 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone,
Anyone interested in heli-skiing with CMH xmas-ish 23?
I'm solo and looking to go with someone so we can both get some video footages out of the $$$$ trip..
In the spirit of skiing together in the same group, here's me: pretty proficient female powder skier, but I'm neither fast nor aggressive, prefer stopping and chatting in a run.
Here are the available ones, not a lot of options left already. I'm okay with any of these lodges.
https://booking.cmhheli.com/trips?programs=REG&lodges=all&start=2023-12-01&end=2024-01-10&season=winter&available=yes
I went there once four years ago and it's the amazing holiday ever. Happy to answer any questions about it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Looks good. Curious on the CMH pricing model. Is it up to the guests to organise the group?
I.e. they give a price per day for a group of say 6 or 8, but will they fill the spaces ??
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@horgand, mostly price for the whole trip per person. they fill the spaces. all groups share a few helis, meaning you'd sometimes wait a bit for the plane to finish with others before it gets to you.
or you can organise your own group and go private..there will be a dedicated heli for your group.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Do you think Cat skiing would be better?
For value, reliability & runs per day??
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| horgand wrote: |
Do you think Cat skiing would be better?
For value, reliability & runs per day?? |
Can’t see how it could be in anyway better
Long slow bumpy slog uphill in back of a tractor
Versus
5 min hops in chopper to where the snow is
Out where trails may not reach one drop off was on an arête not reachable without climbing gear or by chopper
CMH used to guarantee 100000 vertical feet and that was completed in my case by Thursday!
Extra cost. For the Friday and Saturday but worth every cent
It’s not a cheapo holiday so why look to cut corners?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'm planning CMH March 24 for a milestone birthday !
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| horgand wrote: |
| Do you think Cat skiing would be better? For value, reliability & runs per day? |
No, not for weekly stuff like this. I've ridden both a fair bit for various reasons.
Baldface is reputed to be the best for weekly cats, but I'd still rather ride up quickly in a heli, which obviously can trivially score more vertical than a cat, and more importantly better vertical. Velocity difference aside, the heli is much more flexible in terms of where it can get in and get out, so you can for example pick up higher in the valley if the snow is poor at the bottom. With cats, your "cat roads" are where they are, you have to work around that. It's the same thing for terrain: cat operators don't build hundreds of miles of cat roads, so you're going to farm some specific areas more than with a heli. So that's: (1) less vertical; (2) less flexibility in selecting vertical; (3) more riding the same areas.
For novices, or anyone unsure they want to commit to the 7 day thing, the equation is different, but that's not what the OP's talking about.
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| CMH used to guarantee 100000 vertical feet and that was completed in my case by Thursday! |
They used to sell 100,000 and guarantee 80,000. They still do that, with a bit more flexibility. Budget for extra vertical costs. IMHO the trick with CMH is to stop people consuming low quality vertical at the start of the week, because you then end up paying top dollar for better stuff later in the week. The group needs to understand the game. Wiegele sells "unlimited vertical", so there are no vertical games, and extra vertical charges mount up as you get quicker. Xmas is usually pretty quiet (a good thing). Later in the season may be a better choice for people who like to stop during a run.
| horgand wrote: |
Looks good. Curious on the CMH pricing model. Is it up to the guests to organise the group?
I.e. they give a price per day for a group of say 6 or 8, but will they fill the spaces ? |
Yes and no. For weekly stuff, sometimes people turn up together, in pairs or families, and they try to "group" people based on ability plus those relationships. They try to accommodate people's requests but can't have your slow partner holding up the machine (which costs a lot of people a lot of money). The more helicopters/ people they have, the easier this is. If y ou get fussy (I'm fussy) then you either book a private (or a semi-private), or make sure you go when you're sure there will be enough competent people not to unreasonably slow things down. The amount of vertical isn't that important (you can get more on boring easy terrain...), but it's frustrating if someone in the group gets lost repeatedly, or falls over repeatedly. And with unlimited vertical, that's costing you money.
The group size... is the group size in the machine. So a 212 has a group size of 10. It has 10 guest seats. The 407 has 5, the A Star has 4. If you're "renting a private", then you pay for a certain amount of flying time, and it's up to you how many people you put in your group, up to the number of seats.
If you're not "doing privates", then group size matters as it affects where you can go, and how quickly things move. A big group can't sensible all ride a small chute, because it'll be tracked out. A big group will be slower to rotate, and the heli won't be able to use pickups requiring a more nimble machine. Even without "privates", it generally costs more for a small group heli like an A Star than a 212, if both are on offer. The other factor is "number of groups per machine". 1 is a "private", 2 is a "semi private", 3 is industry standard, 4... that's "heli waiting". The fewer groups the better, because you want the heli to be fired up waiting for you at the pickup, you don't want to wait for it.
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