Flickr Photograph (taken by SevenDescents.com.au)

Guaranteed Vertical Meter Limits

1. When researching your heli-skiing company, you will notice that they guarantee a specific amount of vertical meters based on the length of your trip. So for example, if you are booking a 5-day trip with Canadian Mountain Holidays during 2010 winter/spring season, you are guaranteed 21,780 vertical meters (or 71,000 vertical feet). You might think that is more than enough; however, when you take approximately seven runs a day, that are about 1,200 vertical meters each, you can quickly reach that limit. Now you are probably asking yourself, “What happens is we are to go over that limit?” If you do exceed the guaranteed vertical meters for your trip, it will cost about an average of $100-$125 USD per 1,000 additional vertical meters you ski or snowboard. This happens a lot as the heli-skiing company wants to make sure the customer gets enough time on the slopes but not so it’s adding more operating expenses (e.g., helicopter fuel). So you will see that most companies, such as TLH Heli-Skiing will boast the fact that their customers reached an average of 30% over the guaranteed vertical limit. On top of all of that, you sometimes only have a few options during the day to return back to the lodge, so you might get stuck out there a bit longer if you do not use your vertical meters just right. My advice is not to ‘go big or go home’ every day of your trip. If you are feeling sore or it is a cloudy day, it might be good to head in and just relax instead of trying to get as much skiing in. On the flip-side, if you have enough cash to cover the additional vertical meters, then by all means go for it!

 

An Overflowing Wallet

2. This is not a secret but heli-skiing trips are expensive! You will really need to establish a budget along with the number of days you want to go as heli-skiing companies will usually package lodging, skiing, equipment and meals together. The current average rates, per person, for the 2010 season are as follows; $8,000 USD to $9,000 USD for a seven day package, $4,500 USD for a four day package and about $900 for a single day of heli-skiing. These rates will vary as the most expensive time seems to be near the end of December for the holidays along with January and some of February. The prices get a bit cheaper as the season enters March and April due to the snow conditions not being all that champagne powder we are all hunting. On the other hand, I really don’t mind skiing on a perfectly sunny spring day up in the mountains.

 

Your Skiing or Snowboarding Ability

3. You might think to yourself that you are good because you can get down a blue square (intermediate) or black diamond (expert) rated trail but this doesn’t mean you are ready for heli-skiing. If you can make it down on some expert rated trails at some bigger mountains on the East Coast or out in the Rocky Mountains in any type of condition (e.g., ice, zero visibility or heavy powder), then you are probably ready. If all you ever have ridden at your local mountain…well hill…with only a few trails and nothing steep, I’d argue that it might not be the safest idea to go heli-skiing. There will be many times heli-skiing when your mountain guide will have you traversing through trees, through fields of previous avalanches and around snow covered crevasses. It really made sense to me that you can have no fear while you are heli-skiing and need to be purely confident in your own ability to make it down. This isn’t meant to scare you but you will have others skiers and snowboarders within your group who don’t want to be held up as you are double thinking why you booked this trip in the first place.

 

Experience of Guides and Pilots

4. You might not think of this immediately but I have to stress the importance of this. There are many risks associated with heli-skiing such as avalanches, sudden storms, high winds, crevasses, tree wells, and much more. If your mountain guides aren’t that experienced with first aid, mountaineering, heli-skiing or your helicopter pilots do not have many flight hours logged, this should raise a red flag. You will see many, if not all, of the heli-skiing companies detailing the amount of experience and background history of their mountain guides and pilots. So check it out when researching a heli-skiing company.

 

Equipment Provided To Customer

5. A majority of the big name heli-skiing companies will provide their customers with powder skis, poles, snowboards and safety equipment (e.g., avalanche transceivers). It is important to check with the company you are researching to see what skiing equipment you will need to bring. When I went on my trip with Canadian Mountain Holidays during April 2009, the only skiing equipment I brought (not including clothing) were my helmet and Salomon Kaos Ski Bootsboots that the lodge staff was able to easily fit my powder skis too. This also helped me save additional airline fees associated with transporting my skis and poles across the country.

 

Currency Exchange Rates

6. If you are planning a heli-skiing trip outside of the current country you live in, then it is very important to check out the exchange rates for the country you are looking to go heli-skiing in. For example, as of mid-August 2009 the going exchange rate for $1.00 Canadian dollar is about $.91 US dollar based on XE’s Universal Currency Converter. So if the prices were exactly the same between a company within the United States of America and Canada, it would be cheaper by about 9% to use the Canadian company. You might want to check out debit/credit card rates for performing currency exchanges (such as using an ATM) as those charges can sometimes erode the exchange rate benefit you might have had.

 

Location, Location, Location…

7. We’ve all heard this marketing phrase before…It’s all about the location. This goes for heli-skiing companies and lodges as well. When planning your heli-skiing trip, you will need to decide whether you want to be secluded in the mountains off of some logging road that is far away from town or staying at a skiing resort that offers heli-skiing. As I’ve only stayed in a lodge far away from any town, I would recommend it as it easily allowed me to meet other heli-skiers within my group and to network with people from all walks of life.

 

Hydration

8. I never really thought about it because I was so excited to go heli-skiing but you can easily get dehydrated due to the constant exercise and high altitude. I also noticed that most heli-skiing company websites do not state that they offer constant water or sport drink mixtures on the helicopter. I was pleasantly surprised to find a metal crate in the helicopter after each run that contained these liquids to rehydrate myself. Staying hydrated is also important as helps reduce muscle damage and soreness that can limit your ability to ski the next day. I would check out if the company allows you to bring water with you or if they provide you with some sort of water or sport drink mixture.

 

Safety Training

9. Have you ever worn or had to use an avalanche transceiver? Do you know how to rescue someone from a tree well? What happens if you get split up from your group? Do you know how to enter and exit a helicopter? These are all important safety tips that you will to know. If you do not currently have the training for this, there is no need to fret as long as the heli-skiing company offers the training prior to you getting on the mountains. It’s recommended for your safety, as well as the safety of others, that you make sure the company you are leaning towards offers these trainings to you and the rest of the heli-skiers in your group.

 

Pay Early

10. This will be known by most of you business-type readers out there but the earlier that you pay off your total balance after selecting the heli-skiing company of your choice, you might get a small percentage discount from 1% to 5%. This is done so a company can receive the maximum cash flow instead of them ending up as collectible. In the case of heli-skiing companies, they will require that you pay the balance off before the start of the trip so the early payment probably acts more to cover any operating expenses and to earn some interest.

Now that you are armed with all of these tips to plan your heli-skiing trip, make sure you check out my personal travel notes from when I went on a three day trip with Canadian Mountain Holidays to stay at the Gothics Lodge.

1. We arrived at Bradley International Airport at around 5:00am (EST), giving us about an hour before boarding began, which is normal protocol for this less-traveled airport. In about ten minutes, we both checked our luggage and made it through security, only to be greeted by the dreaded phrase, over the microphone, when you have a connecting flight, “Your flight has been delayed due to maintenance, as a part needs to be flown in from Logan International Airport.” In summary, we missed our connecting flight from Chicago, IL to Calgary, Canada.




2. “You can either select a mini-van, pickup truck, or small economy car.” the rental car attendant asks me after about 19 hours of travel through Hartford, CT to Dallas, TX to Calgary, Canada. My frugal side kicked in and reminded me that if we selected the two gas guzzlers, it would be painful on the wallet while driving into the mountains for about 5 hours. The voice of reality slapped my sleep deprived mind around a bit and let me know that I had no idea what type of roads or conditions I would be driving through. Ford pickup truck? Check. A few cans of Red Bull? Check. That just left the dangerous threat of avalanches on Roger’s Pass and the steep drop-offs of Kicking Horse Canyon in our way.




3. The first day of this vacation ended with the following statistics; 2985 miles via plane, 258 miles via car, and 8.5 hours sitting in airports. This gave us about 25 hours of travel to make it from Hartford, CT to Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada.


Day 2:

4. “Bryan and John! You better be driving up here now! We have a bluebird sky up here! We will give you all the rescue and helicopter training and then get you into the mountains around lunch.”, said Claude in a heavy French Canadian accent. When the general manager of the lodge tells you that today was the first day that it has been sunny for the entire season, you just can’t pass it up.




5. We drove north on Route 23, which ran parallel with the glacial blue green Columbia River for about one and half hours before reaching a metal shed, which our crudely drawn map directed us to make a right onto a logging road. I’m happy that I listened to the voice in my head and picked the pickup truck.




6. After a few introductions to the housekeeping staff, a 30 minute avalanche training, and some real-life practice using the transceivers, it was time to suit up. We got into the pickup truck of a helicopter pilot and drove back down the logging road and onto Route 23. The goal was to reach a refueling depot, get picked up, and then dropped off on the top of a mountain peak with a pack of heli-skiers staying at the lodge.




7. To be honest, not many life experiences can challenge the sound of the helicopter blades cutting through the mountain air, as you put your goggles over your eyes and jump out of a helicopter after it has landed on a snow covered peak. To say that I was in pure rapture as my eyes gazed over the Selkirks and Monashees, as tiny pieces of ice and hard-packed snow pelted my face from wind produced by the helicopter’s rotary blades would be an understatement.




8. It probably was the nervousness of being in a helicopter or the chance that I didn’t get that much time to ski some powder on the East Coast, as I performed about 5 front flips, 2 somersaults, and spent about ten minutes digging for a ski that was eaten by the powder. It took me a few more runs, but I finally was able to reposition my body so that I wasn’t leaning back so much. I have to admit that John picked it up pretty quickly, which I was a bit jealous, as I think my body was physically destroyed at that point.




9. Once I was able to readjust my terrible habit of leaning back, I finally could enjoy the feeling of hopping through the powder for a few runs before we had to head back in. The accomplishment of making for a few runs without falling and cursing to myself was well worth it.




10. In a modified reenactment of the movie Top Gun, our helicopter pilot performed a low level fly-by of our home base, the Gothics Lodge. To my surprise, the outside desk of the lodge was filled with the other skiers, snowboarders, and lodge staff, in what could be classified as a ‘beach party’ with a bar made of snow. Skiing, Cold Kokanee Glacier Beer, and Bikinis. As spoken by the late big mountain skier Shane McConkey, “Today was a good day.”


Day 3:

11. The next morning started off with a bell ringing throughout the lodge, as a method to wake up everyone for stretching class, than breakfast. The only confusing part of the morning was why they woke us up an hour early. We finally figured out that as the heli-skiing company operates various lodges within the Mountain and Pacific time zones, it is easier for radio operators to use a single time zone for responding to emergencies. Let me just say that it is very strange to know that your in Pacific time, but forced to use Mountain time.




12. It’s time to switch up the groups! As we walked out of breakfast for what was planning to be another sunny spring-like day up in the mountains, John and I noticed we were placed in a new group of skiers. The new group consisted of a British couple (Mark and Caroline), an Italian father and his daughter (Mario and Fredricha), a wine importing CEO from British Columbia (Rob), three Austrians (Hubert, Johanna, and Michael) and a software company CEO from Chicago (Avi) who only skied one or two runs with us.




13. We bought some suntan lotion at the local lodge clothing and repair shop, only to find a huge community dispenser of “suncream” for us to all use. Go figure.




14. I’ve become strangely addicted to the strange sports drink mixture that has been placed in little flasks within a crate, near the helicopter door. You’d be surprised how dehydrated you get from powder skiing in the mountains, even though we weren’t in high altitude.




15. Endless Journey. Dream. Ego. Starlight. These runs were a bit ‘windhammered’ due to the warm temperatures the day before, the freezing overnight, and a bit wind at the top of the mountains. This resulted in a crusty layer of ice that we had to break through for most of the morning, but most of it melted away by late morning. Each of these runs were pretty long and made my calf and hamstring muscles a bit sore as it was almost non-stop from top to bottom for about 1,200 vertical meters per run.




16. This day ended with me walking into the drying room, which is a sealed off room with PVC pipes sticking out of the wall, that continuously pumps warm air onto the gear placed at the end of each pipe. Now imagine a bunch of sweaty gloves, jackets, hats, and the worst of them all, ski boots. Not much can be done to prepare a person for that nauseating smell.


Day 4:

17. Woke up for my last day of skiing without ability to feel a single muscle in my body. The both of us have reached about 11,000 vertical meters and only had about 2,000 vertical meters left before we reached our limit. Think we went over by the end of the day? Of course!




18. One of the pilots mentioned how fueling cycles work when dealing with three groups of heli-skiers and how to balance the weight of everyone along with the fuel. For those statistic lovers out there; the pilot told us that they burn about 100 pounds of fuel every ten minutes.




19. Crème De Le Crème (or Crème De Le Crunch), Poacher, and Sibley Creek. The room for error was a bit small today because of tree wells (windblown ditches that surround a tree), steep drop offs, frozen waterfalls, and avalanche debris. You really just had to throw all fear out the window of the helicopter and trust your ability.




20. Have you heard of a ’sun dog’? I didn’t know the term until I looked up and saw a massive halo surrounding the sun. One of the guides, James, let us know that natural phenomenon means the weather was changing and that the bluebird sky that we’ve enjoyed the past few days would soon be ending.




21. Sitting on the bottom of my powder skis, I bit into a delicious roast beef sandwich and a massive chocolate chip cookie while staring at the majestic mountains surrounding me. In the distance, you could hear a thunderous noise, which was avalanches occurring nearby, but thankfully not near us. The refreshing sounds of nature were finally unsettled when cheering could be heard in the far distance. The noise seemed to come from over a hill near by, so I fixed my eyes in that direction to spot the source of the noise. Within a few minutes a bare chested guy named Avi came down the hill along with all the young female staff members without a jacket or shirt on (and yes, the girls did have sports bras on). Awesome.