Heli skiing in the Arlberg - in over 30 years of skiing this was one of the very best
As perfect as it gets, heli skiing in the Arlberg - image © www.skiingaustria.co.uk
Some days everything comes together. Today, heli skiing in the Arlberg with a world champion powder skier and 2 Stuben am Arlberg locals was that day. We cancelled a heli ski flight last week due its departure late in the afternoon and then managed to schedule a flight early today. That was certainly part A of the complex jigsaw. Heavy snow this week and a world champion who knew exactly where to find the untracked powder were further pieces. Friends from Stuben am Arlberg and a heli trip up on a glorious day rather rounded things off. The flight and the location were incredible. The descent was deep powder and the route telemarking champion took us offered some great steep skiing in fantastic deep powder. I will upload the video from the descent once I get chance. The final route of the day was from Zurs am Arlberg into Stuben am Arlberg via the roof of the tunnel that accesses the Flexenpass. Anyone who has driven to Lech-Zurs in winter will have gone through this and we were about to go over it until our guide called it off due to avalanche danger. I will leave that on the to-do list but the route to it was fantastic in any case with more powder skiing. Tired and very, very high.
nice nice nice nice. sounds amazing. you have managed to do the austrianlocals dream. can’t wait to hear details.
looks incredible …Cherie is rightly envious. Thanks for the help with the trtavel …all is good and the Brown family vacation is nearing !
Yes it was truly impressive, the heli flight over the peaks and then landing on a tiny peak. The powder skiing in that area was special and be guided by a power ski world champion was a first for me. He even took his telemark skis for the day. Great, great skiing and well worth the price. Keep an eye on the weather and go for it - we scored a perfect day and whilst there were other flights we only ever saw one other person, a guy ski touring up the route we had just come down.
We have some great video footage of the decent. I was wearing a HD helmet camera and reviewing the footage there are some great moments. I hope to edit it over the next day and get it online. The crazy thing is that when people think of heli-skiing they think of Canada, in the Arlberg you fly out of Lech or Zurs and into some incredible terrain, then ski back into the best ski region in Austria, very possibly the Alps.
I love blue groomed pistes and little huts with deckchairs outside, but I have to say, hearing all about this, it makes me want to take an intense powder skiing course and be a good enough skier to do this!! Or maybe I will just take the scenic helicopter ride and enjoy a prosecco in my deckchair to celebrate afterwards.
Hi Chelle, if blue is for you then enjoy it to the full. There are always going to be levels and to be honest when I saw our guide (a powder ski world champion) strapping his boots in telemark bindings (and me carrying and worrying about all sorts of cameras and camera gear) I thought it might go very wrong. The landing site was ‘compact’ and you were very much alone up there but the skiing was sensational as was the ride up there. It was a superb and challenging route down in some great snow. It is certainly for the better skiers and snowboarders but why head off to North America when you can get sensational powder routes from a heli drop off on the edge of maybe the best ski region in the whole of the Alps?
excellent video Mr Brown , very envious, looked a great day with top conditions, perhaps when i get off the learner slopes you’ll be able to take me somewhere like that? I’ll bring the Jagermeister as i didn’t see a lot of hospitality where you were!
Hey John, thanks for the feedback, it was a day that will be tough to beat for sure and I was worried that we had missed our window again, the flights are pretty popular and it is a bit of a lottery to get on one if you are watching the weather closely and delaying confirmation. Fantastic day although it was a day to very much leave the après to après - the world champion took us some routes that needed you to be on top of your game. I did indulge later with my feet up looking at the video clips.