The Heli-Ski Blog

Late Season Skiing - It's better than you think.

Our local ski area closed over a month ago – and it’s been snowing ever since.  I shot this photo a few days ago while skiing at 4000 meters in Colorado's Wild Basin.  It felt like mid-winter up there. 

For any skier who has the psyche after six months of winter, this is the best time of year to tick many of the big lines.  All over the northern hemisphere, snowpacks are fat, the steeper faces are generally more stable, and the long days give us more daylight than our legs can handle.  Many coveted lines get skied this time of year including the testpieces of North Peak’s steep north couloir at the edge of California’s Yosemite National Park, the high-altutude ski descents like the Messner Couloir and the Orient Express on Denali, the iconic ski run from the summit of Mt. Blanc, the big faces of the Alps, and countless mellower runs.

Most years I’m like most skiers, and watch the snow melt from a distance while pursuing warmer weather sports.  This year, a spring storm cycle inspired me to put my skis on again, and to ski a mountain feature that I would always remember.  My ski partner and I wanted to avoid a descent where a fall would be fatal, and instead find the kind of line that was simply fun and thrilling on a beautiful alpine peak.

For the majority of us in the backcountry, it’s not about skiing the aforementioned hair-raising ski lines, but instead about finding our own dream lines that are within our ability – and a lot of stellar ski and snowboard descents are easily accessible in the high country right now.

By this time of year, most of us have put away our skis until next season, but the roads over the mountains passes across western US and Canada offer easy access to great skiing and every year more downhill skiers and snowboarders are realizing the rewards of hiking up for a few turns in the late season. Hotspots for easy access late spring/early summer backcountry skiing include Teton Pass in Wyoming, Stevens Pass in Washington and Loveland Pass in Colorado.  If you’ve never ventured out of the ski area without a guide, these are good places for a first step and this is a good time of year to try it, but keep these things in mind:

• Time your run so the sun has softened the surface but not turned it to slush.
• Start on something really mellow – spring snow is super fast.
• Climb up the ski line first so you'll know if the snow is skiable for you and avoid nasty surprises.
• There is no ski patrol - ski with a huge margin of control. 
  
• Ski or snowboard with somebody who has backcountry experience.
• Carry shovel, beacon and probe and know how to use them - avalanches happen every month of the year in North America.
• Most avalanche forecasting services have either closed or reduced their staff and reporting. 

Roadside is great, but the CMH Heli-Assisted Ski Touring program is the ultimate way for skiers and snowboarders interested in learning the backcountry to cut their teeth.  There is no better way to try the backcountry than with world-class guides in world-class mountains based out of world-class alpine lodges and a helicopter to get you to the best possible conditions every day.

   

Heli-boarding tricks for getting up from the deep

Someone wrote this comment after an earlier blog entry: "I quit snowboarding because I could not find a satisfying answer to this question? If you fall in deep powder, how do you get up? On a flat? On a hill?"
It seems like such a tragedy for someone to give up on the good life because of the difficulties of falling in deep snow, so I asked around for some advice on getting back on your board after a fall in the deep and fluffy.  

Theresa Clinton of Prior Snowboards, based in Whistler, had this to say:
"Ha ha! Yes, getting up from a fall in deep snow can be a struggle, that’s for sure (oh boo hoo!).  If you’re on your back/butt side, the best thing to do is log roll onto your stomach and then kneel and pat down the snow in front of you with your hands so that the snow compacts and you can actually get some leverage to push up with. Or, if you’re in the trees, grab a branch to help pull yourself up.  If the snow is just ridiculously deep and nothing’s working, then take off your board and use it with your hands as a snow-flattening tool to stomp out a small bench in the snow. Then have a seat on your snow bench, take a few breaths - be thankful you’re riding such sick pow - then put your board back on and you can sit up/push off from the bench.  Then SHRED!!! (and try not to fall again)."

Kevin Christakos, assistant manager of CMH McBride, watches both snowboarders and skiers struggle in the deep.  He had advice for getting up as well as for making every part of a deep powder day a little easier:

"Falling down in deep snow sucks equally on a board or skis; the advice is similar, if it is steep enough to easily push yourself back up, do so. If it is kinda flat and deep it's almost best to free one foot and get upright before you put your foot back in (or ski on). On a board, anyone who has riden at all will know that if possible flip to the toe side and push yourself up from a kneeling position. The hassle is always getting up from a heel side fall, toe side is easy to get up from."

Kevin added these tidbits to make a powder day while helicopter snowboarding a little easier:

• Clean the snow out of your binding before they go in the basket, if the snow is a bit moist it will be ice at the top and it's harder to clean- leads to heli stress

• Carry a snowboard tool and a couple extra screws in your pocket

• Ask the guide on the landings "which way are we going" so you know where to put your board on and if you need to walk a little.

• Don't cut the corner before a traverse without checking with the guide, he may be avoiding something - like a crevasse.
  

Bruce Rainer, shop guru at CMH Galena, had this suggestion for CMH heli-riders: 

"If it is really deep, take off your guest pack and use it as a platform to help you get up."

And a few other tips:

• If possible, leave your goggles on your face after a wipeout.  Clean the snow off the lenses and around the vents while they are on your face.  If you pull them off, they’ll get snow inside and take more effort to clean.  
• Try to yell at your partner as you fall so they know something has happened. 
• If the snow is not too bottomless, borrowing a friendly skier’s poles can help you get out of a hole without taking off your board.  
• If you find yourself falling more than you’d like, don’t be too proud.  Ask another rider to stay behind you for a bit so you can build up your confidence knowing somebody is there to help you if you need it. 
  

Finally, when you get home from the best powder skiing on the planet, don't expect much sympathy from your friends when you tell them how hard it was getting up after falling down in epic,  bottomless powder.

Photo by Topher Donahue/www.alpinecreative.com