by Tony Crocker

Nakusp (BC), Canada - Heliskiing is considered by many to be the ultimate way to slide downhill, and British Columbia is widely regarded as perhaps the best way to enjoy the experience. Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) is the largest and oldest heliski operation in the world, and operates in no fewer than 11 regions within the province, the names of many of which have become engraved into the consciousness of many ski and snowboard enthusiasts: Adamants, Bobbie Burns, Bugaboos, Cariboos, Galena, Gothics, Kootenay, McBride, Monashees, Revelstoke, and Valemount.

Kootenay Heliskiing was an independent operation founded in 1982 and purchased by CMH in 1996.  Kootenay primarily operated with 3 and 4-day packages, far shorter than CMH’s traditional weeklong program, so CMH has retained that structure for 18 people per week, with 27 others on the full week plan.  Kootenay is located in Nakusp, B.C., four to five hours of driving from Spokane and severn hours from Calgary.  CMH transport is provided for the full week plan, but 3 and 4-day skiers need to rent a car, as the location is very remote and public transport inconvenient and/or expensive.

In February 1999 I first sampled the helicopter skiing of the Selkirk range on a single day trip with Selkirk-Tangiers.  Clouds and snow flurries kept us out of the alpine, but there was over 3,000 vertical of tree skiing available below timberline, and some of the powder was thigh-deep.  In March 2001 I decided to return to the Selkirks, but this time for 3 days at CMH Kootenay.

I took the CMH Saturday bus from Calgary to Nakusp as I had arranged for a friend to pick me up after skiing on Tuesday.  It’s an all-day trip, but CMH gets most of the paperwork out of the way en route and prospective heliskiers usually have plenty of war stories to trade.  There was one group of 11 who showed their video from CMH Galena three years earlier.  Upon arrival most skiers immediately get measured for the complementary Atomic Heli-Star or Volkl Explosiv fat skis provided by CMH, though I instead opted to use my well-proven Volant Chubbs.  Before dinner on the first night I noticed the records posted of the previous week’s skiing: one no-fly day, and group daily vertical totals ranging from 13,000 to a bit over 30,000 feet.

Kuskanax Lodge is what you'd expect. (photo: Brian Anglin) While CMH Kootenay does have some high alpine terrain such as this, most of the runs are in the trees. (photo: Brian Anglin) En route to the pickup. (photo: Brian Anglin)     "Nearly everywhere we skied was in sheltered trees." (photos: Brian Anglin)

Lodging for CMH Kootenay is at the Kuskanax and Tenderfoot lodges.  These are adjacent unassuming hotels such as you would expect to find in a rural town like Nakusp.  I received an education in Nakusp’s remoteness from a local lady circulating a petition protesting the B.C. government’s plan to restrict and start charging for the two nearby ferry services across the Columbia River.  The restaurant food was probably the best of the five cat/heli operations where I have stayed overnight, although when you live in L.A. you don’t go to interior B.C. for a gourmet experience.

“LIGHT AND DRY ALL THE WAY TO THE PICKUPS”

Breakfast is served at 7 a.m. and most skiers arrive by 6:30 for the recommended stretching class led by the massage therapists.  On the first morning, everyone goes out to the helipad and spends about an hour on safety instruction and practicing avalanche transceiver drills.  Starting at about 10:30 the five groups of nine skiers each head out for their first runs in two helicopters.  Many of the CMH operations use four groups per chopper, but Kootenay’s expansive 2,000 square kilometer (772 square mile) permit area requires more flexibility. 

The Selkirk Mountains are renowned for abundant snow and awesome tree skiing, and Sunday’s conditions fully met expectations.  The tree line is at about 7,000 feet of elevation and pickup spots ranged between 4,000 and 5,000 feet.  In March there is some risk of spring conditions at low elevation, but the prior week had been extremely cold and Sunday’s powder was light and dry all the way to the pickups.  There was just a hint of heavier snow on southerly exposures.  Kootenay does have some alpine terrain up to 8,500 feet, but it was cloudy up there with bad visibility so we stayed in the trees for nine runs and 17,000 vertical. 

The terrain features many changes in pitch, and we dropped some nice steep shots as the guides had assessed excellent snow stability.  Kootenay is properly recommended by CMH for experienced powder skiers, as your attention is best focused on choosing a nice line through the forest and not worrying about the basics of powder survival.  We had a first-timer in our group, and he did not hold us up much despite several crashes.  He unfortunately awoke on the second day with a back so sore that he was unable to ski the other two days.  He would likely have been just fine for glacier skiing, where you can more easily develop a rhythm of consistent powder turns. 

At the end of the ski day at Kootenay the helicopters land close to Nakusp Hot Springs.  Most skiers unwind in the large 100 ºF pool or the smaller one that is 108 degrees before returning to the hotels.  On Sunday night we were warned of a substantial storm expected for Monday.  Given the quality of the week-old snow that we had just skied, I could envision epic powder over the next two days.  As for the weather, I thought the forested terrain would enhance our chances of getting out. 

“WE MIGHT TRY CURLING”

After the first day, CMH vans depart for the helipad at 8:15 a.m., giving addicted powderhounds the opportunity for more runs.  On Monday morning there was light drizzle in Nakusp, which is next to Arrow Lake and the Columbia River at only 1,500 feet of elevation.  Each helicopter took off with one group, but returned after only one run and shut down for the day.  When the helicopters rose to higher altitude the water on the blades started to freeze, altering their shape and thus their lift characteristics.  This was Kootenay’s 12^th down day of the season, slightly more than normal.  Other nearby CMH operations in Galena and the Bugaboos were also not flying on Monday.  Reasons for not flying are about equally divided among wind, visibility and the freeze problem that we had encountered.

The guides thought that we might try curling at the local ice rink to keep us entertained on Monday, but it was unfortunately not available that day.  I wandered over to the local library’s Internet terminal, noted Whistler’s 42 cm. new snow that day, and realized that my final day of heliskiing might also be at risk.

On Monday night we were treated a slide show by Tim Rippel, one of the CMH Kootenay guides who has taken part in no fewer than six Mt. Everest expeditions.  The slides were mostly from 1997, when he came within 80 vertical meters of the summit from the north side.  In 2000 Tim attempted to be the 5^th climber ever to solo Everest, but he ran out of time due to weather delays.

“NEARLY EVERYWHERE WE SKIED WAS IN SHELTERED TREES”

On Tuesday it was not raining in Nakusp, but it was still cloudy and snowing in the mountains.  After our first run we waited in the snow for about 45 minutes while the guides and pilots conferred on locations for adequate flying visibility.  They fortunately found such an area, and we pretty much stuck to it all day, with six of our ten runs that day ending at the same pickup point at 5,100 feet.  Monday’s storm was fairly warm and the snow level had risen to 4,500 feet.  We had a couple of runs that ended just below that level, where we all appreciated the value of fat skis. 

About 20 inches of new snow blanketed the ground on Tuesday, but it was fairly dense such that you didn’t sink in very far.  There was little crust or wind-blown snow as nearly everywhere we skied was in sheltered trees, and there the dense surface skied very smoothly.  Tuesday’s snow surface felt very familiar, as it was rather similar to some of my better Sierra powder days. 

At lunch our guide dug a pit to demonstrate snow stability.  There were two big layers of dense snow over a foot deep, with about an inch of very light powder between them.  This middle layer was barely visible, but if you pushed on the top layer it would slide off the bottom layer.  The guide said that the two dense layers would compress and merge together in a couple of days.

<p class=MsoBodyText>Since the scope of Tuesday’s skiing was constrained by weather, I wound up with 18,200 vertical for the day and 35,200 for the trip.  As the guarantee is 43,000 vertical fee, I received a refund of CDN $180 from the trip’s USD $1,800 purchase price.  I can tell you from experience that it’s much better to be paying extra at the end of a heliski trip, but poor weather is a risk that we take on any time that we ski.  With good weather, skiers should budget about USD $350 for extra vertical.  And as lead guide Ken France pointed out, the quality of skiing on a weather-restricted day is much better at Kootenay than at most heli operations.  Since 1997 I have tried several Canadian snowcat and heli operations over one- to three-day periods.  After 4 days of trying in this mountain range, though, I’m still looking for that ultimate Selkirk run of 2,000 vertical in the alpine flowing into another 2,000 of steep and deep in the trees.