The Heli-Ski Blog

5 Things that Prevent a Great Heliski Photo

Almost everyone carries a camera heliskiing or snowboarding these days, even if it's just a camera phone.  Of the hundreds or thousands of photos taken by a heliskier or snowboarder during a heliski week with Canadian Mountain Holidays, there will be a couple of great photos, a lot of mediocre photos, a few really bad ones, and one or two that were almost great except for one problem.  Those can be some of the most fun.  Here are five of my favourite shots that best exemplify the almost-great heliski photo:

Timing: When you’re just about to snap that shot of your friend with snow up to his waist, right in the middle of a sunlit pocket in the trees, in perfect control, another powder hound cartwheels out of control across the photo.

Snowing too hard: There is a good reason the Columbia Mountains in interior British Columbia were the birthplace of heliskiing – it’s one of the snowiest places on earth - but sometimes it can dump too hard to see, ski, or fly and even the best cameras finally succumb to the elements.   You’re probably thinking, “Show me!”   This was the last run of the day at CMH Bobbie Burns.

Too many boards: Snowboarding zenmaster Rob Stevens decides to try heli-noboarding, a snowboard without bindings, at CMH Gothics, but accidentally ends up on the summit with both his boards.  Rob rides the entire 1200-metre run with no bindings and his regular snowboard strapped to his back.  It was a great display of skill, but a weird photo.

Trick goes sour:  Needs no explanation.  Approaching lunchtime at CMH Bugaboos.

Too much fun for fashion: Heliskiers are usually having such a raging good time that they forget to dress for the camera.  They also tend to forget about life’s pressures for a while, forget what day of the week it is, and forget to use their smartphones - except for taking pictures.

Ready to go heliskiing already?  During early season the powder is often as good as it gets - and it's cheaper.

The Warmest Heli-Ski Winter Ever

In February, I rolled into the CMH Gothics expecting the worst.  There was no snow on the ground in Revelstoke except for the few dirty, slushy piles left by snowplows.   According to the locals it had not snowed in 3 weeks.  12 hours later we were riding powder and I was blown away.  It was still good!  Here'a hilarious shot I snapped that day of a skier and snowboarder getting some Gothics pow after a 3 week drought:

Three weeks later it had still not snowed any significant amount and powder was hard to find even in the Columbias.  One ski guide told me she was thinking about wearing jeans for guiding.  It was a weird winter.  In fact, as far back as records go, 2009-2010 was the warmest winter ever in Canada.  

There was some great skiing this winter.  Steve Chambers, manager of CMH Revelstoke, called January 5th, “The single best day of heli-skiing I’ve ever had.”    But overall, it was strangely warm and dry. Here are a few "lowlights" from the warmest winter ever:

• In BC, the weather between January 8 and February 9 set a record for the warmest of the period according to records going as far back as 1896.
• It was not only warmest winter in ski country, but also in the Arctic.  Experts blame a combination of El Nino and the shrinking polar ice caps for the heat. 
• Precipitation was 22 percent below average in Canada.
• Average temperature was 4 degrees C warmer than normal in Canada. 
• Parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario had 60 percent less precipitation than average.
• Trucks were used to haul snow for the Olympics in Vancouver.  However, statistically, Vancouver is the warmest city to ever host the winter Olympics.
• It was said that the Vancouver Olympics could "be the first winter Olympics you can attend in shorts and tees."
• After an unusual blizzard in Washington DC, a headline on the FanHouse website covering the Olympics read, “More snow in DC than BC.”
  

Here'a a shocking clip of a snowpack report for the Cascade Range, an area across the US border that shared our winter that didn't happen:

So, as a heli-skier or heli snowboarder, what conclusion should you draw from this winter?

If you’re a pessimist, you’ll expect things to get lots worse.  In which case you'd better ski every chance you get before there is no snow at all on planet Earth.

If you’re a statistician, you’ll go skiing every chance you get because that gives you the best chance of getting good snow.

If you’re a gambler, you’ll go skiing every chance you get in December and January betting on the short days giving the best chance of the deep fluff.

If you’re a realist, you’ll go skiing every chance you get and just book your trip around your life, as always, knowing that the Columbia Mountains give you the best chance of epic powder skiing. 

8 tricks to keep your goggles clean while heli-skiing

 Just returned from the CMH Gothics (my favorite photo from the week here) where we had a bit of everything: deep powder and clouds in the trees with sun in the alpine - and I picked up a few good tricks for keeping my goggles clean.

• Dress down to avoid overheating.  If you’re sweating like a powder pig, your goggles will fog up.  Take off your hat, unzip your jacket, take off a sweater and put it in your guest pack before you start sweating.
• Keep your goggles on your face.  If you push them up onto your hat or helmet, the snow and moisture there combined with the temperature change will cause instant condensation on the lenses.  Often they will fog up somewhat while you are in the warmth of the helicopter, but after you get out and the helicopter takes off, the wind from the rotors will blow them clear again.  
• If your goggles are fogged to the point you cannot see through them, or snowy from a crash, take a seat next to the window and hold them over the heater outflow ducts located near the floor behind the front seats of the helicopter.  A couple of minutes there will clean even the most ice-encrusted goggles.
• While looking down to put on your skis or board, make sure your mouth and nose are uncovered.  If your face is in your jacket collar or a mask, looking down will direct your steamy breath directly into your goggles – fogging them instantly.  Unzip your collar for a moment, or push down your facemask while you strap on your board or step into your skis.  
• Buy bigger goggles.  They don’t look as stylish as little streamlined rigs, but having more space between your face and the lenses prevents them from steaming up.  You’ll notice all the ski guides wear big dorky-looking goggles and never have problems with foggy lenses.  
• Buy goggles with double lenses and without vent holes in the front lens.  The vent holes work in drier conditions, but in the deep powder and plentiful face shots of the Columbia Mountains where we heli-ski, the vent holes allow moisture to get between the lenses.  
• If you still have fogging problems after trying all of the above tricks, goggles with a battery-powered fan will be the solution.  Like a defroster in a car, the fan will keep your goggles clean.  Skiers who wear prescription glasses under their goggles often find this is the only way to maintain clear vision.  
• Backup glasses.  It’s easy to stick a pair of sunglasses in your pocket.  Then if you have issues with your goggles, you can just put on your sunglasses and keep skiing until you are in the helicopter and have a chance to properly clean and dry your goggles. 
  

Do you have any other tips for better vision or for keeping your goggles clean while skiing?  Post it here!

Gothics Film Shoot: Night Putting

This will be my last post from the film shoot.  I have a 6 year olds birthday party to make it home to before heading back out to the areas next week...some things are more important the skiing and making movies.

For this post we are (mostly) turning away from the action in the mountains to looking behind the scenes for a shot the crew did at night using the 212. I am not going to give detail as to why the crew was shooting at night...you will have to go see the movie.

Chris Patterson and Josh Haskins spent a couple of hours rigging up lights and dolly tracks for a shot around the 212 at night.

 

 Roger the 212 pilot spun up the rotors for the crew and turned on the strobes and rotating red light to make it a really cool scene.

 

We had some light snow falling and the shot took on a dream like feel.  Andy and Jonny had some pretty funny non-skiing scenes that I am really excited to see in the finished product.

 

So far it has been a really great shoot.  The weather is supposed to be getting better over the next couple of days so hopefully we will get some sunny skiing in for the film.

The skiing today was fantastic and anyone headed up to the Gothic is going to have a great week next week I think. We have been getting snow almost every night.

This quick video has some behind the scenes footage that as shot over the first 5 days or so. 

 

Gothics Film Shoot: Pillow Lines, Back Flips and Corked 540's

Day two saw a continuation of day 1...clouds and snow.  We knocked off some shooting around the lodge and helicopters while we waited for the light to improve. It was pretty interesting to watch Chris Patterson the Director of Photography use the steady cam to track Andy walking out to the helicopter.

Once the light came up it was time to load up and head back out.  The 407 with the cineflex flew out with us and filmed the 212...it was cool to look out the front and see the 407 flying in front of us with the cineflex pointing back toward us.  It is going to look really great on a 40 foot screen. 

We found some good pillow lines for the skiers to hit...most of the lines have never been skied before according to Claude and Big Geoff.  We shot Andy skiing a great series of pillows with the cineflex...he just danced off 5 or 6 pillows and made it look easy!

Back into the trees for some good tree skiing footage the rest of the day. A back flip from Jonny and a corked 540 from  Andy were pretty cool. Sun is forecasted for maybe Wednesday and looking good for Thursday, Friday.

Check out quick video below for highlights of the day.

 

Gothics Film Shoot: First Day of Filming

We woke up to clouds and light snow on the first day of filming...but it's canada so that does not mean we are sitting around the lodge waiting for something to break. We headed out and did some tree skiing....

...and it was GO from the gun for the skiers. After about a 100 meter warm up ski Jonny and Andy were checking out lines off a cliff band while Chris, Josh and Ilja got the cameras set up.  That is the tough part for the skiers...filming sounds fun...and it is...but there is a lot of waiting as the shot is set up.  The skiers sometimes have to ski some pretty challenging lines not being totally warmed up or having stood around for awhile.

We worked the trees and different pillow lines all day and got some great footage and Jonny, Andy, Lindsay and Craig skiing some good lines.

 

We got back to the lodge and then had some good evening light so we did some ship to ship shooting with the 212 and the cineflex on the 407.

Here is a quick 30 second video (can't give too much away...you will have to go see the movie...or come to a CMH promo event in the fall of 2010). 

Will post a new video tomorrow.

 

Gothics Film Shoot: Day 1 & 2

Friday kicked off the start of the film shoot at the Gothics.  Josh Haskins and I came in from Boulder, Colorado; Chris Patterson arrived from Bozeman, Montana; Ilja Herb flew in from Victoria, BC; Jonny Moseley rolled in from the Bay Area.

It was pretty much go from the time we got of the plane. Josh and Chris got to know the greater Calgary area driving around to camera supply stores to pick up lighting, home improvement centers and at least one liquor store to buy a case of Corona.

I headed to Air Canada cargo to pick up the cineflex camera that we are mounting on the 407. After picking up 5 cases of camera gear (approximate value = my house) it was time to head to the Alpine Helicopters base in Canmore, AB to drop the cineflex off.

 Saturday we picked up Mark Hyrma the cineflex operator, loaded up the van with camera gear, ski and ski gear bags and started the drive to the Gothics. 

 

The first stop was at Alpine Helicopters to drop Mark Hyrma off to install the cineflex.  The 407 was back in Canmore after a killer week of skiing at CMH Bobbie Burns. After a quick tune up and camera mount the 407 will fly out the Gothics on Sunday.

We rolled into the Gothics around 6...and no bags came off the top of the Van. Probably because Yogi supervised the loading to account for the fools (us) loading the van. 

Andy Mahre got in from Yakima, Washington around 8 after an all day drive.  In true CMH style the film crew immediately jumped in and helped unload the food truck.

Then it was time to get the gear ready to start the process for real in the morning.  Chris and Josh loaded up film...yes film...shooting on film and transfer HD digital later and got the gear ready.

Tomorrow we head out for the first day of shooting.  Hopefully I will have some good pictures and maybe some video of what is going on behind the scenes.

Off to Shoot a Heli Ski Film

1983. Scot Schmidt launched off the Palisades at Squaw in Warren Miller's Ski Time. It changed how I thought about skiing forever.  I remember sitting in the audience in Billings, Montana with my jaw on the floor as Scot skied the line with an ease I could not have imagined until then. 

Fast forward to today. Friday the crew and equipment begins to arrive in Calgary as CMH and Warren Miller Entertainment (WME) prepare to spent a week filming based out the Gothics.  I am excited. Are you going to see something as new as Scot Schmidt skiing the Palisades in 1983? Don't know. I do know you will see some incredible skiing and some of the most spectacular terrain on captured on film.  We have two cameraman shooting on the ground and from the air, we have a still photographer capturing the action, we have a cineflex mounted to a 407 and one of the best ariel camera operators at the controls.

Olympian Jonny Moseley, K2 Factory Team member Andy Mahre and CMH Guides Lindsay Anderson and Craig McGee will be doing the skiing in front of the camera. We have some of the best helicopter pilots in the world from Alpine Helicopters. Claude and Geoff will be handling guiding and snow safety for the shoot.

We will be posting behind-the-scenes updates during the week we are filming. Come back to the CMH blog and check out photos, videos and other assorted items from the film shoot.  Got questions for any of the film crew, athletes, guides or pilots about making ski movies? Post them here and I will get you answers.