The story begins in 1959, when Mike Wiegele, who grew up on a farm in Carinthia, Austria, was drawn to Canada. His innate love of skiing and nature inspired him to explore the majestic mountains of North America. The then 21-year-old initially traveled to eastern Canada to work as a carpenter. Eventually, he was drawn further west, where the glaciers were higher and the snow more reliable. Over the next few years, he worked as a ski instructor and mountain guide.

Wiegele becomes self-employed

Wiegele's career - like that of many other heliskiing pioneers - was launched by Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) founder Hans Gmoser, who invented the heliskiing business in the mid-1960s. During these years, Wiegele explored the Canadian Rockies, the Bugaboos, Cariboos and Monashees to find the best snow and the best slopes. Wiegele takes a close look at the mountains, the avalanche and snow conditions. Early on, he keeps his own records of the weather conditions. In 1970, the Austrian-born manager finally set up his own business - his passionate rivalry with Gmoser over many years remains legendary to this day.

While CMH opened many smaller lodges, Wiegele concentrated on one location: Blue River. Here, near Valemount in British Columbia, he built the largest heliskiing lodge in the world with the service of a top hotel and a first-class restaurant. The Albreda Lodge, around half an hour away, was added in 2004. The chalet offers space for just 20 guests and heliskiing romance in a boutique alpine style.

Meanwhile, in the Blue River Heli Village, more than a hundred guests stay in the log cabin chalets around the main house in high season. When ten or more groups take off in the morning, the village resembles an airbase. Then one helicopter after another hovers in and flies the deep snow fans out into the 4,500 square kilometer area. There are countless mapped runs between 1,046 and 3,559 meters.

**General Mike

Even though he handed over the management of his company to his daughter Michelle 17 years ago, Mike Wiegele is still omnipresent in Blue River today. You can tell when **General Mike** enters the room for the morning meeting. At 7:30 a.m. sharp, he enters the room with a serious face, while more than 30 guides and pilots are waiting for him in the meeting room.

Only then is the meeting opened. One of the guides presents the weather situation, another the snow situation. This is followed by reports from the surrounding heliskiing providers and the pilots' assessments of the flying weather. From the mass of information, the most experienced guides distil the avalanche warning level and specify which slopes may be skied up to which gradients. Wiegele then - of course - has the last word. He speaks quietly but unmistakably. **Mr. Safety** closes heliports and cancels downhill runs. **The pioneer has made skiing safety his life's work.

Mike Wiegele-Heliskiing is the only provider to have an emergency doctor permanently on board one of its helicopters. Together with scientists, Wiegele has also developed his own safety standards. He works with a seven-level avalanche warning scale instead of the usual five-level scale. This is too coarse, because the middle level leads to underestimating the danger, he explains.

50 years of heliskiing with Mike Wiegele

Today, more than 50 years after it was founded, the company stands for safety and fun in winter sports away from groomed slopes in the middle of nature. Wiegele now holds an honorary doctorate from a university. He is one of the most influential personalities in the heliskiing business.

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