Heli-skiing with Powderbird in Utah
Unloading for another run
Heli-skiing with Powderbird should be a bucket list item for every skier!
After a few storms that led to some magical powder days skiing in resort last season, I built up my confidence (and my craving for more powder!) and decided to look into helicopter skiing as a way to get in one last day of beautiful conditions before wrapping up my season. I’ll preface this by saying I’m an advanced skier but definitely not an expert skier and my goal wasn’t to find extreme steeps but simply to find some beautiful untouched runs in the remote parts of the Wasatch range. I’ll also mention that my powder skiing and general backcountry experience is limited, and I spend minimal time on skis with over a 100mm waist. All that being said, I had one of the best days of my life heli-skiing in the Wasatch Mountains.
A little nervous loading up- not sure what to expect!
Powderbird runs a fantastic operation. They offer two meeting points- Snowbird and Canyons Village, Park City. We chose the Canyons Village location as we were living about 200 ft from their space. The only disadvantage of Park City is that you have to drive a bit out to Heber City private airport following a Park City meet up vs Snowbird which has a heliport on their base.
We booked the semi-private option. I’d highly recommend this option as it allows you to cater the day to your experience level and wants. Your group itself is private, but you are technically taking turns with another group for use of the helicopter, meaning, the helicopter drops you off at the top of your run, then goes to bring the other group up to their run, then back to your group. We never saw the other group or had any long waiting times at the bottom of our runs so this was perfect. There were two of us and two guides which was perfect to get a little more individualized support and instruction.
We chose a day at the very end of March, and to be honest we were skeptical of what the conditions would be like but we loaded up the skis in the helicopter and when we landed on the top of that first peak, we were delighted to see a sea of untouched powder waiting for us. It was a very sunny day, no wind, probably high 30s, and honestly we couldn’t have had a more beautiful day. The weather gods gifted us a truly amazing day!
Thanks for lift, helicopter!
I will say we landed on the top of that first peak, unloaded skis, and ducked down as the helicopter flew off, and my heart was POUNDING. There was an incredible amount of adrenaline being dropped at the top of a mountain peak you’ve never been to before, inaccessible except via helicopter, and seeing nothing around you but mountains. We got our skis on, avalanche pack toggle out, and descended on our first run. I got down and was gasping for breathe but smiling- my guide said it’s pretty common to forget to breathe on that first run!
Beautiful weather, beautiful skiing, all smiles!
We spent the day chasing powder and managed to get in 8 magical runs before my legs were completely dead and it was time to head back to civilization. We were able to ski a variety of cool terrain, including wide open bowls as well as some more forest/tree skiing routes. Both of us used their demo skis for this which I’d highly recommend if you don’t have something designed specifically for backcountry powder. It definitely took a run or two to adjust to the skis (and skiing in the backcountry in general!) but after a couple runs I was feeling confident and ready for more of that thrill! Our two guides were both seriously fantastic and experts in what they do. As beginners to this, we felt super comfortable in their hands and trusted them completely to guide us on runs we could handle.
Our two guides surveying the best route
Overall it was seriously one of the best days of my life and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. You can check them out at powderbird.com. I’m already itching to get back out there! Below is a video of some highlights of the day!
Happy skiing!