Heli-skiing, Ice-climbing, and Touring

So the season so far has been marred by a bit of wind up here in Cordova.  When I say a bit, I really mean a lot.  It has stopped us from flying more than a little in the early bits of the heli season.  Unfortunately it has also led to some questionable snow quality as well.  Luckily it has been snowing and we were able to get out a bit on Saturday.  I went out with a few other guides to do some scouting and check out the conditions.  Things were skiing much better than over the last week and we were finally able to get on some steeper slopes.  Skied Guilt Trip, Better than Sex and Ridiculous and were able to find some great turns on each of them.  We also got our storm boards up to keep an eye on the snow totals. 

 

Putting together the PNH Activity Center

There are some other exciting things happening up here at PNH.  We have been getting after some of the ice around Cordova.  There are several flows that have formed up around town and the cannery.  It has been great to get out after some of them with the guides, as well as taking clients out to get a taste of ice climbing when the heli can't fly.  Another great new program we are working on is Heli Assisted Ski Touring.  We can get a bump out on a heli into the zone and then tour from there.  This is a great option on grey days, when we can't really fly all day, but maybe we can us a hole to at least get out and ski.  Kip, CJ, John and I made a foray into the field to check out some potential touring areas and were super stoked on what we found.  There are also a handful of us up here who are into speed flying, so we have gotten a few flights off of Eyak and the Backyard behind town.  All in all, the activity around here has been great, and everyone is fired up for the season.