Heli-ski reality: Ignore the misconceptions, it’s a sport without discrimination
Heli-ski reality: Ignore the misconceptions, it’s a sport without discrimination5 COMMENTSBY DONNY O'NEILL/ DECEMBER 19, 2016 38Shares Share Tweet Pin
We rocket through the sky, defying gravity, the pervading sound being the WUMPH-WUMPH-WUMPH of tornadic rotor blades. Below, the snow-caked pinnacles of the towering pine and fir tree metropolis seem to tickle the chopper’s underbelly—taunting us with the promise of the bountiful snow bedded between their trunks. We ascend higher until the timber thins out and we hover above our designated landing zone. The mechanical bird gently kisses the wintry earth and we file out of the door, bodies hunched for safety, then huddle together a few yards away from our transport. The guide removes our equipment from the basket mounted to the helicopter’s side and distributes the gear before kneeling beside us and giving thumbs up to the pilot. With that signal, the machine lifts off delicately—as if in slow motion—then whizzes into the sky. I turn ar…
We rocket through the sky, defying gravity, the pervading sound being the WUMPH-WUMPH-WUMPH of tornadic rotor blades. Below, the snow-caked pinnacles of the towering pine and fir tree metropolis seem to tickle the chopper’s underbelly—taunting us with the promise of the bountiful snow bedded between their trunks. We ascend higher until the timber thins out and we hover above our designated landing zone. The mechanical bird gently kisses the wintry earth and we file out of the door, bodies hunched for safety, then huddle together a few yards away from our transport. The guide removes our equipment from the basket mounted to the helicopter’s side and distributes the gear before kneeling beside us and giving thumbs up to the pilot. With that signal, the machine lifts off delicately—as if in slow motion—then whizzes into the sky. I turn ar…