking out his side windows, to get back home. Not fun and understandable that the pilots didn't want to go out again that day.
The next day we were first up. We got in the van and drove to the heli pickup point about 15 miles north of the hotel. The sight of the heli waiting for us was awesome. Parked right on the side of the highway next to Revelstoke lake.
Loading into the heli. It's tight in there, so you better like your buddies.
Getting ready for our first run above the clouds
Oh yes, I like the powder.
Did I say there was a lot of powder?
Because there was a lot of powder.
Yours truly boarding in the powder
Sometimes the powder is so deep you get stuck.
A little traverse to the deep powder. Did I mention that we liked the powder?
Heli waiting for us at the bottom.
Loading the heli.
Another picture of the heli. Ain't she purdy?
And yes, I did have a good time.
All in all, I found that heli-skiing is all its cracked up to be. And more. It also helped that we had a great group of guys and I look forward to making this trip happen again. And again. And again.
