Don’t Go Postal, Go Coastal: British Columbia Heli Skiing Operators with Unique Offerings, like Bella Coola Heli-Skiing

 

BC Heli Skiing Operators – Going Smaller at Bella Coola Heli Skiing BC

The evolution of Canadian heli skiing continues.  Smaller BC heli skiing operators are offering alternatives to CMH and Mike Wiegele Heli-Skiing.  This series will give a brief summary of the operators in the Coast Range of BC Canada, and what they do to earn your business.

The Coast Range of BC is home to some of the Canadian heli skiing industry innovators:  Bella Coola Heliskiing, Northern Escape Heliskiing, TLH Heliskiing, Last Frontier Heliskiing and Skeena Heliskiing.  Coastal weather patterns provide copious amounts of powder, and travel is usually MUCH easier than the more famous operators to the East.   How do the Coast Range BC heli skiing operators compete with the big boys and deal with the huge amounts of snowfall?

Glad you asked.

Each of these Canadian heli skiing coast range  destination BC heli skiing operators have a strategy, or two, to differentiate their offerings.  Today, we take a closer look at Bella Coola Heli-Skiing (BC Heli Skiing, get it?), and their three locations.

 

BC heli skiing, heli ski canada, heliskiing bc canada
Coast Range BC Heli Skiing – Bella Coola Heli-Skiing

 

Bella Coola Heliskiing bookends your trip with TWO half days.   They fly you up from Vancouver in the morning (literally, your round trip flight is included in the price), feed you lunch, conduct your safety briefing, then take you BC heli skiing, right from the airport hangar!

The same is true on your departure day; heliski your way back to the airport, land next to the plane, then fly back to Vancouver in the early afternoon.  Tim, Canadian heli skiing marketing dude, says that people on a 7 night trip actually get the opportunity to ski on 8 days, 6 full days and 2 half days (same format with other durations e.g. 5 nights, has 6 ski days etc). This reduces the damage from a down day. Even if it is dumping pow and there’s 2 down days, guests would still be able to ski on 6 days.  It is also a nice way to warm up, with a half day on arrival.  Getting to Vancouver the night before has some travel advantages, too.

Bella Coola has three different programs, depending on your group size and your budget, including an EXPERTS ONLY tour for true advanced skiers, a Heli-Assist Ski Touring program as well as a Private BC heli skiing lodge (and helicopter) which can be exclusively for you and 7 friends.  All this in the biggest tenure in the Coast Range at 2.64 million acres!

To find out what dates remain for your BC heli skiing Coast Range powder trip,

Call or email tj@HELISKI.com or Tim at BCHS (604.932.3000, tell him tj sent you).  866-HELISKI

Check out this video to get stoked.

 

HELISKI.com
Heliboard.com
866-HELISKI
(866-435-4754)

Skype  HELISKI.com

Expert Advice – Knowledge is Powder

arcteryx logo, arcteryx heli skiing gear

Arc’Teryx: Heli-Ski Jackets & Outerwear of Choice – So What’s Up with the Logo??

Arc’Teryx Heli Skiing Gear

… What’s Up with the Arc’Teryx Logo?

Enjoy our interview with Arc’Teryx, and if you would like for us to find the best heli-skiing options for your group, answer a few questions and we will get to work for you.   It’s free to you – the operators pay us a commission and take us heli-skiing!   We have over 25 years of first hand experience and thousands of happy clients.  Give us a try.

Arc’Teryx is one of our favorite gear interviews.   We talked with James Bronson, Pro & Industry Supervisor for Arc’teryx.

1.  My first experience with Arc’Teryx was when my luggage didn’t show up on a heli-skiing trip.  A guest loaned me a full Arc’Teryx suit, including a great heli-ski jacket.  I found myself hoping my luggage didn’t ever arrive!

So what’s the story behind the Arc’Teryx fossil logo?

arcteryx logo, arcteryx heli skiing gear

The fossil is the ARCHAEOPTERYX LITHOGRAPHICA, the first reptile to develop the feather for flight, freeing itself from the constraints of the horizontal world – it represents evolution which has always been one of the main building blocks of the company.     The other being Innovation.  [with a capital “I”]

2.  How many heliskiing operators heli-ski in Arc’Teryx jackets and gear?

We work many of the best heli-ski operations in the world, including  Canadian Mountain Holidays, Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing and TLH Heli Skiing to name a few.

arc'teryx ski gear, arc'teryx logo

3.  Did you specifically target that market, or did your popularity among heliskiers happen organically?

It was a bit of both. Because our roots are in technical alpine gear and because backcountry/heliskiing straddles that Alpine and Snowsports world we’ve been easily able to transition into making really high performance product that worked well for this audience, but we do have relationships with some heliguide operators, so some of our product has been more influenced from this angle as well.

4.  What are the most popular Arc’Teryx jackets for heliskiing?

From a client perspective, the Rush and Sabre SV jackets have been very popular.

arc'teryx jacket,, arcteryx jacket

arc'teryx ski jacket, arc'teryx heliskiing jacket, sabre sv

For guiding the Vertical or Heli Guide Jacket are the jackets of choice.

arc'teryx heli guide jacket, arcteryx heli guide jacket

5.  Is Vertical jacket new?

Its been in the line since 2010 and is the replacement for the Stinger jacket which was designed from the Heli Guide Jacket.

6.  Do you sell more bibs or pants to skiers and borders?

We sell more bibs to skiers but in general.  More and more guides are going with pants over bibs.

7.  What other big mountains or off-piste gear do heliskiers like?

Sabre SV and Rush Jackets for sure as well as the iconic Sidewinder SV.   If it’s really cold and people are just doing heli drops without skinning, the insulated Micon jacket (Sarissa –w’s) is also popular.

8.  What’s the philosophy behind the Arc’teryx brand?

The Arc’teryx advantage, what we feel sets us apart from our competitors, is our Design, Materials & Construction philosophy.  We merge our unrivaled designs with the best quality, highest performing materials and assembling them in the most innovative and most durable manner for the intended use.

9.  It seems like your roots are in climbing, eh?

Yes we began as a very small company manufacturing harnesses from a basement in North Vancouver!

10.  The name looks like someone cheated at Scrabble or needed a secure password.  What does it mean?

It’s a shortened form of ARCHAEOPTERYX LITHOGRAPHICA.   [I would still call your bluff in Scrabble]

11.  It seems like you sell out of many styles and sizes.  Is that intentional to keep inventory down?

No, we simply out sell our production capacity consistently every year.

12.  Do you sell more directly online or through retail?

Our current mix of online vs. store is about 20%-80%

13.  What is the strategy behind your limited distribution?

Our strategy with distribution is we work with the best shops that have the best ability to sell the best product.

14.  I see Arc’teryx outerwear on eBay.   [I am selling a Medium Heli-Ski Guide Jacket there myself]

15.  Are you aware of any issues with counterfeiting product?

Unfortunately, like all manufacturing companies, there will always be some counterfeits out there, but our customer service team are highly knowledgeable on our product and can always spot a fake if someone asks and we remind our customers that if they spot what they think is a counterfeit to let us know.  [Cool]

16.  You work with heli guides on product development, right?

Yes, we work closely with many different types of guides. Many of our designers are good friends with guides and you can often see them around the office being shown prototypes and providing feedback.

17.  Arc’teryx is one of only a few major outdoor industry outerwear brands in North America to have its own domestic North American manufacturing facility.  What are the pros and cons?

Pros – we can do small production runs without penalty, we can quickly find and solve production issues, we can test new manufacturing concepts

Cons – it’s more expensive than using overseas or non-north American factories.  It’s difficult to find factory workers in Vancouver.  This is one of the biggest challenges for us as the average age of the factory worker goes up it is harder and harder to find new, qualified employees.

18.  You sponsor 29 skiers (I am available to make it an even 30….), but only two snowboarders.   Why no love for the knuckle draggers?   Can they not afford Arc’teryx?

We actually do love snowboarders too but when we hire athletes to represent the company we want to be sure, what they do reflects what our brand stands for. Like our skiers, we would prefer to have snowboarders on the team that spend a substantial amount of time in the back county on self-propelled trips, which means they need to be split boarders and professional split boarders occur quite a bit less than backcountry skiers currently.  [I knew those dirt bags were lazy!]  [So you have all my sizes, right?]

19.  What else would you like heliskiers to know about Arc’teryx?

I think the most important and perhaps the best thing for heliskiers, or any backcountry enthusiasts to know about Arc’teryx is that we design for the backcountry because we play in the backcountry.  Our design team are active snowsports enthusiasts and know what people need in the backcountry because they play there.

arc'teryx heliski jackets, arc'teryx heli ski jackets

Great, thanks!

tj

Tom Jackson

CPO (Chief Powder Officer)
HELISKI.com
Heliboard.com
866-HELISKI
(866-435-4754)