Posted on October 13th 2011 {plusone}

By Ann Hofer

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing is choosing Prior Overlord to compliment there new fleet.

Since 1990 Prior has been relentlessly Refining the Ride. Handcrafting high-performance skies and snowboards for more than two decades has given Prior the knowledge and skills to consistently produce skis and snowboards that stand up to the test of time, and the rigorous performance needs of the most dedicated riders and elite athletes.

Our new Fleet was carefully chosen to meet the demands of NEH Deep Snow pack and Terrain and will be avail in our upcoming 2012 Season.

Aug 30^th, 2011 {plusone}
Posted By: John Forrest

The Avalanche Airbag Backpack or Avalanche Flotation Device (AFD) has been around for many years, but only recently have they been incorporated into commercial heli-skiing operations. There are many reasons for this, but one of the single most important is that the Ministry of Transport has only recently approved the cylinders for transport in commercial aircraft, i.e. helicopters. 

Recently I was questioning a renowned engineer that designed the avalanche transceivers we use, the BarryVox Pulse, about the “new” avalanche airbag backpacks or AFD’s and the efficacy of their use in the heliskiing industry. His answer astounded me as he is responsible for designing one of the most sophisticated avalanche transceivers on the market; he said “if I had a choice of wearing only a transceiver or only an AFD, I would choose the AFD”

That’s a very strong statement and I had to think about it for a minute, putting aside my 30+ years of indoctrination with transceivers, before I could see his point. One device, the transceiver, helps you be located if you’re buried in an avalanche and the other, the AFD, decrease your chances of being buried if you’re caught in an avalanche.  

Now, these devices are not infallible and in fact may increase risk in specific situations, but then again so do seatbelts in your car and ski helmets.

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing has been including AFD’s, the Snow Pulse Airbags, as part of their risk management program for two years now and we are very happy with the results. Heliski guests are issued a transceiver and an AFD which also carries a shovel and probe. Each group also carries a handheld radio to communicate with guides and pilots. They receive instruction and practice the use of each prior to skiing/riding with us.

However, even when utilizing the latest in technology, there is still no substitute for avoiding avalanches in the first place. Providing you with a safe and enjoyable heli-skiing and/or heli-boarding vacation is our highest priority. For more information on our operations and safety procedures, please see our Operations and Safety page.

July 20, 2011 {plusone}

Posted by Yvan Sabourin

The past heli season at NEH saw the return of celluloid and the antics of a strong crew of filmers, riders and athletes or proskiers. There were familiar faces from Standard Films Travis Robb and Ondo filming as well Mads Jonsson, Lonnie Kauk, Torstein Horgmo, Mathieu Crepel all familiar with the style of riding and snow conditions of the Skeena Mountains. It is always a relief to see familiar faces cause our guiding job includes developing a profile of each individual rider. This allows us to chose appropriate terrain that meets their style. I’ll talk about terrain later so for the moment I’ll mention the newbies that showed up. Mark Carter, Sammy Luebke, Aaron Bittner, Blair Habenacht and lastly perhaps the most performing rider Kazu Kobiko. Yes, as Mads stated and proclaimed he has a new found belief that Kazu may be the most talented rider he’s witnessed of any style. Honestly we were all taken aback by Kazu’s choice of lines, be it tech pillows or big mountain spine freestyle. Wow! To be present and witness 80 foot trick airs to stomp. Individually these riders are all world class and the NEH team had the their work cut out for them.

The synergy between the riders we met this season was exceptional, as the senior or more experienced riders often shared opinions on terrain choice. This exchange builds confidence in per say a line choice as quite often unknowns are always present. The key element for a rider is to remain calm and not get frustrated in times when things aren’t falling in place perfectly. A perfectionist that is hard on himself can often fall out of balance if too critical of oneself.

Finding new lines such as the Samurai Spines and revisiting Hell’s Gate a pillow zone that has epic sized drops that are hard to comprehend until your standing in the drop zone. The other challenge we faced was of course the weather. We started the month long tour with some clear, cold bluebird conditions which made for long days. This high pressure system blew in from the North with some severity which affected most every piece of exposed terrain so we were forced to move to sheltered tree runs. Here’s a couple tricks the riders use to maintain there energy on icy cold days. Pack and extra pair of goggles and mitts instead of gloves, snack often and stay hydrated.

What makes Northern Escape so desirable to film crews is the diversity of terrain. In any condition we can get into the mountains and put together a day of filming. Mark Carter stated “ It’s like being in AK but you have the advantage of having reference points so things aren’t so scary.” The guiding policy when things are tough and we are getting pushed around by weather is to break the terrain down and isolate features instead of looking at a whole mountain.

TB20 will be released for premiere viewing in Sept. so stay tuned for the trailer. Standard Films has always been known for putting together solid productions with a compliment of great music and historical footage. This DVD will be a must for your library.They have also made a huge production change and are shooting mostly digital, so your wide screen TV will transport you to the scene. Riders were also shooting POV with Contour so you’ll feel vertigo all in the comfort of your couch and bowl of buttered popcorn.

Our season was just about done and we were down to the last couple of weeks when John was contacted by Matchstick Productions. Alaskan Ranges had been subjected to the same cold fronts we experienced in
Terrace although they were severely short of snow and spines and the mountains were wind raked. After crunching a budget John told us it’s on. Two weeks of film with producer cinematographer Scott Gaffney and Mattias Fredriksson, Swede shooting still and Fred Arne Wergeland from Norway shooting RED.

My first question to John was okay who is skiing? That question wasn’t answered until I was at the airport picking up the crew and delivering them with there private chef from Crested Butte Colorado. Kevin this dude can cook ribs and has inspired me to make my own rubs and make the best breakfast sandwich on the planet.

Back on track, I could easily turn this blog into a foodie column, Cody Townsend with his oversize mustache was familiar to me, as he skied with Team 13 and had the opportunity to be in the Skeena Range for one bluebird day during our premiere season back in 2005. We actually got his segment done in one day production quality was more of B Movie style at Team 13. Also at the airport I greeted Henrik Windstedt from Sweden, as the pro male model... He does the role justice. I’m talking about skiing, he is a Big Mountain Freeride skier to the bone. He and Cody met on the World Freeride Extremes circuit in Europe some years ago and have been doing segments for Matchstick for the past couple seasons. For the first week our crew consisted of two skiers and three crew. Quantum Helicopters flew a B2 A Star for us. The last member to join us was Rory Bushfield , he had been here in Terrace twice before. Rory is big on freestyle tricks, jumping off structures such as bridges into freezing cold rivers or crashing through some kind of inferno.

The highlight of the trip in my eyes came down to the crunch. It was like a play at a baseball game. The base were loaded and we had the star batter in the box. The pitcher had a huge wad of chewing gum and was a cool player under pressure.

So let me summarize a day in the life of a Rockstar skier. The guides made arrangements to lift early with the heli as the weather was the most promising we’d observed in two weeks. We lifted to the sunrise morning glow inbound to Umpa Lumpa Spines while the skiers discussed line choices. I flew with the pilot to establish landing zones on a knife edge ridge at the entrances for Henrik, Rory and Cody. This ridge is notorious for having huge cornices so it’s actually a invaluable to observe conditions without pressure from the skiers. It was a go, with skiers in place and filmers ready a cloud built between skiers and filmers obscuring the view so we played the waiting game. All the skiers acomplished the lines after some patience was practiced from ridgecrest. Just over the ridge in the adjacent valley I was able to keep an eye on the weather pattern so we moved to Wonderland Spines and slaughtered the zone. As filming was about to end we went for a check flight to the north which led us to the Star Creek headwaters. West Hustler Peak and a new zone waiting for a 1st descent was in perfect light so line choices and logistics were the task at hand.

Light was moving quickly on the east face of the new spine zone so we chose to get this in the can. Establishing a new zone is always exciting, the unknown always has a certain appeal although this piece of terrain I’d been observing and photographing for several years already. Present conditions being stable from avalanches and daylight being optimal although fading due to moving shadows we had to be hasty and get the job done. Cody dropped in from the highest landing and skied an obvious spines in classic big mountain style and transfered onto a lower angle spine to hit a couple pillows off the main spine. Minimal sluffing occurred on his descent so we had good information about the face so with greater confidence we proceeded with Rory’s descent which was more face skiing with a trick feature. The next skier was Henrik who was posted on a pillar landing with terrain falling away from him in all directions. His line choice was an esthetic, spine to short couloir to another major spine and a final transfer to a third spine to the valley bottom. Naming rights always come in the event of a first descent. Saucerboy Spines is the newest film venue at Northern Escape. If you don’t understand who or what signifigance Saucerboy has in this game you should watch the film called Gnar. Soon to be another classic film production from MSP visit skimovie.com for to build your DVD collection.

Scott Gaffney made the call to shoot from the heli for this feature so you’ll be on the edge of your seat watching this production. POV headcams are a mainstay so check out the action packed trailer called - La Nina The Bitch is Back.

BY THE WAY! I CAN’T BELIEVE CODY TOWNSEND IS A PRO IN THIS FILM. I’m a way better skier than him.

Yvan is a founding guide at Northern Escape Heli-Skiing and has been instrumental developing and guiding the film program and ensuring the evolution of the sport and film productions..

July 18th, 2011 {plusone}
Posted by John Forrest

It's all about the turns in deep undisturbed powder with a small group of great friends. Nothing in this world matches the exhilaration of roaring down an alpine glacier with deep, light powder flowing all around you and over your head with each arcing turn... Nothing that is until you hit the trees and add the excitement of weaving through the forest with even deeper snow yet, having to time your breathing to coincide with your up unweighting so that you don't fill your mouth with each faceshot...

Ahhh... some great memories of last season. The 2011 season will certainly go down in the record books as one of the best deep powder seasons on record. For Northern Escape it was even more special as it marked the inaugural season of our snowcat back-up and it was an immediate success. We skied everyday this past season, zero down days and that was a first for me in over 25 years of guiding. I dare say it may even be a first for the industry as well!

Peoples expectations have evolved over the years in our industry and we're ensuring that we meet or exceed those expectations. An industry average of 1 down day a week used to be acceptable, but that was when most people came for a week. It was a good rest day for everyone and we spent it getting to know one another better over a game of chess (or maybe beer pong) in a snow bound lodge. Now-a-days, with shorter trips and more demand upon peoples' time, 1 day down on a 4 day package is unacceptable. Thus the inception of Snowcat Back-up. It's the perfect "down day" activity. Northern Escape is first and foremost a heliskiing company, but adding a snowcat area seemed like a no-brainer... "Let's ensure our guests ski everyday. That's what they expect" said Clair Israelson as the idea was being envisioned. After this past season, the results speak for themselves. We're up 100% in our bookings year to date and our rebookings have never been stronger. I had many discussions with our guests over the winter looking for their impressions and three comments in particular stood out:

- "That was the best day of skiing in my life!" - After one particularly deep day where we skied a 1/2 day in the heli until it was snowing simply too hard to fly and then spent the rest of the day in the snowcats instead of going home.

- "Ok, Ok, that's too much skiing now, I need a break" - This one surprised me, but I guess we we're skiing more than he was used to without the mid week "down day".

"Wow, you've stepped it up now" - As the two snowcats came rumbling up the road with the snow falling so hard all you could see was the bright lights illuminating their way as they approached. It was an impressive sight...

The introduction of our Snowcat Back-up has also increased our safety margins and decreased the stress on the guides and pilots on those days that we could just barely get out in the heli. Flying and guiding in poor weather is difficult and certainly adds an element of additional hazard to our risk management. With the introduction of our Snowcat Back-up we have increased our safety margins by eliminating the additional hazard of flying in very poor weather. Customer satisfaction has also increased as there's no more need to milk the one or two runs you might be able to fly to on those days. You know the days and every heli company has them, the days you can just barely get to their "poor weather area". With names like Bitter End, Home Run and Tarn, you knew you were in for a day of fighting the weather and skiing the same run over and over... It got old pretty quick, the skiing wasn't great and the flying was difficult. With our new Snowcat Back-up that all changed. We were no longer stuck on that one run and the safety issues of trying to fly in those difficult conditions were completely eliminated. The guests were happier with many different lines to ski and ride and our safety margins were increased. Not to mention that the snow was so fresh and deep you most certainly needed a snorkel!