For decades, heli-skiing or heli-boarding have been the Holy Grail for experts in the sports, the ultimate luxury experience (both sports will be combined and collectively called heli-skiing from now onwards for simplicity). But times have changed, and heli-skiing is not just for experts anymore. Heli-skiing has become accessible to intermediates and above, and is available in more ways, and more places, some of them more affordable than you may have thought. But over my many years of covering the ski industry and ski travel I’ve seen people make some costly mistakes when it comes to this subject, so with another winter on the horizon, I am sharing my expertise on how to make the best of your first heli-skiing trip (or heli-boarding).
How To Make The Best Of Your First Heli-Skiing Trip
Why Heli-Ski?
In one word, powder. If you don’t like powder skiing or riding, don’t bother (believe it or not, there are people who fall into this camp).
Snow is the driving force behind the entire heli-skiing (and sno-cat skiing) industry. But not just powder, deep powder, usually unbroken powder, on every single run, something you very rarely see at resorts (unless you’re in Japan, read more about that powder skiing trip here), where even if you get lucky with an awesome powder day, it gets tracked out fast and you probably will not have a virgin line every run, the norm for heli.
But wait, there’s more: runs are longer in many cases than at resorts, and in more of an unfiltered wilderness setting. Mountains are usually bigger and much vaster, with a day of heli-skiing spanning many times the acreage of the biggest resorts, for just a handful of people. Because most heli-operators have exclusive permits for their terrain, it’s more unspoiled and far less crowded (it’s hardly fair to compare, but you can find acreage to skier ratios of more than a thousand to one compared with popular resorts).
You also get the fringe benefit of all those helicopter rides in a beautiful alpine setting, something tourists pay hundreds of dollars a pop for merely to “flightsee” in many places around the world. It’s an intense and intimate small group experience in big mountains and big powder.
How Good Do You Have To Be?
There are now destinations and outfitters that cater to solid intermediates and above, so heli-skiing is much more open than you might think. However, it comes down more to comfort and experience skiing powder than basic skill level. I know advanced and expert skiers from the northeast who have never been in deep, dry, light powder, and they might flounder more than an intermediate from Utah.
The good news is that powder is generally more forgiving, there are no bumps and trees are generally not tight—or not there at all.
But where you go should be based on your skill and experience level. For instance, I found the big mountains of Alaska much more challenging than the Rockies, because they are geologically younger, and thus sharper and less rounded, with razor thin ridges, tighter landing areas, more chutes and a lot more exposed rock. I would not recommend Alaska for first timers.
It also matters if you are a group or going solo. If you go with three friends of similar ability, it gives the guides a lot of latitude on what runs to take, versus mixing different skill levels and potentially holding back your new partners if they are stronger skiers. But also remember that ultimately a lot of the helicopter logistics are about weight, and groups have to consider that. If you and you buddies are all over 200 pounds, you may not be able to ski together as a group at all.
Bottom line is that each good operator and trip should clearly indicate what kind of skier or rider you need to be.
Also remember that heli-skiing is sort of like flying first-class; I don’t recommend doing it if you can’t afford to do it again. Fly long haul first or business with a private cubby and lay flat bed, and it’s hard to go back to a regular seat in the back of the plane. Ditto for heli, it’s something some people do every year and it can make “normal” skiing seem unsatisfying.
Start With Single Day Resort Heli-Skiing
Mention heli-skiing to someone who reads ski magazines or watches movies but has not actually done it, and what comes to mind is almost always remote mountain lodges deep in the wilderness, where small groups go for a week of heli-skiing, day in and day out. This was the model that built the industry and has become the standard of the oldest and biggest player, CMH (Canadian Mountain Holidays), generally credited with inventing the heli-ski holiday.
But there are a few disadvantages to starting with one of these traditional lodge based trips. They are very expensive, which is fine if you can afford it and love it, but not so good if you don’t like it, even if you can afford it. And yes, heli-skiing is not for everyone. Some people get scared by the flying and copters, some by the big mountain backcountry, safety gear, briefings and avalanche potential, and you will have to wear a pack, ideally an avalanche airbag pack, and carry probe, shovel and transceiver, every run. For some it’s all just too much. But if you pay dearly for 5-days in a remote fly-in lodge with no road access and don’t like it, you are kind of stuck.
Then there is the weather. Heli-skiing is much more weather affected and dependent than resort skiing, where it’s very rare for lifts to close altogether. But there are plenty of winter days when you cannot fly, part or all of the day. I know someone who did a weeklong lodge trip in northwestern Canada that they had planned and looked forward to for two years and in 5-days got in one run, total. That is extreme bad luck, but as they described it, it’s also “a lot of Scrabble.”
Today there are day-skiing heli operators based out of several world-class destination ski resorts, though in most cases unaffiliated with the mountain itself. There are many advantages to this model, especially for first timers. It’s always cheaper to go for one day then 3-7. Some even offer half days. It’s often physically easier to get to, and much less deep in the backcountry, even though you still access vast swaths of exclusive, permitted, powder covered terrain with no other skiers or riders in it. Think about skiing any big resort out West and looking around from the peak: you see hundreds of other peaks just as big as the one you are standing on, all untouched. That is potential heli-ski terrain.
But best of all is the weather: if you are at, say, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and sign up for a day with longtime local specialist High Mountain Heli (I’ve gone with them, awesome) and bad weather cancels your day, you get your money back and you instead ride the lifts (or gondola or tram) at Jackson Hole and enjoy one of the best ski resorts on earth (you can get partial refunds from lodge trips in bad weather too, but you still eat your flights, associated costs and wasted vacation days). Instead of playing endless Scrabble, you ski or ride, and if you get tired you are at a full-service resort in a great town and you can go to the spa, gym, pool, shopping, cross country skiing or out drinking, most of which you cannot do at a heli-lodge. Well, there is drinking.
There is also a very good chance you can rebook and simply roll your reservation over to the next day or the day after and still go heli-skiing.
Insider Tip: When booking, don’t save your reservation for the end of your trip. If you want to warm up at the resort, book heli-skiing the second day you are there for maximum weather flexibility in terms of rebooking.
Day operations are also more flexible on occupancy and dynamic pricing, and since an empty seat on a powder day is a vanishing commodity, there are often last minute discounts if you are willing to roll the dice. When I skied in Jackson they ended up doing a last minute half-price offer the day before for some empty slots, and I convinced two friends who were otherwise priced out to take the plunge. They loved it (and yes, despite the price, they have been back heli-skiing since. It’s addictive).
The major North American resorts with day heli-skiing operations that I have personally experienced and heartily recommend are: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and High Mountain Heli; Telluride and Telluride Heli-Trax, Sun Valley and Sun Valley Heli-ski; Alyeska Resort, AK and Chugach Powder Guides (though maybe not for your very first time).
Others include Silverton, CO and Silverton Mountain Heliskiing (which claims to be the only operation in the country offering single runs in addition to half or whole days, the least expensive way to sample the sport. Single runs are common in Europe); Snowbird, UT and Powderbird Heli; and in Canada, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC with Whistler Heli Ski and Revelstoke with Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing.
CMH, which is an excellent company, also has a lodge near Banff, its only location offering single days. Banff in turn is one of my all-time favorite ski destinations, an awesome mountain town in a stunning national park that is home to two very large world class resorts sharing a single ticket, Lake Louise and Sunshine. Add a day of heli-skiing, and that is an over-the-top ski trip.
For most people asking me about their first heli-trip, I enthusiastically recommend one of these day operations at a top resort but there are a couple of exceptions and other strategies.
A Perfect First Time Lodge-Based Heli-Ski Trip
I like the operation at Ruby Mountain Heli-Ski in Elko, NV so much that I went back a second time, and in my job, where I am always time pressed and cover travel, with a big world out there, going back is a resounding endorsement.
Several things set Ruby Mountain apart, starting with its location (“There’s heli-skiing in Nevada?” is a response I get a lot). This isn’t Vegas, it’s real mountains with plenty of real snow, closer to Salt Lake. It much easier to get to than many heli-lodges which tend to be in remote parts of Alberta and British Columbia or Alaska.
Ruby Mountain also has a fleet of sno-cats and a full cat-skiing operation, which means if you can’t fly due to whether you can still ski unbroken powder all day long, which is a huge plus—and a rare one. It’s as close as you can get to guaranteed powder skiing or riding. Cat-skiing is often called “poor man’s heli-skiing,” but in some ways I actually prefer it (for starters you get a rest break between runs whereas helicopters can put you back on top three minutes after a long descent). You get the same snow and unbroken lines.
The terrain in the Ruby’s is generally lower angle, which means it lends itself to less challenging skiing, though if you have strong groups there is absolutely advanced terrain. But for first timers and those less confident in powder and big mountains, it’s ideal. Lower angle terrain and trees (well-spaced) also feels safer from an avalanche perspective and the comfort level here is high. The terrain spans 200,000 acres, with many peaks over 11,000 feet and is roughly 25 times the size of America’s largest ski resort, with a maximum of 16 people in it. As they put if, there is “terrain for every ability,” and I would feel comfortable sending a strong intermediate skier here.
It’s a long-running family owned and operated business, now 49 years old, one of the most experienced in the world, with a brand new lodge, top shelf equipment including great skis and airbags, and just the best place to experience overnight lodge-based heli on a small scale, as they offer 1, 2 and 3-day packages, shorter and more affordable than the industry standard. The food is great, the new lodge comfy and well equipped, there’s a hot tub, massages, and you can even go into nearby Elko and hit the casino if you want. It pairs nicely with resort skiing around Salt Lake, and for maximum convenience you can fly right into Elko, though commercial flights are pretty limited. Helicopters are expensive to operate, so when you go to a fly-in lodge, which is most heli-lodges, you are paying for that commute in addition to the skiing, even though it’s hidden in the price. This is a drive-in lodge, and many guests from all over the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states simply drive from home with no buying plane tickets or car rentals at all. Between the food, vibe, lodging, terrain, convenience and cat-skiing back up, Ruby Mountain is just the perfect first time heli lodge trip.
Intro To Powder Weeks
Another way to hit a lodge for the first time is with CMH, the gold standard for heli operators, which offers a specific program just for newbies, Intro to Powder. This is rated for intermediates capable of skiing blue terrain up through black diamond skiers, and CMH does a great job on its website of explaining in detail just how good a skier you need to be. The Intro to Powder programs feature smaller groups than normal, each with two guides, and it is offered at three different lodges in 4,5,6 and 7-day versions.
This is the priciest option for your first trip, but if you love powder, it might also be the best, and the most likely to send you home a greatly improved skier or rider. But one of the above strategies will likely be how to make the best of your first heli-skiing trip.