First Day Heli-skiing
I get very nostalgic around the middle of March each year, because that was when I used to go heli-skiing. On Saturday's in March I will often think about the new skiers converging on Calgary, Alberta who can barely manage their excitement as the head in for a week, wondering what the snow will be like, whether they will be able to fly, and therefore ski every day, while the group that is finishing their week and getting ready to return to Calgary is beginning to break apart and reluctantly make their seperate way back home.
My first day of heli-copter skiing was March 19, 1982. At that time, Canadian Mountain Holidays offered day skiing out of Valemount, BC. If there was space you could join up with a group that there for a week of skiing, and because CMH used the Alpine Motel in Valemount as a base (versus the lodges that were largely inaccessible by car), it wasn't too hard to get there for the day.
Valemount, BC-Google Earth Larger view.
At that time I was patrolling with the Canadian Ski Patrol at Marmot Basin in Jasper National Park. The plan was to head up to Jasper on Thursday night, drive from Jasper to Valemount on Friday morning (it is only about an hours drive), helicopter ski for the day, and then head back to Jasper and patrol at Marmot on Saturday and Sunday.
The day in Valemount started with a safety review including:
- what to do, and more importantly what not to do around a working helicopter,
- finding a buried avalanche beacon as quickly as possible,
- and to listen to and follow the directions of the guide.
Then the group lifted off for the first run of the day. The skiing was unbelievable; the day was warm and clear, perfect for skiing. I still remember the feeling of lifting off the ground in a helicopter for the first time, and then getting out of the helicopter on top of a mountain, putting on their skis, and heading down the slope skiing really deep powder for the first time.
Although the skiing was great, and I knew that I wanted to do more, I learned a lot that day. First, most ski clothing designed for groomed slopes just doesn't work well in deep powder. Even when you don't fall, powder has a tendency to find all the gaps between the layers and get to your skin.
That day I hooked up with a group of skiers from Switzerland, and while they spoke several languages, they and the guides tended to speak Swiss and German. So on the top of the mountain I would hear a long conversation, and then the guide would look at them and say 'We go down now, stay to my right.' The only variation was the occasional 'Stay left.' As to the names of the runs or the rest of the topics, I have no idea what was discussed.
But I didn't care. I was too busy balancing the exhileration of the runs with the work of learning how-to ski in powder snow that was waist deep. Most of their problems came from having the wrong equipment. Ahe that time I was skiing on a pair of Head skis that the flexibility of two-by-fours and were 208cm (over six feet) long, and Marker Rotomat bindings. This combination was great for patrolling a ski area with packed runs, but they weren't really optimal for powder. Particularly problematic were the Marker 'Explod-o-mat' bindings which while offering consistent release in a fall, weren't that easy to put back on when standing in powder snow (If you have never seen these bindings, which were very popular at the time, there is a picture at the Aspen History Web site-you will have to scroll down the page a ways.)
But all in all I knew I waswere going heliski a lot more in the future. That day I prepaid $175.00 to ski 3,000 meters (9,842 feet). I ended up the first day skiing a total of 5,240 meters (17,191 feet), for a total cost of $219.80.
Day Skiing Voucher Larger view.
On the back of the voucher you can see the directions for getting to the Alpine Hotel.
Day Skiing Voucher Larger view.
The First Heli-skiing Week
To be continued...