You mix the finest powder, seemingly untouched slopes in the picturesque surroundings of the Monashees and Cariboos mountain ranges, blue skies and a helicopter. And the result is one of the most beautiful and exciting experiences of my life - heli-skiing!

Why heliskiing?

I'd had enough of the often overcrowded pistes in the Alps and after two or three winters in a row with little snow, I finally wanted to ski in powder snow again. To really dive deep into bottomless powder. And yes, there were also the scenes from the Warren Miller films that had burned themselves into my head.

Off to Canada on the off-chance

How often did the images of a possible heliskiing experience run through my head? How often did I imagine floating down the glistening slopes? What was missing were my own impressions. After all, I wanted to climb out of the helicopter myself, strap on my powder skis and chase myself through the deep snow in the white wilderness of Western Canada. So I finally put my thoughts into action. I originally registered with Kootenay Heliskiing. However, around four weeks before the start of the trip, they wrote to me to say that the week there would unfortunately be canceled and they would be closing. What was initially frustrating turned out to be a stroke of luck in hindsight. So, head over heels, I booked a standby week. That meant a 50 percent discount, but heliskiing only if there was space. So my motto was: "All in or nothing!". Inspired by the movie "7 Days in Paradise" by Warren Miller, I chose Mike Wiegele as my provider. The Austrian, who emigrated to Canada, is still one of the most impressive personalities in the heliskiing business and one of the last active pioneers of the heliskiing business. So I booked this "bargain" and flew to Kamloops without knowing whether my dream would even come true.

A journey with an unpredictable end

I arrived around midnight, around six hours late, picked up my rental car and drove north for three hours in the pouring rain on the Yellowhead Highway to Blue River. Thanks to a caffeine drink or two, I actually arrived in Blue River, where the Mike Wiegele Lodge Heli Village is located today, at around three in the morning. Back then, things were nowhere near as luxurious. I rang the bell for the innkeeper. He handed me the key and told me breakfast was at half past seven. The briefing would follow. With a bit of luck, there might still be room for me. So it was still unclear whether this long, exhausting journey halfway around the world had been worth it.

After a short night and without much prospect of going heliskiing, my first look outside revealed the following: the sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it had snowed almost all the way down to the valley. At first I was unsure whether I was still dreaming or whether the lack of sleep had driven me a little crazy. But it was actually real. I was in the middle of what is now the largest heliskiing lodge in the world, and in front of me were the best skiing conditions in the world. There was joy, but it was still shrouded in a veil of uncertainty. After all, it was still uncertain whether there would even be a place for me. After breakfast, it was first service by the book: a guide gave me a theoretical briefing, followed by practical application behind the hotel, where the handling of the avalanche transceiver was explained and practised. I was still "on pins and needles". But then, shortly before nine o'clock, the redemptive news: there was a place!

I immediately picked up the two-metre-long K2 skis and ran to the helipad, which was ready to take off right opposite the Heli-Village. This is where I met the other guests. Among them was the American David Volkmann, with whom I still regularly float down powder slopes today.

When it started, my heart was pounding like crazy. How crazy and insane was this trip? I felt a joy like rarely before in my life. Incidentally, this pounding heart and these feelings of happiness have not subsided to this day. After 17 descents and 51,000 vertical feet, I was definitely hooked and had already covered half of my included vertical meters after a single dream day. I was able to enjoy the fascinating, never-boring heli-skiing every day and at the end of the week I was very happy to pay for the far too many vertical meters with my credit card. Knowing, of course, that I would definitely return.

And that's how most of my clients feel. If you only experience a halfway good week, you may very well become a repeat offender and go back in a year or two to experience the next heliski adventure. As a souvenir and inspirational picture book, I still look at "Heli-Ski: The Cariboos & Monashees" by Neil and Linda Rogers - a masterpiece that has never lost its fascination. Just like this anecdote, which I still like to tell.

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