Cover info inside magazine
SVHS guide Tate Berry on Rock Shock in the Smoky Mountains
Photo by Steve Dondero
Sun Valley Heli Ski takes you to the powder
By Sabina Dana Plasse
Photos by Steve Dondero
BOX OUT:
About Sun Valley Heli Ski
Sun Valley Heli Ski partners include Heli Hansen, Rossignol, Smith, Mammut, Yeti and Sawtooth Brewery to make your experience in the mountains of south-central Idaho one of the best. SVHS operates under a special use permit issued by the US Forest Service. SVHS offers full and half days, heli-assisted ski tours, Smokey Mountain Lodge trips, morning lifts to the top of Baldy for resort skiers, private charters and scenic tours. Give SVHS a few days’ notice when booking your tour to accommodate all your heli ski options for weather, terrain, and group bookings. In addition, Sturtevant’s can assist with ski rental equipment.
PULL QUOTE:
“Just about everybody who decides to heli ski or ride has a great time. We fly in a helicopter over jaw dropping mountain terrain. Then we land on the top of an incredible mountain peak and stand by ourselves in the remote Idaho wilderness. Oh…then our ski day begins and our guests get to experience our legendary powder terrain. It is a true joy for intermediate and expert skiers and riders.”
-Jay Levine
In the life and world of skiing and snowboarding, the only thing better than a blue bird powder day is a blue bird powder “heli ski” day. If you ever wanted to experience untouched, champagne powder repeatedly on peak after peak, Sun Valley Heli Ski (SVHS) can take you there. With 750,000 square acres of backcountry terrain at its disposal all winter-long, SVHS offers the ultimate experience in snow sports. This is by far the largest terrain of any heli ski operator in the lower 48 states. The best part of it all is that a large portion of SVHS’s territory is in the Western Smoky Mountains which is in a completely different weather pattern than Ketchum. Even when there is sagebrush showing all over town, SVHS can still deliver fabulous powder skiing and riding.
The company was founded in 1966 when Bill Jans, then the current owner of Sun Valley Resort, heli skied in Canada and came back to Sun Valley and looked north. Why can’t we do this too he thought. Over the course of the next 50 years, SVHS has had a number of incredible owners who have maintained and expanded Bill Jans’ vision of heli skiing in Sun Valley. Jay Levine is the most recent owner of SVHS for approximately the past decade.
SVHS offers day heli skiing as well as the only fly-in heli ski lodge in the lower 48. Their ski runs range from 1,500 to 3,000 feet of pristine Idaho powder. Groups are small with a guest to guide ratio of 4 to 1. Guests enjoy lunch, which is included, typically on a sunny and protected spot with exceptional views and camaraderie.
For guests, a typical SVHS day starts at SVHS’s headquarters at the Sun Valley Gun Club. Prior to taking off, all guests receive a safety briefing from one of SVHS’s extremely experienced and well-trained staff. The briefing includes Federal Aviation Administration required safety disclosures, protocols for how to safely and properly act around the helicopter, backcountry skiing protocols, avalanche awareness and beacon and search techniques. Guides take the time in this morning info session to describe the day’s weather, operating plan and any unique risks or issues that may exist. Once that is over, it’s time to load the gear and head to the heli pad to lift off to the best snow in south-central Idaho. Pilots and guides take care of everything and you just buckle in. The first group of guests departs from the Gun Club to start their day. The other groups will either depart from the Gun Club or will be transported in one of SVHS’s heli shuttles to another staging area for their flight into the field.
SVHS’s staff, led by Operations Manager Alex Kittrell, arrives at headquarters between 6 and 6:30 am to ensure a safe plan is in place for the day. The challenge every day is to provide an incredible experience for skiers and riders in a safe backcountry environment. “Our entire staff has incredible passion about the business,” says Jay.
In the morning guides meeting, the lead guide reviews all of the current weather and avalanche stability conditions and offers his recommendations for the day’s operations. This The insurmountable amount of ski runs accessible by helicopter makes this a complex but manageable process given SVHS’s understanding of its terrain and snow stability history. SVHS also gets a great deal of intel from the Sawtooth Avalanche Center database that is a collection of avalanche reports by other local outfitters and backcountry skiers and riders.
There is a tremendous amount of terrain and runs, all of which have identified names and documented pitches. From the Pioneers and Boulders to the Smoky Mountains, SVHS can go almost everywhere in under 15 minutes from take-off. “All of our runs are well documented and categorized. They are all mapped out on SVHS’s proprietary Google Earth platform. We pick a zone and decide what might be the best and safest place to ski each day,” says Jay. Aspect and pitch are some of the things that are looked at to determine the best routes with safe access and exits. Plus, the interface of the snowpack changes all the time. SVHS’s staff looks at weather and snow information from its own historical database, the Sawtooth Avalanche Center database and other sources every morning. This is all part of the day’s itinerary and guiding plan every time SVHS flies.
“Our guides have strong backcountry ski experience especially in Sun Valley,” says Jay. “In addition, there’s a great deal more knowledge that is necessary for helicopter guiding, which our guides also have. After all, they are part of the ground and flight crew.” SVHS’s guides have a combined 100 years of experience and the culture is strong.
Sun Valley Heli Ski is the first heli ski operator in American helicopter skiing and a proud member of the Heli Ski U.S. Association with 4-passenger A-Star B3e helicopter, which is the unquestioned king of helicopters for heli skiing.
It's been said that once you heli ski, you become addicted. “We joke that the Idaho guide’s board requires us to tell people there is a heli ski anonymous. It usually kicks in when you’ve lost a comma in your bank account,” laughs Jay. Powder skiing has become a precious commodity on many a ski hill. “It’s not a powder day any longer, but a powder hour.” But for heli skiing, it’s a whole other environment.
SVHS’s terrain can be less intimidating than Baldy. Baldy is a steep mountain. “We typically start on a ridge line or bowl that is about 30 degrees, whereas there is very limited terrain on Baldy that is that moderate.” For example, Limelight is close to 40 degrees in places. As the day moves along, SVHS’s guests will progress to steeper and more challenging terrain, depending on the ability of the group and the backcountry stability. If stability allows, SVHS can challenge the best of skiers and riders. Bottom line though, if you can tackle Baldy every day, you will kill it heli skiing in the backcountry. Heli skiing is effortless for those who love to ski, and the champagne powder snow is unlike anything you have ever skied. “We have great skiing all the time even when the sagebrush is showing in town. It’s not what you see in ski movies and you are not jumping out of a helicopter.”
If you are wondering about equipment, fat powder skis are the way to go and SVHS loves snowboarders. This year, Sun Valley Heli Ski is operational from December 21st through March 15th. In addition, this year, it will offer rides in the morning to the top of Baldy from the Sun Valley Gun Club for resort skiers who want a special way to start their day. If you have any desire to heli ski, book it, as seats fill up fast and join the SVHS newsletter to keep in the know for the best powder skiing in the Mountain West.
