HELI SKIING!!!!!

This weekend was the first time in over a decade we found ourselves faced with the chance to fulfill a life long dream of ours. For years we have heard clients and friends telling us about their experiences with heli-skiing but never before found ourselves with the right ingredients to make it happen – good snow, good weather and a day off all together. Now we can quite happily say that we can no longer make that claim!

Thanks to a little nudge from The Pook heli-lodge we were there. Sadly our Jojo couldn’t join us on this trip and we nearly called it off but at the 11th hour we had a replacement in the form of Jason from one of our friendly tour op’s - Ski Basics. A strong skier and good friend we were pleased to welcome him on board.

Claire from The Pook aptly organised every little thing for us. From meeting at the heli-lodge below La Rosiere for breakfast, to transfers up to resort and giving the guides a good idea of what we were after. Then after we were done we were whisked back to the lodge for afternoon tea, coffee and cakes. Oh and possibly one of the finest views in this area.The lodge is truly a special place.

Our guide was Xavier a local ski instructor from La Rosiere and he knew the area well. His unfortunate reaction to tracks in the snow that were not his (“zay want to make me vomir!!”) ensured he was keen to take us into fresh areas. Our first ski was off the back off a ski lift in La Rosiere, straight into a nice steep couloir with only a mini 4 minute walk out back to the chairlift. If this is the standard level of off-piste in La Rosiere then we need to get back there soon.

A short ski after that and the heli was waiting for us.  A cracking flight toward Mont Blanc saw us dropped off at the top of a mountain with an incredible view facing us. Mont Blanc towering just in front, the Matterhorn way in the distance and on our other side we could see all the familiar tops from Val D’Isere and Tignes, Les Arcs and our own 3 valleys and then even all the way to the south and La Meije next to La Grave. Spectacular and humbling views.

The first descent wasn’t fresh or powdery but good firm chalky snow, down a dead glacier, then into a fine long couloir before out down the valley next to large and impressive avalanche debris and surrounding cliffs.

A short wait and Mr. Helicopter man was back for us. Back to the same drop off point but this time we headed back into the French side and skied some amazing fresh powder snow – it hasn’t snowed for about 10 days but here we were in completely untracked, untouched and unspoilt territory. Thank you Xavier! The views were immense as we skied back down towards Bourg St Maurice and we could see all our familiar mountains from an unfamiliar side.

After many a great pitch of fresh untracked snow we stopped for a small picnic of some home made Chignin wine from Xavi’s sister, some crusty bread and saucisson -truly classically French and how we loved it. This led us nicely onto the bottom half of the run and into the interesting bit! We were treated to a couple more pitches of good snow and then the fun began!!

Into the trees we went and what followed was an extremly tight boardercross/footpath through the forest until eventually easing us down onto the roads above Bourg where we met the team from Pook once again. Whisked home for food and watering before heading back to Meribel.

A superb day and an absolute priviledge to now be able to tell (bore) people about our exerience.

If you are out here thinking about heli-skiing then give The Pook a shout. They are the only ones in the area able to arrange heli trips all over the area and all based out of their own lodge. Not only can you ski the local mountains of La Rosiere and French Alps but also over in Italian and Austrian alps too. Don’t worry, they’ll find you the good snow and the best experience you can imagine!

The full collection of photos from our day can be found on the Flickr page and here’s a quick snippet from the day….

Massive Marmalade thanks to The Pook and to our guide Xavier. What a day and what smiles we had all day and all night!