08. April 2021

What heli-ski ability are you

Where do you fit into the heli-ski ability paradigm?

In the late 90’s I was working in the office of one of the biggest day heli-skiing operations in the world. A big day back then could have been 130 people, comprised of all abilities and experience levels from veteran heli-ski skiers to first timers with limited powder experience.

A big part of my job was determining the customers’ ability levels, sometimes made difficult by language issues and varying levels of inebriation. Some customers had just come straight from après drinks.

Once the list of customers signed up for the next day had been compiled in the office, it would then be sent to the grouper whose task it was to formulate the groups.

The grouper had to take in to consideration age, fitness levels, past experience and nationality.

These weren’t the only factors they needed to think about. Regions within the country also needed to be taken in to account. The west coast of North America gets more snow than the east and so someone from the west is likely to have had more experience skiing soft snow, just as an example.

There were also certain cultural quirks. Some nationalities would overstate their ability, while others would understate their ability.

It all added up to a logistical nightmare for the grouper, who would often have sleepless nights.

Get it right, and the day would go smoothly, get it wrong and it could cause organizational issues out on the mountain.

My advice is to be conservative with rating yourself. Take in to account your present fitness levels and how many days you have skied prior to the outing. It is better to ski with a group of skiers who are of slightly lesser ability and enjoy the day, rather than having the stress of being pushed by a group above your ability.

A lead guide once told me that he could tell the ability of a skier by the way they walked in their ski boots. One tip; don’t walk like Jar Jar Binks!

About the writer

Chuck started out as a skier on the small island of Tasmania riding rope tows with nut crackers. A dream to ski in distant lands took him to Japan and Canada in pursuit of the powder dream. The best place he knew how to ski more powder was to work in the heli-skiing industry. After 4 years of working on the side of heli-ski operation management, he moved in to heli-ski guiding in Canada and New Zealand, where he worked for 9 seasons. He operates Hokkaido Powder Guides on the northern island of Hokkaido during the northern hemisphere winter. He is a qualified ski guide with the New Zealand Mountain Guide Association.