proud display, Hescher may be your archetypal =fik_fj\n_f[feËknXek heli-skiing client. In 2006, perseverance paid off when Winter and his partners Dave Scott and Andy Freeland kfnfibkff_Xi[#<X^c\ secured their dream heli-skiing tenure in the Monashee Mountains west of Revelstoke, GXjj?\c`jb``e^`j_Xggpkf an enviably sweet chunk of terrain with a predictably deep snowpack and everything ^`m\pflXYffjk`ekfk_\ from steep, tumbling glacier descents to tasty tree skiing rivalling anything on the planet. YXZbZflekip% 9P8E;I<N=@E;C8P At the same time, they realized they were entering a crowded market that has grown to slid through a forest of stout Hescher puffed like a vintage steam engine, more than 20 different heli-skiing companies Douglas fi r and cedar reminiscent but beamed a wide grin nonetheless. No in B.C. That’s why Winter, Freeland and Scott @ of coastal B.C., while fat, feather- wonder he was happy. The previous evening decided to forge new ground in an effort to light snowfl akes drifted lazily down from a sky when I arrived at Eagle Pass Heliskiing’s base grow the market, attract new clients and see of white clouds mottled by sunlight. In front of operations west of Revelstoke, the if they can turn guys like Hescher, with more of me, guide Norm Winter busted trail through septuagenarian was sharing a hot tub with than 15 seasons of heli-skiing notched on his the silent woods, meandering around three sporty 40-something gals from Canmore. ski poles, onto the joys of heli-assisted ski cavernous tree-wells and contouring the Today he’s snacking on shin-deep freshies in a touring. steeper pitches doing what guides do best— magical forest that’s practically all his own. “It’s a really challenging time to be gain elevation while also minimizing cardiac European, astonishingly fi t for his age and launching a heli-skiing company,” Winter output. Behind me, 71-year-old Manfred with a Type-A, goal-oriented personality on admitted with a chuckle. “But this is kind 30 ski canada » SPRING 2009 of a dream for all of us.” far he seemed intrigued, if not outrageously ratios and 12 guests maximum per week keep An hour earlier, the chopper had whisked us enthused. the experience intimate and personal. The from the quaint lodge at Griffi n Lake next to “When I tell people at home about this, company’s 1,000 square kilometres, contained the Trans-Canada into this sub-alpine valley of they won’t believe it. I love the peace and within more than a half-dozen cherry-picked old-growth forest high above the dwarves of the meditative quality of it,” Hescher said, blobs of terrain north and south of the Trans- Three Valley Gap’s kitschy Enchanted Forest. sounding like he still needed to be fully sold Canada Hwy in the Monashees, is blessed with Soon we were enjoying our own private on the concept. a predictably fat snowpack. In Eagle Pass’s enchanted forest. The helicopter did most of Though Winter and his partners hoped fi rst season it averaged four metres, and they the hard work in less than 10 minutes. For the Hescher would head back to Europe and help had 10 weeks of skiing, with only a handful rest of the day, we’d be earning our turns with spread the gospel of heli-assisted touring of down days due to rain and other inclement a little sweat equity until Winter summoned to his well-heeled buddies, they knew weather—not bad for season number one. And the bird for a return fl ight to the lodge. Eagle Pass’s bread and butter would still be to give you an idea of just how boutique Eagle We paused for a break and Hescher, conventional heli-skiing for the vertical- Pass is, all they need is 150 clients per year to between deep inhalations, took the obsessed. be sold out. opportunity to tell us about all the miles he Before launching Eagle Pass, the business However, with the proliferation of heli- puts on his road bike every summer. Heli- partners had earned their stripes with skiing companies since the late Hans Gmoser skiers are generally a competitive bunch so other companies—more than 40 years of pioneered this audacious form of glisse in the I humoured his bravado. For Euros like this guiding between them. Eagle Pass has all Bugaboos back in the early 1960s, there’s a guy, with the ways and means to heli-ski the hallmarks of the new style of boutique concern these days that more and more heli- several weeks every winter, logging more heli-skiing venture, typical of the direction skiing companies are competing for a static than a million-and-a-half feet of vertical this B.C.-born-and-bred business has been or perhaps even shrinking pool of potential with Canadian Mountain Holidays over the heading in recent years. In other words, clients. Photos: PETER MOYNES years, heli-touring is a novel experience. So smaller is better. Four-to-one guest-to-guide “I’m not sure how we can grow the ski canada » SPRING 2009 31 company has to meet certain standards set K_\i\`jjfd\k_`e^jlYc`d\ by the association, and member and aspiring member companies are subject to routine audits,” said John Forrest, VP of Helicat XYflkjb``e^k_ifl^_ki\\j Canada and owner of Northern Escapes Heliskiing based in Terrace, B.C. “If one Xjk_`ZbXjXZXi`jn`[\ company has an accident, it refl ects on the whole industry.” Public relations on the economic and safety market,” Winter said. “All three of us have The organization has formed a marketing fi le is one thing, but expanding the market sunk our savings into this company.” committee to ensure the heli-skiing market is a different ball of snow altogether— Winter, Scott and Freeland have all leaned grows and the industry remains vital. First something essential for the longevity of small heavily on their personal client lists gleaned order of business has been to raise the profi le and big players in the heli-skiing world alike. from years of working for the giants, Canadian of the industry in the eyes of government and Everybody agrees, though the number of heli- Mountain Holidays and Mike Wiegele, as well public. A 2002 study commissioned by the skiing options has expanded immensely, the as other smaller companies. Without those industry claims that combined the heli- and industry hasn’t done a great job of attracting valuable contacts and past clients, getting snowcat-skiing business has a value-added newcomers to the sport. And there’s no doubt Eagle Pass off the ground would have been annual economic impact of more than $100 heli-skiing struggles with a few persistent like trying to turn granite into gold. million and employs roughly 1,200 people, public-image problems. To make it in the That’s why start-ups like Eagle Pass, 650 of them full-time. More importantly, industry you have to offer something unique without many pennies in the piggybank the committee is working hard to put the that delivers the goods to people with more for marketing, realize it makes sense to best ski boot forward in terms of safety and money than time. And increasingly that sometimes market as a group than to go it standards, and to ensure that the public is means a boutique experience with smaller alone. Helicat Canada—formerly the B.C. aware of the rigorous training that guides go groups and an exceptional attention to detail Helicopter and Snow Cat Skiing Operators’ through before they ski with their fi rst group on the customer-service side of the equation. Association—represents close to 30 heli- of clients. One image problem that has perhaps and snowcat-skiing companies in B.C. “To be a member of Helicat Canada a hindered market growth is the notion that 32 ski canada » SPRING 2009 K?<GI@:<F=GFN;<I Eagle Pass Heliskiing, www.eaglepassheliskiing.com » 3-day heli-assisted touring package: $2,600 » 3-day heli-skiing package: $4,400 Helicat Canada, www.helicatcanada.com Photos: PETER MOYNES heli-skiing is an extreme sport where you like a one-stop shop to fi nd out who’s doing appeared as though it were gladed by the ski huck from helicopters AK-style onto knife- what in the now vast array of offerings in the goddess herself, but instead was rendered edge ridges. high-end powder market. However, one thing by nature into perfectly skiable trees. Light, “One of the questions I routinely get asked Helicat Canada can’t do to attract new heli- fresh white dust swirled from the tips of is if you have to jump out of the helicopter. skiers is drop the price. The sport is and will my skis, and Hescher and I exalted in the We’ve got extreme-skiing fi lms to thank for remain expensive. effortless quality of the snow. There is that,” Forrest said. “It’s no secret that this sport costs a lot something sublime about skiing through trees Consequently, heli-skiing still of money and for most of our clients, their as thick as a car is wide, and were probably predominantly attracts testosterone, hence in time is worth more than their money. That alive when Christopher Columbus landed in theory there’s an untapped market of women means giving the guests what they want,” North America. out there with disposable income burning Forrest said.