Alberta heli-skiing
Canada travel, tourism

Alberta heli skiing adventures

Alberta, Canada heli-skiing is the preferred choice of skiing for many who wish to be exposed to the most natural of mountain environments.

There are no lifts, no skiers, no tracks and often, the only sound heard, is the sound of the helicopter after dropping you off on top of the mountain. Below you... waits a mountain terrain covered in a blanket of fresh powder snow, untouched and yours to ski.

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The appeal of heli-skiing and heli-boarding is the untouched powder snow landscape. There are sloping high banks, long sections of downhill, big drops, forested glades and bowls. The skiing is not manipulated for you by a resort.

The Rocky Mountain Range sprawls out across both provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Most of the mountains on the Alberta side are protected by national parks. While on the British Columbia side the mountains are heli-skiing hot spots for many who visit the region.

From Alberta communities like Banff, Jasper and Canmore there are helicopter charter companies who provide quick transportation to heli-skiing remote mountain destinations in British Columbia. The mountains in British Columbia, Canada are one of the top spots for heli-skiing and heli-boarding in the world.

Heli-skiing and heli-boarding tours range from a few hours to multi day adventures which include accommodations at a mountain lodge with hot meals waiting.

Tours provide lessons on avalanche safety, a qualified guide and a certified helicopter pilot. Guides are important for heli-skiing as they pre inspect powder runs and keep a watch out for avalanches.

Most of the operators provide skiers and boarders with avalanche transceivers, shovels and probes. Some tours go further and provide avalanche air-bags.

The weather can cancel pre-paid ski days. Sometimes the weather makes the mountains inaccessible by helicopter and, on other days, the avalanche risks are too high.

It is then, on a possible cancellation of a pre-paid ski day, that some tour operators have put in place a back up ski plan - cat skiing.