Getting lost: Heli skiing Haines

We showed up at 8am as instructed. Everyone was looking pretty casual. There were a group of snowboarders getting ready to go out filming. These guys were from Absinthe films.

The chopper was just sitting on the snow waiting to take off. The same chopper that I’ve seen 1000 times on ski movies from the past 6 years. Then I noticed the pilot, the same pilot that I’ve seen pop up in countless movies over the years too.

About 5 mins later the rotors started moving, they were getting ready to go. Just being there watching the first lot of people load up in the chopper as the rotors were moving gave me chills. Butterfly’s in my stomach…

At this point we realized that we had a bit of time up our sleeves. We went into the office and got things organized. We met the Canadians. We were all pretty quite, not saying too much to each other. Both parties skeptical of each others abilities. Questions got thrown around… “Were do you guys ski again?” “What kind of stuff do you like to ski?” All friendly but a bit with a bit of a funny twist to it. We were feeling no different about the whole thing.

We had a brief word to the operator O’ryan, clarifying that we wanted to ski 3 runs. We kept pushing that we were all good skiers and wanted to ski some big lines. We never got much clarity from what was going on. No fixed price, no real idea where we were going, or what we were going to be skiing.

10am, still sitting around waiting for something to happen. Then all of a sudden, “All right let’s go!” “Gear up and get weighed in.” We had to get weighed with all our gear they knew how much fuel to put in the heil. Skis, boot, etc, also all normal backcountry gear. A new item of gear that I wasn’t too familiar with was needed. A climbing harness. This would be very useful if you fell down a crevasse and had to get pulled out with ropes. Also radios, another very important tool.

Then as we me t our guide Tim, we could hear the heli coming in over the mountains. It was all happening..!

The rest of the day is hard to put into words. The whole experience was intense! The heli ride it self was just awesome! 7 people pack into this little space, cursing around the mountains. The moment we took off we became best mates with the Canadians, there was no need to worry about everyone ability, this was going to be an absolutely ridiculous experience regardless!

First run: The whole process of getting off the heli, unloading it and it leaving took about 2 mins. All of a sudden I felt pretty dam small. 6 people standing on a giant Alaskan peak, and the only way down was to ski.

As I dropped in I was suppressed at the quality of the snow. The temperature was really nice. I expected the snow to be much heavier. Such awesome terrain, really fun! A few little cliffs to hit good pitch, steep but not too steep. One of the hardest things I noticed about skiing in a place like this is knowing how fast your going. Coming out of the main chute I started opening up my turns in to the bottom. I almost lost it coming into a gradual compression, my legs almost couldn’t handle the speed.

At the bottom we were all so pumped! My first line in AK. This place has already exceeded my expectations.

Second run: was a little disappointing. It was steeper, but much shorter. I had a couple turns on a nice spine, but that was about it. We were all at the bottom confused why our guide has just made us ski that. I think he felt a bit bad, he knew the run was short. I think he had intentions of skiing something slightly different. But I don’t think he was totally convinced on our ability and whether we could handle more serious terrain.

We kept pushing him to take us some where bigger, something longer and steeper.

Third run: Our request was granted. We got taken up to a one of the biggest peaks in our zone. Just over 6500 vertical feet in height. It was quite an amazing moment getting out of the heli up there, I felt like I was on a movie.

Peering over the edge down the run, this was definitely the gnarlyest thing I have ever skied X 10!

I was dropping first, even before the guide. Just incase anything happened. First turns down this spine section was intense. I don’t think I have ever been so focused or concentrated on one particular thing. A fall here would be a small one! I was getting air with every turn. Gradually things started to mellow out slightly, and I started to open up my turns. The snow was quite variable, going from pow to wind blown. It was had to see where the snow was good and where it wasn’t. I was moving around the slope, testing the snow here and there. Sluff poring down around me. My turns got bigger, my speed got faster. My legs were hurting already. As I skied over one patch of wind blown snow my outside ski got caught under the top crust. When I tried to turn I got bucked. Straight over the front. Totally air bourn at this point, my only thought was, OH FUCK!. I tumbled a couple times and luckily came to a stop. The helmet cam footage speaks for it self.

I dropped a pole, it was about 30m above me. It wasn’t until I took my skis off to get my pole I realized how steep it actually was. It was not mellow at all. I got my pole, clicked back into my skis and skied down. Still only about half way down.

At the bottom I looked back and I was just stunned. The most intense thing I’ve ever done!