 Poster: A snowHead
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Ok as a once off we are going to splash out for a full day heli skiing on hol in January. Obviously want it to be a truly memorable experience. Has anyone any solid recommendations?? Thanks guys...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You might get more response to this question on epic ski as they have a larger American/Canadian audience.
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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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How good are you and how big a party size will you have? That is more of a factor than the operator AIUI as you will only realistically ski terrain appropriate for the worst member of the party and day trips tend to be meadow skipping focused unless you have a solid crew the guides can have confidence in.
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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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I have done cat skiing with Powder Mountain a couple of times. They also operate helis
Good thing about them is that if the helis don't fly there are always the cats. In Jan, it often snows a lot so there can be plenty of down days for the helis
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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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Make sure it's not raining
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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So you got soaked skiing down below the middle gondola or did you have to walk due lack of snow? Nice.
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Cynic, i sat in the back of a van up to the base, then transferred into the cat 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Well I wear the Powder Mountain jacket, so I'll avoid telling you why they're the best.
Have a wander around the village, check out the operators and see who does what you want. In terms of what you pay versus what you get it's fairly easy to compare. You can find videos on the web from guests of the different operators - those should show you the differences.
Your party size isn't important if the operator groups people well. Smaller helis are better for resort use, as they make "grouping" much easier. If you're slow this is probably not much of an issue, but if you're a hot shot then you need to make sure that the operator knows it.
It's true that for a day trip you're unlikely to get into any serious terrain. They can't really tell if you're as good as you say you are, and it's too late to find out once you're on it. Tell the operator *honestly* what you've done and what you want to do, and they'll sort it.
Here's 30 seconds from Powder Mountain last January. This is from cats, not heli - you can't fly in this sort of weather:
http://vimeo.com/34238334
In Whistler there are a lot of down days, so you don't want to leave this to your last day.
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Having a cat as backup sounds like a mighty good idea to me...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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TBH I'd probably go for cat anyway and save my heli funds for when I eventually get to Alaska.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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fatbob, So you can have nice lunches on your down days?
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So I can go shooting random stuff, drinking redneck beer and looking moodily at piers on my multiple down days.*
My perception of AK is mainly derived from ski porn and Sarah Palin.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Wed 14-11-12 17:50; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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| philwig wrote: |
| In Whistler there are a lot of down days, so you don't want to leave this to your last day. |
Presumably cats still run on 'down days'???
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Yes, "down days" are the bane of heli-boarding, but cats don't really have them.
Helis need a lot of visibility (a mile I believe by law) to fly at all, although freezing rain and high winds will stop play as much as anything. Also for resort heli in particular they need it to dump fairly regularly as they have a lot of guests in a relatively small area. You don't want to pay good money to ride tracks, so they may have to wait for more snow. In Whistler it usually dumps plenty though, so the weather's more of an issue than lack of freshies.
The cats will run every day (except Dec 25) unless it's actually rained "top to bottom", in which case you don't want to pay good money to ride bad snow, so they will just refund your money. That is pretty rare (I've seen it maybe 2 days out of a hundred). Powder Mountain's in a different belt from the resort (across the valley, towards the coast), so it gets 40% more snow, and quite a bit less rain. So fairly often it'll be washed out at the resort but perfectly good at Powder Mountain.
Here's one of the promo videos from Powder Mountain. This is an A-Star (4 guests 1 guide 1 pilot) with what looks like two groups sharing it.
https://vimeo.com/20527401
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Poster: A snowHead
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philwig, cheers. If for example, I came in either UK kids half term Feb, or Easter hols and wanted a day of powder skiing with my mates, what chances would I have of decent freshies???
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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An excellent chance. There's a slight tension between "you need it to snow" and "you can't fly if it's snowing", but with a few days flexibility you're pretty safe on getting out.
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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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philwig surely if it's your first time there's an additional tension in getting out to Peak Chair for the alpine opening to witness the full nut show on Air Jordan?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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A friend of mine is building a new place in Whistler.
It will be the biggest house there (10 bedrooms) and is the only property that is zoned for inbound and outbount helicopter flights 24 hours a day.
He will operate it as the only doorstep heli base for high-end clients.
The good news: I will be there as a guinea-pig client (freebie) before it opens for business (2014).
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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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rungsp, If he wants a full soft launch I'm sure there would be more of us who'd make the sacrifice 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hey runqsp, I would love to hear more about your friends house in Whistler with the Heli op. I live in Whistler and this is something that would interest me very much.
Cheers
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rungsp, if you need someone to carry your bags etc, let me know!
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OK, fatbob, Ricklovesthepowder, form an orderly line....with me at the front
pwdrfix, not much to add beyond what I have already written. Just a flat lot at the moment, bought and paid for, all neccessary permissions granted. The ground has been prepared, and that involved dynamiting and moving 2,200 cubic meters of granite.....that is a LOT!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ok, just wondering as there are 3 companies here that do Heli skiing which one is it that they would be working with or is it a new company that has their own land to Heli Ski on. At present there is no such Heli fly in fly out lodge here so this would be amazing.
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fatbob, Who is Piers? Does he upset you?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I would like to hear more about the new operation, too. We represent the 3 existing operators: Whistler Heli-skiing, Coast Range Heliskiing and Powder Mountain (along with all of the other operators in BC). So I'd like to add them to the list. Do you know where their tenure/area is located relative to Whistler Village? Also would appreciate a contact. Thanks!
Best,
tj
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