Heliski Guide – The Best Job in the World!
By Glen Kaleka, 25 years of experience as a heliski guide, and new team member at HELISKI.com
How many times does a Heliski Guide hear that one? A lot – and its true. What other position gives you the opportunity to fly around in the front seat of a helicopter whizzing past mountain tops and untouched mountain slopes and ultimately picking one that just looks good to ski?
The reality is that there is some substantial background work to the position as Lead Heli Ski Guide and the certification process alone has been compared to becoming a doctor or lawyer with regards to the amount of time and stress involved during the training and exams. In all honesty its a hard route to become a certified Ski Guide in Canada but the classroom is pretty sweet and the end result is every Heliskiers dream job.
Once you have made it into the Ski Guide stream whether with the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides or the Canadian Ski Guide Association, the winters are busy. There are many places to work from Heli or Cat ski guiding as well as Ski Touring or teaching Avalanche courses the 5 months of winter are pretty much go go go for most Ski Guides. Its likely a guide will pick one operation to spend their season with which is great for terrain knowledge and familiarity with logistics and then again its nice to travel around and see different operations and terrain… its a strange thing to say – but sometimes its fun to get lost and have to figure out your way to the pickup at a new operation (hopefully without too much traversing!).
On a daily basis as much as we like to portray a relaxed atmosphere there is much going on that starts before the sun is up and the guests have even rolled out of bed. The morning guides meeting is a wealth of information and is done in a time sensitive manner in order to get everything conveyed about the coming days agenda and conditions. In depth weather reports and forecasts involving the Helicopter Pilot team usually starts the discussion and then a summary of any overnight changes to the snowpack and avalanche hazard forecast takes centre stage. Once there is a handle on the current snowpack stability and expected weather the guides turn to the Run List – a complete documentation of the operations runs, landings, and pickups. The attentions turns to the big screen where any run on the list can be viewed by picture and discussed by the guides to identify hazards or complications or best practices for the day. Runs are either Red or Green for the day during this meeting and each Lead Guide uses this list to help plan and manage their day once in the field – it has become a saving grace for guiding as mountain conditions and avalanche hazard is a dynamic environment that is always changing and the ability to discuss this at a table of colleagues is indisputably a valuable tool when in the front seat of the helicopter making quick decisions.
Although there are times of stress as a Lead Heliski Guide the benefits definitely outweigh the hard moments. Being first down a fresh line is something I will never get tired of and the satisfaction of guiding a group through complex terrain and finding perfect snow while ending up in the ideally placed helicopter pickup for another lift is the best feeling in the world! At the end of another successful day the camaraderie at apres ski is electric and exciting – and the joy brought to the scores of heliski guests is something that fuels the passion in a guides pursuit to continue working hard as a professional Heliski Guide
Let me know if I can help you find the ultimate trip.
Best Regards,
HELISKI.com
