IMAGES: JESAJA CLASS PHOTOGRAPHY; ERIC BERGER
Glaciers, couloirs & hidden valleys Our first descent is just one of the innumerable highlights of a trip to Bella Coola, a valley deep in British Columbia’s wilderness, some 100 miles from Central Coast. Organised by tailor-made tour operator Mabey Ski, my trip starts with a two-day ‘Steep and Deep’ camp in Whistler, getting my rusty legs and technique in shape. According to company founder, Nickie Mabey, the programme was created “to give guests the opportunity to fine-tune their powder skiing before jumping straight into a heli-skiing week”. And I’m glad of it, not least since it helps
build my confidence before tackling some of the most exciting skiing of my life. Bella Coola Heli Sports, the local operator facilitating our high-flying adventures, has been voted the ‘World’s Best Heli Ski Operation’ at the World Ski Awards five years in a row thanks to a winning combination of superb guiding, luxurious ski lodges, plus the biggest heli- ski terrain on the planet (3.55 million acres: about the same size as the entire Swiss Alps). This doesn’t come cheap, but for adventurous experienced skiers it’s the ultimate trip. It’s not just the incredible terrain, which varies from high altitude glaciers and steep couloirs to forest glades and hidden valleys, nor the vast quantities of snowfall (an average of 65 to 100 feet per season) that make Bella Coola
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so special. There’s also the snow, which goes out of its way to be user-friendly, having a consistency that allows it to ‘stick’ to steeper slopes and reduce the risk of avalanches. And with such a vast ski area it’s a given that our group of five — four skiers and one guide — will enjoy fresh tracks on every single run. Trips are led by guides who are exceptional in their ability to find the best snow whatever the weather conditions. Head guide Woody Tribe has been skiing
these mountains for 30 years and has made and named hundreds of first descents. There are more than 1,200 runs within Bella Coola’s ski area to date, but Woody reckons there are hundreds more to be discovered in what he calls “exploratory heli-skiing”. A measured and unhurried approach to
skiing is common to all the guides at Bella Coola, which helps ease the pressure that’s invariably felt by most people when heli-skiing — the excitement of flying over primordial mountainscapes in a helicopter is almost overwhelming, and the adrenaline levels only climb higher as you clamber out of the machine to experience this wilderness on skis. The skiing, of course, is unparalleled but
the journey to get to Bella Coola’s pristine ski slopes is a major part of the experience; from taking off just 165 feet from Tweedsmuir Park Lodge to swooping over deep forests,
skimming past towering rock faces and soaring above immense glaciers that may never have been trodden on, let alone skied on, before. It’s literally thrill-a-minute stuff, and the skill of the pilots in negotiating this wild terrain with its unexpected updrafts and unpredictable mountain winds is remarkable. Awe, it seems, across the board is the Bella Coola way. At each day’s end, we gather around
Tweedsmuir’s wood burner to rest aching muscles, replete with the lodge’s nutrient- packed fine dining, sourced from local farms and Pacific coast producers. Faces awestruck and sunburnt, we can barely wait to get out there the next morning and do it all again.
HOW TO DO IT Mabey Ski offers trips to Bella Coola from C$16,800 per person (£11,200). This is based on two sharing hotel accommodation, including four nights B&B at the Fairmont Chateau hotel in Whistler and the three- day Whistler Steep and Deep camp with lift pass, five nights/four days heli-skiing from Tweedsmuir Park Lodge or Eagle Lodge with all meals, rental of powder skis/snowboard, avalanche safety equipment and guiding, all transfers between Whistler and Vancouver and return flights to Bella Coola. Flights to British Columbia are not included.
mabeyski.com Further info:
hellobc.com
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