Canada’s Pacific coastline is a rugged and unexplored wilderness playground. Home to giant snow covered peaks, grizzly bears, natural hot springs and iconic totem poles, it has become one of the best kept secrets for alpine pioneers and film crews the world over.
Bella Coola has become the epicentre for heli-skiing in coastal British Columbia, and Adventure West Resorts is a long standing operator with a unique way of accessing the coast. Guests stay onboard the 10 room M.V. Ocean Explorer 1, and conveniently travel the fjords surrounding Bella Coola with an orca’s eye view of this very special place. The vessel has been designed with heli-skiers in mind, inclusive of a large heli-pad on the stern, 9 private rooms, a dry-room, hot-tub and a personal chef and expert crew that take very good care of their guests.
Operating 5 and 7 day trips from mid-February to early April, the operation offers an average annual snowfall of 23 metres in a range of 3376 square kilometres (larger the Luxembourg), and only 5% has been tracked to date. Highly trained guides ensure all proper saftety measures are undertaken and thoroughly survey the terrain. The skiing and riding is suitable for those of a high-Intermediate through to expert standard, and will appeal to those with a penchant for something a little out of the ordinary.
For those that have never been to the coast before you will find yourself a part of the nature and not just a visitor. It is an amazing feeling that you will never forget, where the ying meets the yang in a deep powder paradise.
The packages include roundtrip local flights from Vancouver BC’s South Terminal, private accommodation, all meals and a whopping 100,000 vertical feet (30,500 metres) of fresh tracks. The longest run falls just shy of 2 kilometres and the highest drop off caps at 2438 metres, almost 2 times taller than that of Ben Nevis in the Cairngorms.
It is here that skiers can still carve their names into the history books with the opening and naming of new slopes during their experience. With much terrain still untracked the opportunities for virgin peaks are nearly limitless.
Down days are a reality with any heli-ski operation; bad weather one day often means deep powder the next. Guests can enjoy any down-day they may have with guided tours on ocean kayaks, trips to remote hot springs on unpopulated islands, fishing for salmon, Dungeness crab or jumbo prawns, or simply sample the local aboriginal culture that has thrived in the area for over 10,000 years.
A 5 day package starts from £4,600 pp and the 7 day package from £6,500 per person (not including flights). There are only 7 trips per year with the maximum group size on the Ocean Explorer being 8, and with a crew of 7 this makes for a very appealing staff to guest ratio.
We would recommend a few days in Whistler before the heli-skiing to acclimatise and warm your legs up, and also a night in Vancouver before and after the heli-skiing though of course it depends on the time you have, your fitness and your budget. A 13 night trip - 7 nights Whistler, 1 night Vancouver, 4 nights heli-skiing (3 full days and 2 half days), scheduled flights and all transfers costs from £6,430 pp in 3+* accommodation in Whistler and from £6,900 pp in 5* accommodation in Whistler.
This is much more than a traditional heli-ski trip, it is a once in a lifetime experience you had no idea you had on your list.