If you can get to Alaska for $400, maybe you should go. If I was not doing the miles thing....airfares from Seattle or Denver were almost $300 or $600 respectively. And this was '02 when gas was priced with a $1-- in front of it. Even on the west coast, I had to red-eye to Alaska via LAX. Free-flight routing.
Tony--
Chugach Powder Guides
I went every day to see if they were flying (4 day trip). This was easy to do since Alyeaska does not open until 10am-1030am? even in March.
It was typical NW weather. Maybe 3-6" from a random wave of snow.
However, they did not fly 3 out of my 4 days when there.
My only other experience with heli-skiing is RK Heli SKi in Panorama, BC near Banff. They flew during a 2" Panorama dump and a 10" RK dump.
I do not know whether my experience is typical. But they do not seem scared to shut the operation down in iffy weather. I saw the other clients/skiers every mourning -- 3 other guys and my brother and I -- I think economically it works. Just thinking about other reasons besides weather. We would call every 30 min for updates to see if we would fly.
However, they do snowcat skiing too. There was a work group from FEDEX there that had the cat rented for their stay. From Atlanta, GA.
Anyways, I think the Chugach Powder Guides are safe, but a bit of a pain. It's a bit of a let down to call them for updates at 830, 900, 930, 1000, 1030....and get turned down. But the skiing, when open, was great. Really good.
If you have a stretch of nice weather, I would mix up the dates.
