The Heli-Ski Blog

Skiing Between Meals

Sometimes we have guests who are unable to ski for various reasons, but who still make their annual trip to CMH.  Nobody is surprised to find the skiing incomparable and highly addictive, but why go back if you can’t ski?  The answer lies in the trifecta of the CMH Lodge Experience:  One part remote alpine hut, one part mountain expedition, and one part luxury retreat. 

The cornerstone around which this beguiling recipe is built is the CMH mealtime.  Inspired during the mid-1900s by Elisabeth “Lizzie” von Rummel’s Assiniboine Lodge methodology of intimate mealtimes after long days together in the mountains, dinner with CMH is like nothing else. For a glimpse into how the CMH staff makes their mealtime magic happen, I asked Lianne Marquis, the Hospitality Services Manager and veteran of many years in CMH lodges, epic ski trips, and big grins.

TD: Your team provides some of the most remote fine dining on the planet.  What do you tell your staff-in-training to get them ready for dinnertime at CMH?

LM: We tell the staff that dinner is just as important as the skiing and hiking programs - if not more! You never know what the mountains will bring, but one thing we know for sure, is that we can create a great dining experience every evening for our guests.

TD: Why do people eat at big tables instead of little restaurant-style tables?

LM: It's all about the family-style service that we offer.  There are always two staff who sit at the head of each table and welcome our guests to their table and dine with them for the evening – often after skiing and snowboarding together during the day.  Like a good family, all of our staff serves dinner; our guest service staff, guides, managers, maintenance, and our massage practitioners.

Guests can ask for serving requests and can even get up and help themselves to seconds if they would like.  It's a very casual setting conducive to storytelling and laughter - with fine dining cuisine.

TD: What kinds of conversations does the setting encourage?

LM: It's very common to see an entire table toasting another table after a great day in the mountains.  Glasses of wine are being raised in celebration of the day’s events.  It's all about getting to know people from all over the world, what brought them to CMH, and how they found the mountains in the first place.  But it’s much more than that.  You usually get into some great conversations about everything and anything!!!
There are so many languages being spoken around the tables, you might not understand everyone, but you sure know when someone has had an epic day.  It's pretty easy to see by their ear-to-ear grin!

TD: How much has the magical ambiance at alpine huts, what the hüttenzauber, influenced the CMH mealtime?

LM: I believe that Hans Gmoser mirrored the hut dining experience that he was used to on his own mountain adventures when he first opened the Bugaboo Lodge.  It was a far cry from the comfort of our lodges today, but it was all about the family atmosphere, enjoying each other’s company at mealtime, sharing stories and getting to know one another in such an incredible and unique setting.

Join us for mealtime at one of the 11 CMH areas and we’ll go helicopter skiing and helicopter snowboarding together during our spare time!

Snowboard and Sushi photo by Topher Donahue

 

Heli-Ski-aholics Anonymous

Having been on skis since the age of 2, I have now officially spent 19 summers waiting for the snow to fly again. Although I am sure many of you have spent many more summers waiting for snow, I still consider myself to be a pretty big expert on what to do to pass the time... The other day, I found myself committing what I would consider to be an amateur's mistake. I was sitting on the side of Cascade Mountain here in Banff, looking off in to the distance at the snow capped mountains. I realized I was sending out negative vibes about winter disappearing. I therefore had to remind myself of the things to do that create positive feelings towards next winter. So, I picked myself up off of that mountain and wrote out a list.

Here are some of the top tips from my list:

1. Put on your ski gear: Nothing gets you more excited for skiing than throwing on some snowpants and goggles and running around an air conditioned house.
2. Throw a coat of wax on your skis: If you love your skis as much as I do, you won't want to just throw them in the basement all summer to collect dust and let your bases dry up. In the ski world, this is the equivalent of leaving your dog in the car on a hot day. It is simply not acceptable! So drag those skis out from the basement, and throw on a coat of wax and do not scrape until fall. Either that or take them down to your local ski shop. They will usually do it for around $10. You will thank me in the fall (and your skis will thank me now).
3. Watch ski movies: Alright, maybe not as many as I do... I even have them on my iPhone for quick reference. But nothing can cure the skiing withdrawal like a quick ski clip. We have a large collection of heliski videos for a quick fix. If you are looking for something with a much higher budget that can be seen on a much bigger screen, check out the Warren Miller Road Show this fall. I hear that there is some EPIC footage from CMH! Or, if you need a CMH-specific fix, fire me an email @ jentwistle@cmhinc.com and I can send you a CMH DVD.
4. Find a glacier and ski there: Whistler and Mt. Hood offer skiing almost year round. I can tell you that the skiing is not great there though. Most of the good skiing can be found in the morning when the glacier is not open to the public and the glacier is as hard as a skating rink. If you prefer quality skiing, you might just want to wait until December when the CMH season starts up again.
5. Get up in the mountains: This can actually be an awesome activity as long as you don't catch yourself dwelling on the lack of winter. Get out hiking, biking, running, or whatever you love to do in the mountains. Or you can try something that I too will be trying for the first time this year. Heli-Hiking with CMH! I am ecstatic about going up to either the Bobbie Burns or the Bugaboos Lodge and exploring some terrain where few others have been. And who knows... Maybe I will even run in to a Bear!

Until next time, stay safe in your off season activities.

 

I hope to see you this summer!

 

John

What do your heli-ski guides do in the summer?

If you live anywhere north of the equator, and not in Western Alberta (where it has been snowing for the last week), you have probably noticed that the white blanket covering the surrounding mountains is slowly starting to disappear. For many of us, this is simply a transition from winter to summer. We turn the heating in our offices off, and turn the air conditioning on. Not much changes in our day to day lives. I mean sure, we can no longer ski or partake in other winter activities, driving becomes substantially less stressful, and we start to wear less clothing, but our day to day routines are, for the most part, the same.

Now this is all fine and dandy, but what about our faithful ski guides? Their day to day is dealing with that blanket of white stuff we all love to ski and snowboard on. But what on earth do they do when the snow melts away? Do they just stand in their ski boots and wait for it to snow again? Do they move to the other side of the world where it is snowing? Or do they go in to hibernation like bears in the winter?

A couple of days ago, an email came through the office asking the guides what their plans for this upcoming summer. I was lucky enough to be included in this email and all I have to say is that I am absolutely amazed at the lives that these guys lead! And just to give you an idea on how amazing these guides' lives are, they started out each of their responses with: Nothing too special, Regular life stuff, and Pretty mellow... YA RIGHT!

Steve Chambers, manager of CMH Revelstoke, moves south. And not so far south that he finds snow again, but just south enough that he finds himself in Los Angeles, California. In L.A. Steve takes over more of the parental duties while his wife (who is expecting the newest addition to their family in September) works as a film editor. When he isn't doing his fatherly duties on land, he takes to the water. Plans for this summer include "surfing as much as humanly possible" and joining fellow Revelstoke guide John Luttrell and family on their around the world sailing journey in French Polynesia. And finally, in preparation for next winter, Steve will be doing some work removing an old fuel cache and installing a new one up in Revelstoke so that us heli-skiers can get more skiing in next winter!

Jeff Bodnarchuk, guide with the Nomads Program, is hoping to be out heli-hiking in both the Bobbie Burns and Bugaboos. He is also planning to get out mountain biking and relaxing after his nomadic winter. His major expedition for the summer will be getting in as much family time as possible and raising his little boy.

The last guide we talked to, Mike Welch, hopes to be up at the CMH Galena lodge where he is lodge manager. He will be overseeing some potential renovations to the guest rooms. In his spare time he will be mountain biking and dirt biking around local trails. Lastly, Mike will be out in the wilderness sharpening his eye for photography and pursuing photo opportunities so that he can share some amazing pictures from Galena with you next winter!

All I know is that it sure would be great to live a summer in any of these guys shoes. I guess when you have such an adrenaline filled job in the winter, it pays to "sit back" and "relax" during the summer.

Personally, I am going to be hanging out around the head offices here in Banff, working on tones of exciting things for the upcoming winter. I hope to get up to one of our lodges to do some heli-hiking at some point. I have also set a personal goal to summit a mountain every weekend this summer (wish me luck!). Mountain biking, photography, and barbequing are also all in the plans.

What are your plans this summer? Will I be seeing out at one of our lodges for some summer adventures? Or maybe out on the trails in the backcountry?

Until later,

John

Massage Experts Keep You Fresh During Your Heli-ski Week

By: Lianne Marquis

I met Kristen Page in the Bugaboos a couple of years ago during staff training and was instantly drawn to her energy and her love for the outdoors.
Kristen is one of CMH's many massage practitioners whose healing hands have saved many of us at the end of a ski day!

 

LM: Kristen as one of the massage practitioners in the Bugaboos, can I ask what brought you into this field of work and how you ended up in the Bugaboos?

KP: I have always been interested in the body, health, wellness and fitness. It is a great career that has very interesting continuing education options and it is a great job to travel with. Massage Therapy seems to suit my demeanor well. I find it a very peaceful job. My boyfriend Dani is one of the guides in the Bugaboos and he always had great things to say. It is really nice to be able to work at the lodge together and see each other every day.


LM: What are the most common aches and pains that you see with our heli ski guests? are there any? and if so, is
there anything that our guests can do to be more prepared for their week of skiing?

KP: The most common aches and pains are the legs and lower back. It is always helpful to do some sort of training for about 2 months before coming. Squats and lunges are effective exercises to get the quads in shape. Two very useful things that guests can do at the lodge to prevent muscle soreness are;
- Staying hydrated - the heli-juice is an electrolyte recovery drink. Drink lots of water before and after skiing.
- Spin on the stationary bike for 5-10 minutes with very little resistance as soon as you return from skiing. This helps to cool the legs down and flush them out.

LM: From my experience, joining a stretch class at a lodge is pretty entertaining. There is lots of moaning and groaning from the audience. Is there anything you could suggest to help our guests ease into it?

KP: Guests should be sure to not push themselves too far in stretch class. It is first thing in the morning and it is meant to wake up the muscles and have a gentle stretch. Adding some sort of Yoga or stretching routine at home is a great idea for everyone.


LM: I love your photography Kristen! You have taken so many incredible shots photos that you've shared with me. Can you tell me about your love of photography?

KP: I started exploring photography more in depth in the last few years. I travel quite a bit and along with working trail crew in the summer and climbing I have seen some stunning places. I always try to capture some of the beauty, and take a creative look in these areas.

LM: Climbing season is starting up, which I know makes you very happy. Where are some of your favorite climbs? I believe that you have climbed in many parts of the world, so it might be hard to narrow it down to a few!

KP: I can't wait to get climbing again this summer. One climb that sticks out in my mind is a climb in South Africa. It's called Jacobs Ladder and is on Table Mountain in Cape Town. It is 4 pitches of pleasant jug hauling with superb views of Cape Town, super exposure and excellent sandstone. The descent was a beautiful rotating gondola ride, with the sun setting over the Atlantic Ocean and the full moon rising over the buzzing City.
My recent favorite, more locally is "Moose Drool" in Silvertip Canyon, near Revelstoke. It is a really fun climb with lots of character in a beautiful canyon.

LM: You are about to embark on a new curricular adventure; can you tell me a little about it?

KP: I am going to be taking a Fine Woodworking course starting this September in Nelson. My love of creating things out of wood comes from my dad who is a woodworker. What I love about working with wood is that nothing made by man can fully replicate the natural beauty of wood. Wood has character and a past. Wood has aroma and texture and natural beauty. I like working with my hands and creating things. I am really excited about this new adventure in my life.

LM: I have to ask, what is the best part of being in the Bugaboos Kristen?

KP: I would have to say the view here from the Lodge. It is unbelievable and I am thankful everyday to wake up to the view of the spires. I also love the extensive history of the lodge and area.

Thank you for sharing with me Kristen. I look forward to seeing more of your photography and hearing all about your new adventures!

Corn - heli-skiing's best kept secret


While working on the quintessential book of heli-skiing, Bugaboo Dreams, I spent a couple of bluebird spring days ripping long, fast runs in the legendary Bugaboos with Dave Cochrane, the CMH Bugaboos area manager.  At the end of a long run called Straight Shot, he told me corn skiing was his  favorite kind of skiing.  And he was loving it.  Dave was yelling, yodeling and carrying on with such enthusiasm that everyone started howling with glee and skiing faster, fully enraptured by the  high-speed freedom of a good corn day.  

TD: What is so special about corn skiing anyway?

DC: AHHH, it is freedom!

• It is just the ultimate way to travel through mountain scenery, cruising at any speed you choose, or are comfortable with, moving over vast landscapes quickly and easily.
  
• It gives you the option to ski super fast - maybe a little outside your envelope - due to the  predictable and reliable surface conditions.
• When there is corn, it's warm out, the sun is shining, the wind is in your hair. 
  
• It's so much fun , you can't help but smile and go a little faster...


TD: For average skiers, what is easier, knee-deep powder or corn?  

DC: Corn. The perfect corn is a slightly soft, smooth, predictable, supporting surface that is easy to slide on  and turn without really using much effort.  So, compared to powder the difference is that there is no resistance so you get your gravity quickly and easily.  You don't have to work at it. Corn season is perfect for first time heli-skiers. 

TD: Powder skiing is the stereotype most people associate with heli-skiing.  Do you find average skiers have more fun skiing powder or corn?  

DC: The pure floating sensation of fluffy powder is really hard to beat, and that is what everyone expects to ski here and what their dreams are made of, so I think most of our skiers want powder.  Lots of people tell me they can ski "corn" at their home ski area, so they have already prepared themselves for a let down if they don't experience powder here, but then I see these people having a blast skiing corn once they experience a few runs carving on the pure velvety surface of ultimate corn in these huge mountains! 



TD: What is the best season for good corn skiing?

DC: April. 


TD: Do you ever get powder and corn in the same week?  If so, when?


DC: Yes, absolutely! April is the best time. What you really need is a perfect recipe of weather to make the best of both worlds of corn and powder.  Here we get that perfect recipe quite often: 

• Clear, sunny, warm days are required to melt the top 30cm of the snow on the southerly slopes but there must also be cold clear nights to freeze that 30cm of snow.
  
• Enough days of a thaw and freeze cycle will create a strong crust which, when it warms up in the morning sun, softens just a little, making for a soft, velvety surface over a really hard base. 
  
• Then we get the fast moving, intensely unstable frontal systems that are typical in the spring time, which get boosted by solar heating. The air heats up, rises quickly over the mountainous terrain, cools rapidly and starts snowing - snowing hard. In a short period, even 20 or 30 minutes, an intense snow shower can drop a serious pile of very light fluffy stuff. Sometimes the snowfall is local to one run or valley or quite widespread.
  
• The storms move off quickly and leave behind a goldmine of cold smoke under blue skies! 

TD: What happens when the perfect recipe doesn’t happen?

DC: Even without any snow squalls coming through the areas, the steeper, north facing slopes are shaded and cooler, protected from solar radiation, preserving the powder for when the south slopes get too hot and mushy. We often ski corn until it gets too soft, then ski powder on the north faces for the rest of the day.

Spring heliskiing is not only warmer and easier, it is also cheaper!  Check out the space availability for spring heliskiing and helicopter snowboarding with CMH!

Olympians at CMH: A look back

If you have been watching any of the ski racing from the 2010 games you have seen Aksel Svindal from Norway win a couple of medals.  Aksel skied at CMH Adamants two years ago and can be seen in the movie "Eyes Wide Open"...no surprise...he can flat out ski. Men and women who have raced at the highest levels can turn a ski in any condition. It is always humbling to ski with them.

Aksel continues a long history of Olympians skiing at CMH. Benni Raich, Marlies Schild, Ingemar Stenmark, Phil and Steve Mahre, Franz Klammer and Steve Podborski just to name a very small few.  As we were digging through some of the great historical ski footage we have here at CMH for the Warren Miller film segment, we came across this gem: Billy Kidd and Karl Schranz skiing with Leo in the Bugaboos.  This was from the American TV show American Sportsman hosted by Curt Gowdy.  This is pure gold!

Heli-skiing mourns the passing of Ethan Compton

My favorite portrait I’ve ever taken is this one:  Ethan and Joan Compton on the eve of Ethan's 88th birthday in the CMH Bugaboos Lodge, as he intently describes the turning of a ski.  His hands angling like a pair of skis, his eyes blazing like a kid’s, his wife Joan looking over his shoulder with a look of attention and love.

With Ethan's passing on December 21st at age 92, the ski world lost one of its greatest and most unsung icons.  His generosity and enthusiasm for people and skiing inspired him to invest much of his prodigious energy and spirit into the sport. 

In 1962, Ethan founded the Herald Ski School at the small Paskapoo ski area on the outskirts of Calgary.  At the time, it cost $20 for a season pass and $2.50 for a lift ticket. Through the school, and while working as an instructor in other ski areas, he introduced thousands of children to the sport of skiing.

As owner of Calgary’s Premier Cycle and Sport, Ethan was generous with young mountaineers and skiers, and at one time helped an Austrian immigrant named Hans Gmoser with ski equipment.  Later, Ethan recommended Hans as the guide for the first endeavors to use a helicopter for ski access, and inadvertantly combined the right ingredients for the recipe of heli-skiing.   By providing Hans with skis, Ethan unknowingly became the first investor in what was soon to be Canadian Mountain Holidays and the sport that became known as heli-skiing.   

In 2005, Hans showed his gratitude to dozens of people who helped create heli-skiing and Canadian Mountain Holidays by throwing a two-week heli-ski party in the Bugaboos.  Even amongst a lodge full of legendary guides, and investors who risked money and reputation to make heli-skiing happen, Ethan received from Hans a special kind of thanks.  Each day Hans helped the guides organize his friends into groups that would have the most fun skiing together, and then left with Ethan in a small helicopter on a private heli-ski tour of the Bugaboos. I remember watching the two friends, Hans in his 70s and Ethan in his 80s, laying perfect tracks, side-by-side, down the most spectacular ski runs in the area.   

“Whose tracks are those?” somebody would ask, seeing the two sets on some big mountain face.  
“Oh, that’s Hans and Ethan.” Another skier would answer.  

One day they skied up to the lunch area after linking perhaps 150 turns down a sublime ridge cloaked in dreamy powder.  Ethan took off his skis and promptly fell right into the lunch bucket, grinning from ear to ear.   I’ll always remember Ethan for that look in his eye - whether talking about skiing at dinner or falling into a lunch bucket after skiing 150 turns with Hans Gmoser - a look of enthusiasm for life that few people seem to keep into their final chapters.   

Even in his eighties Ethan entered ski races, often winning his age group.  I interviewed Ethan during the writing of Bugaboo Dreams, a book about the invention and state of the art of heli-skiing, at his house in Calgary.  At one point, he looked out the window with a faraway look in his eyes and described his last trip to the top of Mt. Norquay, the steep ski hill just outside Banff.  He said, “I looked out at the Rockies and knew it would be my last time to stand there on top, but it was just as wonderful to be there for my last time as it had been my first time.”

 A full obituary can be seen here, and a service for Ethan will be held tomorrow, January 12, at St. Barnabas church in Calgary.    
    

Skiing Plans for the Holidays?

Well, Christmas is almost upon us.  All us CMH’ers are so wrapped up in the great snow and ski conditions out in the Columbias I almost forgot that there’s a big holiday coming up.  But I was chatting with our gregarious Bugaboo Area Manager, Dave Cochrane and asked him about his holiday traditions.

JC: Dave, Where’s your favourite place to spend Christmas?
DC: Over the past thirty years I have spent at least twenty Christmases either at the Cariboo Lodge or the Bugaboos. I have been fortunate on these weeks to have enjoyed great friendship and shared phenomenal skiing with friends, staff and guests. It often starts to snow like crazy during this part of December, almost like the snow gods are thinking about us.

JC: What makes Christmas at the lodge so special?
DC: The cool thing about Christmas at the Bugaboos is that it is our opening week. Everyone is jazzed to renew friendships, be back on their skis and boards, to be out in the mountains feeling the cold fresh air, taking in the views and flying in the heli. It’s all about renewal in our life, a seasonal one that is inspiring emotionally, physically, and mentally.

JC: Is it really Christmas at the lodge, or just like another great week of HeliSkiing at the Bugs?
DC: No, man, it’s full-on Christmas.  Christmas trees and decorations, Christmas eve dinner, champagne, SANTA, Christmas day dinner, hockey on the pond, bonfires and yeah, even a surprise gift or two or three…There’s special activities for the children and teenagers… Sharing all this with our “extended family” at the lodge is very special.

JC: Sounds like fun!  
DC: It totally is. You should come! Bring the kids – they won’t be the only ones there.  Skiing kids get a special rate with a lower vertical than the adults.  When they tire out they can come back to the lodge for supervised activities.  Consider joining us. I guarantee you will enjoy beyond measure the spirit of our “family” and make some great friends, maybe even ski a bit!

JC: Kay, my kids are a bit young, but I’ll see you there in 10 years!
DC: Deal!

Have you finalized your holiday ski plans?  We’ve still got a few spaces over Christmas and New Years…or Spring Break for that matter!  Or if you can't make it this year, imagine the "I Love You"'s that you'd see on Christmas morning if your family unwrapped a 2010 Christmas at CMH gift this year?!  Call us at 1.800.661.0252 and we'll set you up for lots of love this Christmas!

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