I have been snow skiing since I was a 14 year old in high school. I learned on a rope tow hill called Bell Mountain in Mercer County New Jersey. Since that time I have always dreamed of going heli-skiing in fresh untracked powder. This winter in New Zealand I got the opportunity to live my dream.
My youngest son Jeffery, my mother Gloria, my wife Bonny and I flew down to Queenstown on the South Island for a ski holiday. We stayed at Blanket Bay on beautiful Lake Wakapitu. The lodge booked us a trip up the mountain with Harris Mountain Heli-Ski for Sunday. The day dawned bright and clear and we awoke with the excitement of a new adventure but also some anxiety about the danger of "steep and deep". We had warmed up the day before at The Remarkables Ski Resort just outside of Queenstown so we felt prepared for the challenge.
My youngest son Jeffery, my mother Gloria, my wife Bonny and I flew down to Queenstown on the South Island for a ski holiday. We stayed at Blanket Bay on beautiful Lake Wakapitu. The lodge booked us a trip up the mountain with Harris Mountain Heli-Ski for Sunday. The day dawned bright and clear and we awoke with the excitement of a new adventure but also some anxiety about the danger of "steep and deep". We had warmed up the day before at The Remarkables Ski Resort just outside of Queenstown so we felt prepared for the challenge.
Jeffery and I warming up
We arrived at the Heliport on Lake Wanaka for a safety briefing with our guides.
We received our avalanche beacons in case we found ourselves buried in 10 feet of snow. We learned how to huddle with one hand on the guides pack when the "machine" comes in to pick us up.
The chopper huddle
We then loaded the ski's and snowboards and flew up the mountain to our drop off point. We landed on a ledge about the size of a postage stamp 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) above the valley floor. We did the chopper huddle and the "machine" lifted off as the downdraft whipped up snow all around us.
Our Guide Chris made it clear that for safety reasons we needed to follow his path so we didn't end up skiing off a cliff. This sounded like good advise.
Chris our guide.
Then it was off down the mountain for some fresh powder skiing.
My powder run.
My son Jeffery
After the first run our fear and anxiety evaporated into sheer exhilaration. We had a wonderful day Heli-Skiing completing four runs. On the last run I went right and the rest of the group went left. I soon found myself at the edge of a precipice looking down on the valley below. I had no choice but to make a 30 minute climb back up the mountain and over the ridge so I could ski down to the group below As the helicopter came to pick us up after our last run we felt a sense of accomplishment and relief that we had survived. P.S. (I only skied off one cliff).
Kia Ora from New Zealand!
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