Connoisseurs of Cold Smoke
Heli-skiing satisfies the appetite for powder
by Mike Calabrese
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| Skier: Jason Tattersall Photo:Mckoy |
When Jon Shick bought High Mountain Heli-skiing six years ago, he’d already developed a connoisseur’s appetite for skiing untracked cold smoke. Shick had also filled a backcountry calendar that would drive any powderhound to distraction.
“I think I went twelve years without missing a day of heli-skiing,” he recalls. Shick’s sixteen winters as the company’s lead guide and avalanche forecaster suit him well as he steers High Mountain Heli-skiing into its 29th season.
Heli-skiing is skyrocketing, and there isn’t a skier anywhere who can’t grasp the reason: snow, fresh snow—and tons of it. Mountain ranges of it, to be more precise. “There is an increasing interest in the availability of powder snow,” Shick notes, “and backcountry terrain requires very little snow to freshen it up and cover the previous day’s tracks.”
Shick’s helicopters, state-of-the-art Bell 407s, convey skiers and boarders into some of the region’s finest forest and glades. Powderhounds can rack up 12,000 to 15,000 vertical feet in the stunning terrain of the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee forests, alpine grandeur that transfixes even the locals. The Snake River and Palisades ranges and portions of the Hoback, Teton, and Gros Ventre mountain ranges lure plenty of local backcountry enthusiasts, but few can reach the untouched vastness where High Mountain’s pilots transports its clients. And the choppers, faster, quieter, and safer than ever, offer a view that the earthbound can only imagine.
Each HMH guide, trained in outdoor emergency care, CPR, and avalanche hazard forecasting and mountain rescue, rounds out every group of five skiers. Because the terrain ranges from intermediate to expert, skiers and boarders should be at the advanced level.
But, thanks to fat skis, non-powder skiers can tackle terrain far more easily than in heli-skiing’s early years. “The Rossignol Haute Route (from the early 80s) really set the stage for shorter, wider skis,” Shick recalls. “The new skis work better on a wider variety of terrain,” he adds. Which means the learning curve is keeping up with the ventures into new ski country that High Mountain Heli-skiing affords.
Editor Mike Calabrese is also a teacher and musician who owns Noteworthy Music Agency, the region’s premier booking agency.
The Jackson Hole Skier is a free visitors’ guide published annually and distributed at hundreds of locations throughout Jackson Hole, Cody, and other regional communities. To receive a copy in the mail, send $5 to Jackson Hole SKier, P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001.
Copyright 2004 by FPI (Focus Productions, Inc)., P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.
Publishers: Bob Woodall & Wade McKoy, dba Focus Productions, Inc. (FPI)
Editors: Mike Calabrese, Wade McKoy, Bob Woodall
Art Direction & Ad Design: Janet Melvin
Advertising Sales:
JACKSON: Ike Faust, 307-690-5908, 307-733-6995 email: mail.focus@wyom.net
DUBOIS & PINEDALE: Janet Melvin 307-733-6995
CODY: Guy & Barb Hull 307-527-7808