Whistler - Heli , Cat or Guide.

A snowHead

Going to Whistler at end of Jan 26. This will be my first trip there.

I can stretch my budget to 1 day heli skiing but it’s expensive and I am wondering if I would be better using that $$$$ to do the Cat skiing (approx half the cost) or even getting a guide for a few days (potentially ski touring etc). The aim with all options is to get a little bit away from everything and to find some powder skiing.

I appreciate that these are different experiences and ski touring is not really comparable to Heli skiing but from a powder skiing perspective, would love some advice/suggestions. Thanks.

A snowHead

I can only comment from my experience in Whistler in 1996 ( Shocked

where did that go?) if that's at all relevant today Toofy Grin

Some of our group decided to do a day heli skiing whilst I and others decided against it. Those who partook returned with much grumbling at the end of the day - apparently they had been with a (larger) group of Japanese and the guides had, apparently, catered to the latter's wishes and more or less ignored our party. The consensus was that it hadn't been worth the (rather lot of) money.

Some years later I went cat skiing out of Fernie and had a great day out, with large bowls of steaming stew served up in a woodland hut at the end of the day. Didn't seem too expensive at the time.

As one who tends to fall a lot in powder it was certainly a lot less knackering than skinning to get there, and of course provided a much higher down to up ratio Laughing

I also had some guided days out of Fernie which were great. I didn't do that in Whistler but see no reason why it shouldn't be good. Depends how much you want to "earn your turns" really I guess Toofy Grin

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I mostly do lodge-based heli, but I used to have commercial interests in Whistler so I've ridden both cats and heli there quite a lot as part of that. It's a small world so I know most of the people. I ride most of the season in helicopters, and unless it's a private heli (where you rent the entire machine), I'd prefer a day in a cat to a day in a heli at a resort.

Rationale...

In Whistler the snow is coastal, so although the temperature obviously varies, in general it snows a lot and settles fast. That means the heli down-day ratio is bad. They don't fly in freezing rain as it ices up the blades. Other weather issues exist. Cats on the other hand operate in all weathers. Your chances of getting what you book are bigger in a cat. Note though that both cats and heli rely on fresh snow: you're not paying to ride tracks. They need fresh snow every few days to run cats. Helis... can fly further, but it's less profitable for them to have to do that...

The best time to ride in Whistler is in the storm (before the snow "sets up"). => You're more likely to get the best snow in a cat.

With daily heli you're limited by the folk in your group; in the other groups in the heli; by your own ability; and by how much money you've paid. They will take you somewhere you'll be safe and rescuable from. If you're good and the other groups don't slow you down you could be through your four runs by 09:30 in the morning... If you stay out, you can multiply your initial investment by several times with extra vertical. Most experienced folk wouldn't do that because it's not cost effective. You'll unlimited vertical for significantly less money at a lodge based operator, and you'll ride better terrain with more experienced buddies.

Daily Cats are a different deal... slower, but you ride all day so there's no vertical limit other than the competence of your group. And they can split the group or have folk ride down in the cat if they're incompetent. Typical guests will get much more riding in a cat for significantly less money. You miss a ride in a heli, but everything else is better in a cat at a resort.

The resort owns one of the heli operators (Whistler Heli) and they also own Extremely Canadian, which I think does guiding stuff. One of my heli buddies is part of https://altusmountainguides.com/ who will sort out more serious stuff. If it's your first trip then you'll probably find plenty to keep you interested from the resort itself - you don't need a guide to ride powder, although you might want to do your research. This is on piste, but the off piste is all patrolled and controlled...

With daily heli/ cat, they may well cancel on you. So book your day early in your trip and hope they can bump you back, if the weather doesn't cooperate. But my knowledge of the cancellation policies stopped with Covid, so check yourself and work out what you want to do.

Whilst for experts the experience is limited by the other people you're with, in my experience of running these systems 95% of people over-sell their ability.
Resort operators understand that and are organized to deal with it. If you're fresh from riding Alaskan spines, you'll be expert enough to not expect that here.

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I heard a lot about Heli skiing, and Extremely Canadian in Whistler. I didn’t know they offer cat skiing there too?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Phil has covered cat vs helicopter but you also mentioned touring. Have you toured a lot already? (I.e have the gear and knowledge?)

Personally of all three I like touring the most but it's a different experience and unless you hire the guide privately you're equally at the mercy of other people even then.

A guide should be able to find you good skiing but that area is heavily populated and the Internet means not many secret spots anymore. Having said that they can go out in heavy storms and if it is just you plus guide then there will be runs they can take you on that wouldn't be suitable for bigger groups.

On another note how's your tree skiing? The best powder skiing will be tree skiing and (based on chatting to other people) it can be a different experience to Europe.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks all.

I have ski toured in Europe and Japan (and am currently planning on Svelbard for another trip next year) but for Whistler I think I am going to look at mechanical support for getting up….

On balance it seems like the Cat skiing is the better option as it operates even when weather is cr4p and gives you similar vertical for half the price…. The biggest risk is that my Cat is filled with numpties who can’t ski but that risk is the same with Heli skiing (and of course depending on other people in the group, they could think that of me!)

Is there only 1 Cat operator in the area? Cursory look on Google only mentions Powder Mountain Catskiing - are they the only (best?) operator?

https://www.powdermountaincatskiing.com/

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@1556garyt, I went with powder mountain in 2019 for cat boarding. Very good service and great day. I've done heli once and it's an experience worth doing the once as the value compared to catskiing isn't as good. I went out of panorama and there was options to add extra runs. Bad weather meant we couldn't so the day wrapped around 3pm.

My last visit to Whistler in 22 there was so much snow I did first tracks 3 times meaning you get on the hill and hour before the masses. Great value and had loads of pow.

I'm glad I did the heli but would only consider again on a remote lodge heli trip somewhere but don't have the money atm.

After all it is free

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Whistler - Heli , Cat or Guide.

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