Mike's photo-journal of Heli-Skiing with Selkirk-Tangiers Heli-skiing in British Columbia, 28 January - 1 Feb 2007


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  • Our group having lunch on a mountain peak the first day
Brian got a call from our long-time guide and friend Reid who said they had two openings with an annual group which included his wife, so we took the spots. I thought my knee from the worst fall of my life the week before was going to keep me from going, but the doctor did not find anything new wrong with my knee (and I did not have trip insurance), so I went. I am GLAD I did. What a week!

Part I - The Skiing

Day 1

Our first day had us in a private chopper with our new group, which was made up of great people from Colorado, Portland, Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland. The shot above was the group at lunch. I will introduce them later.  

Sunshine was the call of the day with decent temperatures. There was some suncrust at a certain elevation but it was good above and below for an overall excellent day. Reid was finding that the conditions were super-stable, so we were going to ski some steep stuff all week.  

  • Reid laying tracks down and setting the line for us to follow
  • Brian
    • This group was good at farming
    • Vicki
    • Helicopters are just cool
    • Troy would set down in the sun just down the ridge waiting for us to ski down in the valley before coming to get us

        Day 2 - Let The Steep Stuff Begin!

        Today (Monday?- what day is it?) was better snow. We had clouds in the morning and then some clearing. We had a private chopper again and got 12 runs of some really great stuff like this. The first two shots are from a run called "Cow's Face", which is only skied in the best of stability years, like today (neener neener). It is about 1,000 vertical meters of avalanche chute that gets nice and steep at the bottom. We did it twice (neener neener).

        • The clouds cleared up enough for some visbility and a few shots
            • Caroline ripping it up
            • There were two boarders in the group who were great at farming wih the rest of us
            • Note the smiles
            With all the wet stuff drying, our room is starting to smell like some new kind of cheese. Here is a departing heli-shot for the day, while I am off to sleep to recover for tomorrow:
            • Our ride awaits
            • Sometimes, the best skiing is in the trees (Brian)

            Day 3 - The Sun Returns

            Day 3 was another amazing day, with the sun returning! As Reid put it, the best skiing was in the big wide open avalanche chutes. We were skiing runs that have not been touched all year, including improvising by our great pilot Troy who would put us on some amazing ridges. The stability let Reid take us on some of his most favorite steep stuff, which happened to be all our favorites, too. The weather was awesome and we only had to share the chopper with a four run day-group.
            • Good morning!
            • Our tracks visible from a distance
            • You can tell by the angle of the trees that this is steep, with great snow
            • Dive! Dive!
            • A fairly typical view of how a heli-run can start
                • Vicki and Reid. Ahhhhhh.
                • Vicki shows guides' wives can ski too!
                • Vicki in maybe the shot of the week
                • Cow's Face was so good on Day 2, we had to come back and nail it again in the sun.
                • Matt enjoying some nice steep snow
                • We often skied in the shade to get the best snow
                • Our tracks are visible off the ridge to the right. Another nice pitch

                Day  4 - Awesome Steep & Scenery!

                We started by venturing out to Hollywood Hills, which had not been skied this year. Then, even further north to the edge of their territory. This seemed to be the most scenic territory of anywhere I have  been in their permit area. Simply amazing. We skied even steeper stuff today, with some faces around 50 degrees, which is rare for BC skiing. The stability is awesome so we got wide open steep with some fun deep snow to run along with you, Try and imagine where we are standing when I took the first shot. You can get a feel for the steepness in the third shot.
                • With the private chopper, we were able to get further out into their permit area to some of the most scenic areas I have ever seen. Try to imagine the sharp ridges where the chopper put us down and where I am standing
                • Brian on some nicely steep stuff heading way down to the valley below
                • Brian again. Check the angle.
                • This shows what Reid meant when he said we were skiing wide open avalanche chutes!
                • Coooooooool
                • One of the best views of the wek behind Brian
                • Reid and Troy picking out our lunch spot for the day
                • John and Caroline were fabulous skiers with tons of heli-skiing experience

                  Day 5 - Virgin Slopes

                  It is hard to capture 3,800 vertical feet of "stupid steep" wide open avalanche chutes that have never been skied, but here are a few feeble attempts of the four runs we did in two separate previously unskied chutes. My legs made the 5-days (128,000 vertical feet) with about 40 vertical feet to spare.
                  • Reid on the plateau before it gets steep
                  • Matt getting some air
                  • Vicki waiting her turn on top of a steeper pitch
                  • Brian in one of the tree portions of the new route
                  • Imagine 3,800 vertical feet of this. Run after run.
                  • Elke looking down the 3,800 vertical feet of steep pow pow
                  And here are some shots from other runs that day and lunch:
                  • Yet another pretty view on our last day
                  • Elke soaking up the lunch sun. Our temperatures were about perfect
                  • We saw lots of tracks like these all along the highest ridges, possibly goats (who like dropping steep lines)
                  Reid commented at the end of this last day of our five days that some of our days were the best of his career. I  definitely can say it was some of the most amazing skiing I have ever done, with the most beautiful scenery ever.