CANADIANMOUNTAINHOLIDAYS
Heli-skiing
CANADIANMOUNTAINHOLIDAYSPOWDERPERFORMANCE,
THROUGHOUTWESTERNCANADA.
Foravidskiers,heli-skiing is thesport’s
HolyGrail,offering thebest imaginable terrainandconditions—
minuscrowdsor lift lines.CanadianMountainHolidays (CMH) is
theworld’spremierheli-skioperatorandhas12wildernessareas
with lodges throughoutwesternCanada,eachareaaveragingabout
200 times thesizeof thecontinent’s largestnormalskiresorts
whileaccommodating justone to fourdozenskiers.Collectively,
theseareasareabouthalf thesizeofSwitzerland,butatanygiven
time theyhavenomore than400skiers. Imaginehavingaresort10
times thesizeofVailorWhistler— foreachskier inyourgroup.
Everydescentcanbeunbrokenpowder,andyouneverhave toski
thesamerun twice inaweek.Therein lies theallure,andwhy
manybecomeaddicted.But there issomethingkeepinga lotofski-
erswhowould loveheli-skiing from trying it:apprehension.Many
capable, strong intermediateandadvancedskiersare intimidated
by the idea.For thisreason,CMHoffers thePowder Introduction
program, specialweeks (six toeightdays) forwould-beheli-skiers.
It is forstrong intermediateskiersandabove, thosewhocanal-
readymakeaggressiveparallel turns.Campsareall ledbyRoko
Koell,a20-yearCMHveteranguideand fullycertifiedAustrian
AlpineSkiTeamCoachand instructor.Koellalsooffersanother
alternative to thesometimes-intimidatingheli-ski trip:Powder
Mastersweeks,aimedat lessaggressiveor lessfitskierswhowant
toemphasizequalityofskiingoverquantity.Heli-skiingcanattract
A-typesbentonrackingup themostpossiblerunseachday,and
basically,PowderMasters is for thosewhowant tostopandsmell
theroses.Thiswinter,Powder Introhas13sessionsandPowder
Mastersnine,bothat fourCMH lodges, ranging from$5,250 to
$10,770perperson, includingallmeals, lodging, transfers from
Calgary,anduseofpowderskis,poles,and,ofcourse,avalanche
transceivers.
canadianmountainholidays.com
➤
ADVENTURE
Peak Performance
OPENINGSPREADAND THISPAGE©BRADWHITE/CMH
WINTER 2009
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