Heli, yeah

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Ian McIntosh at Snow Water Heli-Skiing near Nelson, British Columbia. (ERIC BERGER)

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Helicopter lifts off, leaving skiiers to make their own tracks to the next pickup point. (ERIC BERGER)

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Snowwater founder Patric Maloney (kneeling) and his wife, Maria Grant, enjoy lunch with some happy customers.

IS it possible to have too much fun while skiing?

I put that theory to the ultimate test in March 2009 during a visit to B.C.'s West Kootenay region for a four-day heli-skiing adventure.

I'd been dreaming about such a trip for years, and was hoping to convince some buddies to help me celebrate the occasion of my 50th birthday with an excursion this winter.

But I ditched that plan soon after returning home from a fun family ski vacation at beautiful Sun Peaks Resort, near Kamloops, B.C.

Checking the telephone messages one day, I froze in my tracks when hearing this gem from the Free Press Travel section editor: the newspaper had received an invitation from an outfit called Snowwater Heli-Skiing to send a writer out to check out what they had to offer.

Within a couple of weeks I was headed back out West. Road warrior that I am, I hopped in the car after working the night shift and drove 19 hours straight through to Snowwater's base just outside Nelson, B.C.

Before long I boarded a helicopter and was transformed to another world.

The skiing

It's great to ski with a group of like-minded people who share a passion for deep-powder skiing, and that's what Snowwater Heli-Skiing (a.k.a. SnowH2O) is all about.

SnowH2O bills itself as a "boutique" ski operation. It accepts just 12 guests at a time and operates with a four-to-one guest-to-guide ratio, so you don't waist much time between epic runs. All skiers/riders must be at an advanced to expert level

What's unique to SnowH2O's heli operation is that skiing is guaranteed; if weather prevents the helicopter from taking off, guests go snowcat skiing with a Bombardier until the weather improves. That's precisely what happened my first day there, as foggy conditions grounded the chopper. So we loaded up the cat and headed uphill with the tunes cranked and skiers at the ready for a day of adventure.

I'd been snowcat skiing before, so I pretty much knew what to expect, and SnowH2O didn't disappoint -- much. We skied a variety of runs under various conditions as the guides searched for prime snow on a day with tricky weather conditions.

Impression at day's end? That was fun, runs were a bit short, really hope to ride the heli in the morning.

My prayers were answered with a glorious bluebird morning and the all-clear for the helicopter to lift off. Of course, I was in the last group to go, which gave me even more time to get excited about what was in store.

Once in the chopper and buckled up, there was no turning back and for a brief moment the thought crossed my mind that maybe I was in over my head.

That feeling went away seconds into our first run, but the snow didn't -- in some spots it seemed over-my-head deep. Incredible.

We averaged six or seven runs a day, each of them awesome. More on that later.

The terrain

SnowH2O gives participants access to three mountain ranges in the Selkirks: The Bonningtons, Nelson Range and the Valhallas. Each offers breathtaking scenery and magnificent terrain to navigate.

The wide variety of terrain includes gladed trees in old-growth forests, immense alpine bowls, steep chutes and dreamy pillow fields of unbroken, virgin powder. We tried a bit of everything.

Annual snowfall in the area is approximately 1,270 centimetres (500 inches) and it comes down in a light, pure variety that locals refer to as Cold Smoke endless untracked Kootenay powder.

Participants

An entertaining group made up of three dentists (two brothers, one son), an orthodontist and a plastic surgeon, all from New York, along with a high school senior (the lucky dog was there for a graduation trip courtesy of his two dentist uncles); two telemarketers from Utah who could really rip; two Austrians living and working in Michigan; a couple from the Seattle area who got married at the resort (a Snowwater first); plus me, the flatlander from Manitoba and lone Canadian guest this trip.

Tools of the trade

The B2 A-star helicopter seats four guests, one guide and Paul Winiecki, a seasoned rotary pilot and aircraft maintenance engineer who delights in giving customers thrilling rides. When weather grounds the heli, SnowH2O uses a Bombardier MP 12-passenger snowcat featuring reclining high-back seats and a kick-ass sound system. As for the ski equipment, you can bring your own skis (the wider the better) or snowboard, or SnowH2O can outfit you with some Rossignol fatties.

Safety

The SnowH2O guides are fun to ski with and eager to show you a good time -- provided you follow their lead. Stray from your pack or otherwise disregard their direction at your own peril. Safety is always top of mind, as it should be when you consider the risk of injury or death from an avalanche or other ski mishap. The professional guides are constantly monitoring weather and snow conditions to prevent unnecessary incidents. Before setting out for your first run, each participant receives training on the usage of a digital avalanche transceiver and procedures for boarding and exiting the helicopter. Each skier is supplied with a backpack containing a transceiver, shovel, probe (three items you hope to never use) and a water bottle.

Staff

Patric Maloney is founder of the company and also serves as a lead guide and chief prankster. 'El Presidente' is an all-around funny guy who is always entertaining and strives to provide his guests with good times throughout their stay. He bought the Snowwater property 15 years ago and started the business by offering snowmobile ski touring, then snowcat-assisted ski touring. A forester, he also owns a business that recovers pine cones, stores them and eventually replants them in the same area where the tree they were taken from was cut. His wife, Maria Grant, is an assistant ski guide and business manager of both Snowwater and Valhalla Powdercats, SnowH2O's sister snowcat operation, which is located nearby and also close to Whitewater and Red Mountain, two excellent ski resorts. The rest of the staff includes guides, chefs, hostesses and a bartender to keep the party rocking.

Relaxation

After a hard day's skiing you can relax in your room, enjoy some refreshments, swap stories about the day's adventures with your new ski buddies, hang out in the comfortable lodge and watch videos of your group skiing, or have a soak in the outdoor wood-fired hot tub. The tub's especially enjoyable while sipping a favourite beverage and chatting with others while huge snowflakes fall on your head, signalling that your next day is also going to be great. You can also give those aching muscles a treat courtesy of the on-site massage therapists. Kyla Tucker, a transplant from Winnipeg, was on staff during our visit.

Fine dining

The food at SnowH2O is excellent, from the buffet-style breakfast to get you charged for the day to the sumptuous dinners featuring locally sourced, fresh ingredients prepared to perfection. Lunch is served at the bottom of the last slope you ski in the morning, and soup's on when you finish for the day and relax before the night's awesome, innovative gourmet meal.

Accommodations

Snowwater Lodge sits on 8.5 hectares of private land at 1,700 metres in the Bonnington Mountains. Along with the main timber-frame lodge, which serves as the dining and entertainment centre for guests, there are two guest cabins. Rooms include two queen-sized beds, ensuite bathrooms, heated slate floors and breathtaking views. I loved waking up and seeing the helicopter parked a mere snowball's throw from my window.

Cool ski town

Nelson, population around 10,000, sits on the shores of Kootenay Lake and is described as a town where time seemingly stood still, a place where life is unhurried and people are down-to-earth friendly. It's also a world-class recreational playground with all the amenities of a much larger urban centre. It attracts artists and lovers of the great outdoors and boasts 350 preserved heritage buildings housing many unique businesses, like the local head shop.

Cost of such a trip

Priceless. Actually, there's several packages available and you can expect to spend $1,000 per day, on average. If you're comfortable with that, the folks at SnowH2O would love to hear from you. SnowH2O offers several packages, ranging from three to seven days. They offer a special package called the Kootenay sampler (six or seven days), which includes lodging, a day at Red Mountain (near the town of Rossland), two days at Valhalla Powdercats, a rejuvenation day with a visit to Ainsworth Hot Springs, followed by two or three days (depending on the package) of heli-skiing at SnowH2O. The six-day Kootenay sampler can be yours for as little as $3,300, while the seven-day peak season sampler (featuring unlimited vertical) is $5,350. Check www.snowwater.com or call 1-250-359-7665 for more details on what's available.

Best ski moments

1) Blasting down an awesome run and catching some air -- only to do a double ejection from my skis upon landing and tumbling head over heels (and not feeling a thing). Luckily, the youngster skiing behind me stopped just above my entry point into the deep pow. I dusted myself off, hiked up to my entry point, dug down to the depth of my armpit and found my skis lying parallel, a foot apart, exactly where I ejected from them. My poles were similarly buried and easily recovered;

2) Hooting and hollering (I wasn't the only one) during a run down a steep, old-growth forest of giant evergreens in seemingly bottomless pow. My ski partner for the day (the plastic surgeon) and I were having so much fun we temporarily lost track of where our guide was -- a definite no-no at SnowH2O, we quickly found out;

3) Trying to keep up with Shawn, our big, burly guide for the day, as he ripped a run through a pillow field full of massive bumps, then watching as two free-heeling telemarketers from Utah caught some huge air, snow exploding around them with each turn.

4) Face shots, face shots, face shots. On some runs the snow was so deep (could have used a snorkel) you couldn't help but get snow billowing up onto your goggles on each turn as you floated your way down the mountain.

5) The sounds of skiing in deep powder. You don't hear skis scraping on hardpack; you hear the odd creak from your ski boots as they flex while you crank big, wide powder turns or negotiate your way around towering evergreens;

6) It's hard to explain the feeling you get when the helicopter lands at the peak of your next run, the tail end hanging over a cliff and the view from the cockpit equally exhilarating. You jump out, crunch down, wait for your guide to haul the skis from the basket, watch the heli disappear into the horizon in a cloud of snow dust, then click into your bindings and rip your next run.

7) Having lunch in the elements with the rest of the gang, with the heli at the ready waiting to take us to the afternoon's adventures.

The verdict

If you ski and you absolutely crave deep, fresh powder snow, heli-skiing is the ultimate trip. With more than 30 heli-ski operations and several more that offer snowcat service, B.C. is mecca for powder skiers. The SnowH2O experience was my first utilizing a helicopter rather than chairlifts, so I can't comment on what other companies have to offer. But I can say that SnowH2O runs a first-class operation. My SnowH2O experience was a whole lot of fun, but it's the kind you can never get too much of.

rob.knodel@freepress.mb.ca

Rob Knodel is a Free Press copy editor who missed his true calling as a ski bum.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 30, 2010 E1