HELI SKIS – Helicopter Skis – Heli Skis

Review of Heliskiing Operators’ Heli Skis

Heliskis are important for heliskiing.   But what Heli Skis to popular operators ski?

HELISKI.com asked some of our popular heliski operators what heli skis they use, how they choose heli skis, and what assortment of helicopter skis they have in their quiver.   Below are the heli skiing operators discussions of heli skis.

Tyax Lodge and Heli Skiing / TLH Heli Skis

Anne Haight of Tyax Lodge and Heli Skiing (TLH) wrote this about their heliskis:

Hi Tom,

In terms of powder skis, we offer a combination of Rossignol Super 7 and Soul 7, and new for this season, K2 Mindbender 108ti and 116c, all in various lengths.

I use the Rossi Soul 7 when I go.

Northern Escape Heli Skiing Heliskis

John Forrest, GM Northern Escape Heli Skiing replied about their heli skis:

Morning Tom,

We’re right I. The middle of guides training and everyone is pretty busy. I can help quickly though.

We always choose a variety of skis. Most companies have gone away from the completely up-side-down skis (reverse camber) and opted for what I call bent tip and tail skis (early rise). We’ve always felt our skis require camber for the average skier in our deep snow conditions so we seek out skis that still have a reasonable camber and minimal early rise.

I know that goes against all the Marketing from the ski companies that want to sell you skis, but after nearly 4 decades of Heli Skiing I’ve seen a lot of marketing selling gimmicks…😎 (some of you will remember sending skis in for warranty when you bent the tip cause it skied like shit…)

With our deep powder we also look for the Fatest skis we can find. You need/want the widest skis possible up here.

We chose the Blizzard Spur and the K2 Mindbender as a good selection for our guests. I really like the Spur personally.

Northern Escape Heli Skiing Heli skis

Martin Wehan of Skeena Heli Skiing added this about their heli skis:

Our ski partner is Kästle. We use mostly the ZX 116.

 

Why? Because it works and guests have fun. Great quality, we can keep the skis in our line up for 3 seasons no problem.

Tim Wilkinson, heliski industry veteran and also from Skeena Heliskiing offered this on their Kastle heli skis?:

Funny the timing of this Tom.

I’m about to share an IG Reel that includes an interview with Sascha Schmid, a Swiss freeskier (ex world cup, Freeride World Tour, tons of movies etc) who skis and works with Kästle, and heliskis with us every winter. In the interview we ask him about Kästle and Skeena, and here’s what he said:

“Skeena Heliskiing: You work very closely with Kästle as an athlete and on product development. Why do you think Kästle skis are a good fit for Skeena?

Sascha Schmid: Because we are producing high-quality skis and that’s what Skeena has in terms of a high-quality heliski experience. That’s the main point, we have really good, high quality products for passionate skiers. Kästle is not the biggest company, that means we do not change every year the direction of marketing and the whole ski range.“

Dave M, Ski Expert, Curated.com

Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing Heli Skis

Ryan Bush gave us this funny summary from Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing about the MWHS stable of heli skis:

Short and fat is where it’s at! The days of 210 straight skis are long behind us. It’s a well-known story around Blue River that Mike Wiegele sat down in a bar with his good friend Rupert, from Atomic skis, and drew up the design of the first powder ski on a napkin. His concept and inspiration were taken from the snowboards of the day, later evolving into the Atomic Powder Plus, and the Atomic Powder Cruise. This still remains true to this day; a fat ski provides more floatation bringing the skier out of the snow making it easier for them to pivot the ski! Our most popular ski and what we refer to as a day saver, is the K2 Pon2oon. The Pon2oon is offered in 10cm increments from 159cm through to 189cm. This ski has been a part of K2’s fleet for years and MWHS guides have been working alongside the K2 R&D team in hopes of building the next best thing in years to come. A new addition to our fleet this season is the K2 Dispatch, 120 mm underfoot and this ski’s light weight construction will surely be a guest favorite this season!

Our long history with Atomic should not be understated, and in fact the majority of our fleet is made up of the Atomic Backland 117mm and 107mm waist.

Our Backlands are complete with custom Mike Wiegele top sheets to highlight the long-lasting relationship with the brand.

The other ski that has been in our fleet for years has been the Atomic Bent Chetler. This ski has seen many alterations since its conception some 12 -15 years ago but has been a staple ski at MWHS ever since.

I’ve attached our full list of skis but in the text above I’ve highlighted our favorites.

Ryan Bush

Bella Coola Heli Sports Heli Skis

Ben Duthie of Bella Coola Heli Sports offers the following on their heli skis:

For our heli skis, we have brought in a new line-up of Salomon, Armada, and Blizzards. All three of these brands represent the best of the best when it comes to performance skis and it is important to us that we offer a wide variety of lengths, widths, and stiffness options for our clients.

At 112 underfoot, the Salomon QST Blank is made for Bella Coola. It is an extremely light and playful powder ski, yet still incredibly stable at speed. It also guarantees the required floatation to get the most out of the deep conditions Bella Coola routinely offers.

The Armada ARV and JJ line-up has been a core offering for Bella Coola for many years and is a crowd favourite amongst our guides. With a poplar-ash core, these skis are incredibly responsive and offer tremendous pop in playful terrain. They offer tremendous floatation without compromising stability from tip to tail.

For our snowboards, we have partnered exclusively with Burton Snowboards. Their length of tenure in the industry and unsurpassed commitment to quality made it a no-brainer for us. We have opted for a traditional twin in the Flight Attendant and a more surf-oriented directional powder board in the Fish 3D for our 2023 offering.

The Flight Attendant gives those riders who are more familiar with a traditional camber board the opportunity to experiment with a tight turning board that performs as well on hardpack as it does in powder. Riding in Bella Coola presents riders with a full bouquet of line selection choices as well as the opportunity to explore massive amounts of terrain. We wanted to choose a board that can handle it all. From deep powder slashes to moraines and wind lips, to mixed conditions in transition zones in the high alpine. This board does it all.

The Fish 3D is just fun! It builds on years of product design prototypes and the integration of the 3D nose makes it unbelievably responsive and playful in the deepest conditions. This board is an all-time favorite for many of our team members and our guests are quickly learning why. This increased width allows guests to ride a shorter board than they are used to which also increased maneuverability and playfulness right out of the helicopter.