 Poster: A snowHead
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https://www.snowsbest.com/three-die-heli-ski-crash/
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Statement from John Forrest, Owner, Northern Escape Heli-Skiing Regarding Helicopter Accident in Terrace
At this time, Northern Escape can confirm there have been three fatalities and four others were taken to Mills Memorial in Terrace. We are unable to provide names until we know that next-of-kin has been fully notified.
Four patients who were received and treated at Mills Memorial Hospital following yesterday’s tragic helicopter incident in the Terrace area have been transported to other centres in BC for higher levels of care. Currently, two of those patients are considered to be in critical condition and two are in serious condition.
….more info in link
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Very sad news indeed.
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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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Yeah, I have flown with them and know John & some of the staff. The Heli - a Koala - is a really nice modern machine. Will need to wait to know what happened. Some of the press reporting is really ignorant, but that's how it goes. Not sure yet if I know those directly involved.
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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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Awful.
I was actually thinking about going to Northern Escape this season with my kids (once in a lifetime trip with them). It sounds great.
The main reason we didn't go is because my son (21) decided he didn't feel he needed to take the risks involved in heliskiing. "I love the skiing we do, I'm really enjoying my life, I don't want to stop you going but I don't think the risks are justified to me".
There was no suggestion that NEH was anything but a good operator and I'm not suggesting that now. The risks of heliskiing are justified to me. I felt he was being overly cautious. There are reasons he is cautious. But he is also clever and analytical. I disagreed but that didn't mean he was wrong on his terms.
But now I feel very weird.
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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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@jedster, you should be proud that your son, at 21, expresses himself and what he values in such clarity, while simultaneously supporting you for your differing valuation of the matter. Based solely on your quote above: you’ve done well with him.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The Vancouver Sun has a useful update on this. Obviously ya don't know until the investigation is done, but that reads coherently to me.
From this it sounds like the Koala went down late in the day in poor visibility, probably on landing, but it doesn't say. They had one spare seat (NE had been discounting in January...) and it looks like pilot, guide, and two guests died, with the other three guests seriously injured. "The system" sounds like it responded well once the incident occurred.
When I rode there, their cat was used as a poor weather standby only. That it was operating at all suggests conditions may have been variable. That's not uncommon. The flight rules require a certain amount of visibility etc, but if they're out and the weather closes in, someone has to weigh the risks and make a decision. NE has a pretty big tenure, but they'd likely be "close to home" at that time of day. The cat stuff is "close to home", which may be why the rescue was led from there. You'd expect the "senior lead guide" to control the rescue assuming he wasn't in the incident (they're all very hierarchical).
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| "I don't think the risks are justified" |
It's a personal decision. Flying helicopters is risker than fixed-wing. In a few decades of heavy heli use, I've been scared for myself maybe three times, always in poor visibility in the woods. I was close to a non-fatal crash on xmas day 2017. When news of this incident came in I was riding with a guy who was in a 3-fatality crash in 1991. He subsequently went on to own his own heli operator; the guy sitting next to him became a pilot.
I don't have the numbers. It feels like avalanche is a bigger component of the overall risk.
NARSID takes someone now and then, but that is essentially "operator error" so more manageable.
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When you think of all the Heli’s operating in the world Canada must be one of the safer places with all the safety protocols involved which I was told were more stringent than Alaska for example.
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I don't have the numbers. It feels like avalanche is a bigger component of the overall risk.
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I think that is right. I did a little reading and concluded that heliskiing was similarly risk to offpiste skiing (which I do with my son albeit in a cautious way in terms of the terrain we ski). I actually expected that heliskiing would be a bit safer - always guided and with huge terrain choice which should allow dangerous elevations/altitudes to be avoided - but I believe it is similar.
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