Great Canadian Heli-Skiing

Is January 20^th the Best Time To Come Heli-Skiing?

Hello all.

Would January 20, 2010 be the best day of heli-skiing for you? See the “When Is The Best Time To Come Heli-Skiing?” article below to learn more.

Winter is well and truly on its way and it looks like it's going to be a good one! Now before you think it's the marketing guy talking marketing fluff I can give you some proof. Check out the webcams on our friend's at Golden Alpine Holiday's webcam here. It shows Sentry Mountain Lodge which borders our heli-skiing tenure, so it can give you a good idea of what current conditions are like. It also links through to the world-class resorts of Revelstoke Mountain Resort (75 minutes from our lodge) and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (60 minutes). The Great Canadian Heli-Skiing webcam will be up and running when we open up Heather Mountain Lodge and turn the generator back on!

We’re excited to mention that we will be hosting some of the judges for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at the beginning of December! They will be holding a conference at our Heather Mountain Lodge and will be getting some heli-skiing in.

Countdown clock: 47 days until our first group goes heli-skiing! 52 days until Kicking Horse opens, 46 days for Revelstoke and only 17 days until Lake Louise opens!

Hey Brits and Europeans! Would You Like To Meet Someone From Great Canadian Heli-Skiing On Your Home Turf?

I (Tim) leave this Friday for the UK and Europe! I’d love to catch up with any previous, current and prospective guests while I’m over there. I’d be more than happy to answer any questions and let you know why we think Great Canadian offers the best in heli-skiing.

I will be attending 2 ski shows; the Metro Ski Show in London and SkiPass in Modena, Italy as well as doing a heli-skiing presentation in London. I will also be in Germany and Austria, so if you’d like to have a beer and a chat about heli-skiing let me know! If you have a group of friends/family that are considering a heli-skiing trip I would be more than happy to do a little presentation for you (for free of course!).

Schedule

Saturday Oct 24 - London Metro Ski Show. You can find me floating between the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort booth (stand #213) and the Ultimate-Ski.com booth (stand #621)
Sunday Oct 25 - London Metro Ski Show. As above.
Tuesday Oct 27 - Hannover region
Wednesday Oct 28 - Frankfurt region
Friday Oct 30 - Vienna, Austria
Saturday Oct 31 - SkiPass Ski Show, Modena, Italy. Come visit me at the "Blade Runner Adventures" booth!
Sunday Nov 1 - SkiPass Ski Show. As above.
Tuesday Nov 3 - Munich region
Thursday Nov 5 - Heli-skiing presentation in conjunction with Worldwide Heli-Skiing! Join us at the Star & Garter, 4 Lower Richmond Rd, Putney, London SW15 1JN at 7 pm. I’ll be there as well as representatives from Valdez Heli-Guides and Swiss Ski Safari!
Friday Nov 6 - London in the evening

I hope to meet some of you in the next 2 weeks!

When Is The Best Time To Come Heli-Skiing?

The most commonly asked question we get is probably “when’s the best time to come heli-skiing”. Actually, that’s not true... when friends find out I work for a heli-skiing company the question I always hear is “So can you get me free heli-skiing?” Haha. Well that is easy to answer (uhhh NO!) but to answer the “best time to come” question is a lot trickier. Basically it boils down to what type of skiing you prefer... is it trees, deep powder, open bowls? The following is a rough guide, Mother Nature likes to play games, so take this as a generalisation! Oh yeah, so why January 20th? Well, that’s when we had 71.9cm in a 24 hour period back in 1972!

December to January:
Daily Average Temp: -9.4°C / 15°F Number of Days With Snowfall: 21.8 per month Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 71.9cm Note: this is in a 24hr period; storms can often last longer, so storm totals will be substantially more! It’s All About The POW! Quoted statistics are for Mt Fidelity and compiled by Environment Canada	Snow: Lots of powder days! As you may know, December and January are often the snowiest months of winter. This, of course, leads to fewer bluebird days (i.e. blue sky days) but a lot more days of light, dry powder. It’s when it’s storming out that you get the best quality snow. Terrain: When it is snowing we ski mostly in the trees as this gives us better visibility, We have some awesome areas of burnt forests which creates nicely spaced trees that are often very easy to navigate. When the weather is fine we will ski in the alpine on some of the glaciers and bowls. If the most important factor of your trip is to ski deep powder then you should consider booking in December or January. The added bonus is that our pricing is at it’s lowest at this time of year (i.e. December — mid-January). If I had to choose, I’d come at this time of the season. This is owner Greg Porter’s favourite time too since he scored some huge powder days over Christmas!

December to January:

Daily Average Temp: -9.4°C / 15°F

Number of Days With Snowfall: 21.8 per month

Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 71.9cm
*Note: this is in a 24hr period; storms can often last longer, so storm totals will be substantially more!

It’s All About The POW!

*Quoted statistics are for Mt Fidelity and compiled by Environment Canada

Snow:

Lots of powder days! As you may know, December and January are often the snowiest months of winter. This, of course, leads to fewer bluebird days (i.e. blue sky days) but a lot more days of light, dry powder. It’s when it’s storming out that you get the best quality snow.

Terrain:

When it is snowing we ski mostly in the trees as this gives us better visibility, We have some awesome areas of burnt forests which creates nicely spaced trees that are often very easy to navigate. When the weather is fine we will ski in the alpine on some of the glaciers and bowls.

If the most important factor of your trip is to ski deep powder then you should consider booking in December or January. The added bonus is that our pricing is at it’s lowest at this time of year (i.e. December — mid-January).

If I had to choose, I’d come at this time of the season. This is owner Greg Porter’s favourite time too since he scored some huge powder days over Christmas!

February:
Daily Average Temp: -7.2°C / 19°F Number of Days With Snowfall: 18.4 Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 57cm A Bit Of Everything!	Snow: Still lots of powder days, just not as many as previous months, but more bluebird days. This time of the season is most popular with our guests as there’s a good chance to get both powder days and sunny days. Terrain: In February we’ll ski all types of terrain, depending on the weather conditions and where the guides think the best snow is. This will include glaciers, bowls and tree skiing. Rob Dalinghaus, GCH Operations Manager, prefers February for the frequent dumps and the sunny days so he doesn’t have to wear his tuque (beanie) and ruin his hair!

February:

Daily Average Temp: -7.2°C / 19°F

Number of Days With Snowfall: 18.4

Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 57cm

A Bit Of Everything!

Snow:

Still lots of powder days, just not as many as previous months, but more bluebird days. This time of the season is most popular with our guests as there’s a good chance to get both powder days and sunny days.

Terrain:

In February we’ll ski all types of terrain, depending on the weather conditions and where the guides think the best snow is. This will include glaciers, bowls and tree skiing.

Rob Dalinghaus, GCH Operations Manager, prefers February for the frequent dumps and the sunny days so he doesn’t have to wear his tuque (beanie) and ruin his hair!

March:
Daily Average Temp: -4.7°C/23.5°F Number of Days With Snowfall: 19.7 Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 50.3cm The Ultimate High Alpine and Blue Sky Month!	Snow: March is still very much winter time in our mountain ranges. At this time of year we are blessed with stable weather and the storm systems that come in are often intense but short. Terrain: With an increase in fine weather days we are able to explore more of our vast terrain in the powder-choked Selkirk and Purcell mountain ranges. The skiing is mostly done up in the alpine, often on nice long glaciers and open bowls. Great Canadian Heli-Skiing veteran (of 13 years!) and Office Manager extraordinaire Deane Pickering says March is her favourite month for the sunnier days and the powder isn’t as deep!

March:

Daily Average Temp: -4.7°C/23.5°F

Number of Days With Snowfall: 19.7

Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 50.3cm

The Ultimate High Alpine and Blue Sky Month!

Snow:

March is still very much winter time in our mountain ranges. At this time of year we are blessed with stable weather and the storm systems that come in are often intense but short.

Terrain:

With an increase in fine weather days we are able to explore more of our vast terrain in the powder-choked Selkirk and Purcell mountain ranges. The skiing is mostly done up in the alpine, often on nice long glaciers and open bowls.

Great Canadian Heli-Skiing veteran (of 13 years!) and Office Manager extraordinaire Deane Pickering says March is her favourite month for the sunnier days and the powder isn’t as deep!

April:
Daily Average Temp: -0.4°C/31°F Number of Days With Snowfall: 14.4 Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 48cm The Fine Weather Skier Month!	Snow: It’s funny how we see a drop off in bookings at this time of year because we can have epic conditions in April. It’s common at this time of year to have a lot of sunny days and less fresh snow days, but when it does snow it’s usually in big dumps! So instead of getting out the golf clubs, grab your skis/board and get some awesome turns in before summer starts�then you can golf as much as you want. Terrain: As the temperatures start to warm up, we tend to ski predominately in the alpine where the snow is at its best. You will be skiing mostly under sunny, blue skies on glaciers and alpine bowls and rarely tree skiing, unless it’s snowing! Oh, and it’s low season pricing too!

April:

Daily Average Temp: -0.4°C/31°F

Number of Days With Snowfall: 14.4

Biggest Dump In A 24hr Period: 48cm

The Fine Weather Skier Month!

Snow:

It’s funny how we see a drop off in bookings at this time of year because we can have epic conditions in April. It’s common at this time of year to have a lot of sunny days and less fresh snow days, but when it does snow it’s usually in big dumps! So instead of getting out the golf clubs, grab your skis/board and get some awesome turns in before summer starts�then you can golf as much as you want.

Terrain:

As the temperatures start to warm up, we tend to ski predominately in the alpine where the snow is at its best. You will be skiing mostly under sunny, blue skies on glaciers and alpine bowls and rarely tree skiing, unless it’s snowing!

Oh, and it’s low season pricing too!

It’s worth noting that since we have such a variety of terrain and we use the best helicopters in the business, down days are extremely rare. In fact, in the last 2 seasons we’ve only had 2 complete down days! Also worth remembering is that we are talking about the weather and no one gets it right all the time, so take the above as a guide only, though it’s a good generalisation. For some hard facts and figures such as typical snowfall and temperature, check out the statistics for Mt Fidelity collected by Environment Canada here.

So, Who Are This Year’s Calendars Heli-Stars?

Calendar 2010 - November

The new 2010 Great Canadian Heli-Skiing Calendars have arrived and they look great! The distribution centre started processing them today, so keep an eye out for them towards the end of this week but most likely next week.

Mr January is Jeff Parr in some super deep powder! Jeff has scored some great days with us since he has been coming here every winter since 2003 and has previously scored a sweet ARC'TERYX softshell jacket as part of our Powder Privileges loyalty program.

John Vert is Mr June. The photo shows John getting a huge powder faceshot on the run Buffalo Wings. Last winter was his first time heli-skiing... but no doubt it won’t be his last!

Mr November is Michael Dalzell, Senior Director of Sales & Marketing for Kicking Horse Mountain Resort who found time to come skiing with us for a day (well, I guess it’s not hard convincing someone to heli-ski with us!). Michael is launching some sweet air off a pillow line... unfortunately the photo does not tell us if he stomped it! Speaking of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, check out their brand spanking new website: www.kickinghorseresort.com . Kicking Horse is only 16 km from the town of Golden and makes the perfect pre or post resort skiing destination. For package deals involving heli-skiing and resort skiing at Kicking Horse, see the package deals we’ve created here. There’s also some packages that include cat-skiing at Chatter Creek!

If you haven’t received your new calendar by the end of the month or early November, drop us a line and we’ll send another one out to you.

Deane’s Customer Service Award Nomination

Thanks to all of you who voted for Dean in the "Customer Excellence Award" being offered by the Kicking Horse Country Chamber of Commerce. The response was excellent and a true testament to the high regard we hold Deane in. She has now made the Top 3 Finalists. The winner will be announced this Saturday, so we’ll let you know how it went in the next newsletter.