Based upon my experience with RK Heli in 1999 with Adam, I thought a day with similarly positioned Purcell Heli in Golden would be a good intro for Liz to the Canadian backcountry. RK and Purcell get a lot of daytrippers from Banff to whom 3 runs ($770) and 5 run ($920) packages are offered. Both have wide open glacier skiing from 10,000 feet where you can get a consistent powder rhythm going. At RK in 1999 the skiing was quite mellow while the 3 run groups were out, then they stepped up to longer and steeper runs, and I bought a 6th run which was over 4,000 vertical.
We had the usual safety briefings and headed out about 10:30AM.
Purcell’s office is up a hill off the TransCanada Hwy just east of Golden and very close to Kicking Horse Canyon Bread & Breakfast where we were staying. http://www.kickinghorsecanyonbb.com/ I had been there before my 2007-2010 trips to Chatter Creek and highly recommend it. We were lucky to have a small group, only 9 people plus 2 guides Jeff and Brian so we never had to wait for the helicopter as on the busier day at RK. Far west in the Mountain time zone they can ski as late as 5PM in late February.
The weather was not so cooperative as in 1999 as it was lightly snowing most of the day and the alpine terrain was out of the question. The front range of the Purcells is where Kicking Horse is located and snowfall is about 250 inches at treeline. If the weather keeps you on that front range I have heard by word of mouth that the skiing is often disappointing with not much powder. Thus Purcell likes to fly through a pass in that front range to the next set of mountains farther west that get more snow. We were fortunate they got through that pass and my impression is that the tree skiing back there (runs were 2,000+ vertical) is more extensive than at RK.
Snow quality was about average by my cat/heli experience with boot top powder but it was more consistent with few of the variable conditions which can occur fairly often near heli pickup points.
Skiing during the first run was in scattered trees and a small cut block.
Liz did not fall but skied deliberately with tentative body language. 2/3 of the way down they split the group, sending Liz and 2 others with Jeff while Brian led the rest of us through the lower section with slightly tighter trees. The main challenge was from almost continuous rolling terrain, likely due to a snowpack not as deep as in the Selkirks and Monashees.
So Brian led us for 2 runs before lunch while Jeff's group skied one. Cut block on our second run.
Brian giving directions during our run to lunch.
Skiers lower down on that run.
Liz said her second run was quite slow and flat, not too useful in learning to ski powder. Furthermore the other two people in her group had signed up for just 3 runs and would be doing only one after lunch.
We explained to the guides that Liz was not tired, needed more practice in powder and by past experience would improve with each run. Liz said the run after lunch was much better than the one before.
Meanwhile our 4th run was in more rolling forested terrain, with an interesting break in the middle. We came upon a dead tree which Brian torched.
I had seen this once before at Chatter Creek. BC forestry officials like to have dead trees torched in the winter because if one is struck by lightning in the summer it could start a large fire and burn healthy forest.
Liz rejoined us for the last run while the other 2 first timers rode in the helicopter. We were at least a 10 minute flight from Purcell's base and it would use much more fuel to return them early. RK has a staging area (near the base of the proposed Jumbo resort) where 3 run clients can be returned to their base at Panorama by shuttle van.
There was a brief section of open terrain at the top of the last run.
Then into the trees
We emerged into a cut block and stayed on the skier's right edge of it for the best snow.
Rolling terrain on the cut block.
We finished our 5th run (Liz' 4th) at 3PM and nobody asked for more. While the snow was good the rolling terrain was quite a bit of work. Our group skied 11,600 vertical and Liz skied 8,000.
Purcell and RK do a good job with the challenging task of serving diverse groups of day skiers. In Purcell's case there were 2 guides to divide the group right away. A key issue IMHO with all ski operations in the Purcells (including the 2 CMH lodges) is that the strength of the terrain is in the high alpine. If weather restricts that, the tree skiing may be shorter runs and/or less deep cover than in the Selkirks and Monashees farther west. Of course many of the operations there do not go up as high and have minimal alpine terrain. One of my missions in sampling these operations over the past 15 years is to find the handful that have extensive high quality terrain with deep snow in both the trees and the high alpine. From my personal experience Mike Wiegele fills the bill in both departments.
We had the usual safety briefings and headed out about 10:30AM.
Purcell’s office is up a hill off the TransCanada Hwy just east of Golden and very close to Kicking Horse Canyon Bread & Breakfast where we were staying. http://www.kickinghorsecanyonbb.com/ I had been there before my 2007-2010 trips to Chatter Creek and highly recommend it. We were lucky to have a small group, only 9 people plus 2 guides Jeff and Brian so we never had to wait for the helicopter as on the busier day at RK. Far west in the Mountain time zone they can ski as late as 5PM in late February.
The weather was not so cooperative as in 1999 as it was lightly snowing most of the day and the alpine terrain was out of the question. The front range of the Purcells is where Kicking Horse is located and snowfall is about 250 inches at treeline. If the weather keeps you on that front range I have heard by word of mouth that the skiing is often disappointing with not much powder. Thus Purcell likes to fly through a pass in that front range to the next set of mountains farther west that get more snow. We were fortunate they got through that pass and my impression is that the tree skiing back there (runs were 2,000+ vertical) is more extensive than at RK.
Snow quality was about average by my cat/heli experience with boot top powder but it was more consistent with few of the variable conditions which can occur fairly often near heli pickup points.
Skiing during the first run was in scattered trees and a small cut block.
Liz did not fall but skied deliberately with tentative body language. 2/3 of the way down they split the group, sending Liz and 2 others with Jeff while Brian led the rest of us through the lower section with slightly tighter trees. The main challenge was from almost continuous rolling terrain, likely due to a snowpack not as deep as in the Selkirks and Monashees.
So Brian led us for 2 runs before lunch while Jeff's group skied one. Cut block on our second run.
Brian giving directions during our run to lunch.
Skiers lower down on that run.
Liz said her second run was quite slow and flat, not too useful in learning to ski powder. Furthermore the other two people in her group had signed up for just 3 runs and would be doing only one after lunch.
We explained to the guides that Liz was not tired, needed more practice in powder and by past experience would improve with each run. Liz said the run after lunch was much better than the one before.
Meanwhile our 4th run was in more rolling forested terrain, with an interesting break in the middle. We came upon a dead tree which Brian torched.
I had seen this once before at Chatter Creek. BC forestry officials like to have dead trees torched in the winter because if one is struck by lightning in the summer it could start a large fire and burn healthy forest.
Liz rejoined us for the last run while the other 2 first timers rode in the helicopter. We were at least a 10 minute flight from Purcell's base and it would use much more fuel to return them early. RK has a staging area (near the base of the proposed Jumbo resort) where 3 run clients can be returned to their base at Panorama by shuttle van.
There was a brief section of open terrain at the top of the last run.
Then into the trees
We emerged into a cut block and stayed on the skier's right edge of it for the best snow.
Rolling terrain on the cut block.
We finished our 5th run (Liz' 4th) at 3PM and nobody asked for more. While the snow was good the rolling terrain was quite a bit of work. Our group skied 11,600 vertical and Liz skied 8,000.
Purcell and RK do a good job with the challenging task of serving diverse groups of day skiers. In Purcell's case there were 2 guides to divide the group right away. A key issue IMHO with all ski operations in the Purcells (including the 2 CMH lodges) is that the strength of the terrain is in the high alpine. If weather restricts that, the tree skiing may be shorter runs and/or less deep cover than in the Selkirks and Monashees farther west. Of course many of the operations there do not go up as high and have minimal alpine terrain. One of my missions in sampling these operations over the past 15 years is to find the handful that have extensive high quality terrain with deep snow in both the trees and the high alpine. From my personal experience Mike Wiegele fills the bill in both departments.
