Simple, rustic, extremely warm: Turkey Heliski reminds you of the early days of heliskiing. The terrain, however, is timelessly good. Between 4,000-meter peaks and deserted villages in deep snow, Kenny Prevost from Travelzone even acts as a guide.
The ride is fast, bumpy and at times breakneck. One of my fellow travelers is sick to his stomach from the jolting. The forces acting on me are usually only felt by rally or Formula 1 drivers. We're not even sitting in the helicopter yet - we've just been chauffeured to the hotel by minibus. Compared to the man at the wheel, I look like a saint on my favorite route between Chur and Arosa with its 365 bends. But the guy has his vehicle under control. After 130 nerve-wracking minutes, he drops us off safely at the Hotel Hasimoglu - Turkey Heliski's base.
The hotel is located in the north-east of Turkey, in Ayder, 1,300 meters above sea level. From there, Turkey Heliski flies its guests to the East Pontic Mountains. More than 400 slopes between 700 and 1,200 meters in length run through an area of 4,500 square kilometers. A few peaks reach up to 4,000 meters above sea level, while some landing spots are just 300 meters below.
2018 is my first time traveling with Turkey Heliski. On the way there, I travel early in the morning with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul to Trabzon, where the time difference to Switzerland is two hours. I checked in my luggage directly to Trabzon. But where do I collect it on arrival? A walk from the Domestic to the International Terminal, a conversation with an airport employee, who finally opens the entrance for me, and a few detours to the empty Arrival Hall later, I find my suitcases.
A very friendly Turkey Heliski employee greets us outside the airport, hands out the luggage tags with our room numbers and accompanies us to the minibus for the transfer. We are also given an extremely warm welcome at the Hotel Hasimoglu. The hotel itself is a middle-class hotel, the dining room is more like a railroad station - no trace of mountain romance. However, this is not a negative factor: the simple and rustic ambience and the super-friendly staff make you feel like you're "back to the beginning of heliskiing". Even if the early heliski pioneers certainly didn't have a mosque behind their accommodation where a muezzin calls to prayer several times a day.
Turkey Heliski in Swiss hands
During my visit, I finally get to meet Thierry Gasser, founder and owner of Turkey Heliski, in person. His team includes a number of personalities from the world of mountain sports. Mountain guide Abele Blanc, for example, is the 23rd person to have climbed all 8,000-metre peaks. Mountain guide Raphy Richard is the father of freerider Jérémie Heitz and Gerold Biner, who sometimes acts as a pilot and sometimes as a mountain guide. The man is CEO of Air Zermatt.
On the first Heliski day as planned, we don't have breakfast until 9:00 am. Bad weather prevents us from taking off, so we don't have to do the - very extensive - safety drills early in the morning. In the afternoon, we pass the time with the freeride movie "La Liste". Unfortunately, touring is not an option today due to the slushy snow. Those who want to can go for a ride on a quad bike or sign up for river rafting. The next day is the day. From 8:30 a.m., four groups of four fly into the terrain at ten-minute intervals. I'm lucky and find myself in the first group. Five minutes after the helicopter has taken off, my French colleagues - a mother and her two grown-up sons - and I are already climbing out of the cabin. "Easy Women" is the name of our first descent. It's an easy descent and great for making your first turns in the snow. We have lunch at noon at 2,400 meters above sea level, in bright sunshine and spring-like temperatures. There is no culinary surprise waiting in my lunchbox. How could there be, as every heliskiing guest is responsible for preparing and packing their own meal in the morning.
Snow-covered roofs and the Black Sea
The scenery is a bigger treat than the picnic. Again and again we pass through small villages abandoned in winter, which are almost crushed by the amount of snow. You can ride or even jump over some of the roofs. This makes the area a top-class powder playground. What's more, from the "Black Sea" descent you can see as far as the Black Sea and with a bit of luck - as in our case - the Elbrus, the highest mountain in the Caucasus at 5,642 meters. I quickly realize that heliskiing in Turkey combines the best of many freeride destinations such as North and South America or Switzerland. The only thing you have to do without here is tree skiing like in Canada. But the narrow couloirs and exciting steep slopes, which you can tackle if the snow cover is stable enough, make up for this. Among other things, we ski "Daltons", a gully with a 40 degree incline.
Another advantage of Turkey: there are countless options, almost every peak seems to have a landing spot. For me, "freeride" takes on a whole new meaning here. On wide slopes, we don't have to keep our tracks close together, but can shred 20 or 40 meters to the left and right of the guide. What's more, not all groups necessarily end up at the same spot. Sometimes the others appear some distance away and look for other runs.
Heliskiing in the Champage powder is undoubtedly an **once-in-a-lifetime** adventure. Although **once-in-a-lifetime** is not quite right. Anyone who has experienced it once will want to do it again and again. There is an acute risk of addiction!
Snowboarding: Who invented it?
In between, we even visit a movie set. The little village of Meşeköy in the Ikizdere Valley has already been the location for films by Jeremy Jones and Ueli Kestenholz, whose documentary explored the question of who invented snowboarding, Jack Burton or the Turks?
A great day of heliskiing ends after 14 descents and 10,000 meters of altitude in the legs. Back at the hotel, a heli après-snack awaits us. I skip the 46 degree Celsius hot springs that evening. True to the motto "The first will be the last", I find myself in group four the next morning. The start is delayed due to dense fog. When we finally take off at 10:00 a.m., Abele, the conqueror of all 8,000-metre peaks, is our mountain guide. The helicopter is flown by Air Zermatt CEO Gerold Biner. He takes us north, where we also see numerous "ghost towns". Between 1,300 and 2,800 meters, cattle are not only kept there in summer, but honey and tea are also produced.
Our morning drags on like the gray clouds of mist itself, the snow is heavy and visibility is poor. Sometimes we are almost flying blind. After lunchtime, I change groups so that I can take a few runs together with George, a Swiss mountain guide. We are joined by three Turkish winter sports enthusiasts, two snowboarders and a skier. I don't know where the boys learned to ski, but the three of them have nothing to hide from anyone. As soon as the sun comes out, we tackle exciting, varied terrain again. Every descent seems to be better than the last. The sun's rays make the snow softer, powderier and drier. We immerse ourselves in "Silk Powder", which is comparable to slush but is actually powder snow.
From guest to guide
Gerold wants to do us some good and leads us to the "face de la mar". Although this couloir "only" has a gradient of 35 degrees, it is great to ski. Later, Gerold leaves us in charge. We are allowed to "guide" ourselves once, while he rides to the end. The open terrain allows such role changes. But our hosts have really saved the crowning glory for last. Our pilot sets us down on a mini-summit where the machine looks like it's sitting on a throne. With an incline of 48 degrees, it takes the full 1,000 meters of altitude before my adrenaline level is back to the starting level. On the way back to the base, our pilot shows off all his skills once again. In James Bond style, he chases the helicopter through the valleys, and in between we feel the centrifugal forces on our own bodies. The view of imposing peaks, deserted villages and vast amounts of snow is phenomenal. Looking back, however, it is difficult to say whether it was our helicopter pilot who performed the wildest maneuvers - or perhaps the driver of the minibus on our arrival?
Strong enough?
Not sure if you're strong enough for heliskiing? Get in touch with us. We're also happy to do a video check-up. We have been heliskiing with thousands of skiers and know all the areas. So we can assess with you where you will have the most fun in the powder!
