Helicopter and Snowcat
SKIING
Wade McKoy photos
High Mountain Heli-Skiing
One glance around Jackson Hole’s snow-blanketed mountain ranges jumpstarts every skier’s imagination, not to mention the heart. All that snow begging to be laid into. Problem: Access. Solution? Heli-skiing! And, since 1974, High Mountain Heli-Skiing (HMH) has been offering its guests the ultimate deep-powder helicopter-skiing experience in Jackson Hole – untracked snow in the backcountry within a safety cocoon provided by guides. Owner Jon Shick’s 30-plus winters as the company’s lead guide, avalanche forecaster, and currently managing partner suit him well as he steers High Mountain Heli-Skiing into its 36th season. Shick’s helicopters, state-of-the-art Bell 407s, convey skiers into some of the region’s finest forest and glades, where they rack up 12,000 to 15,000 vertical feet in a typical day. Terrain options include the Snake River and Palisades mountain ranges and portions of the Hoback, Teton, and Gros Ventre mountain ranges, places that transfix even the locals with their alpine grandeur. Each HMH guide, trained in outdoor emergency care, CPR, avalanche-hazard forecasting and mountain rescue,
rounds out every group of five skiers. Because the terrain ranges from intermediate to expert, skiers and boarders should be at the advanced level. But, said Shick, “if a skier can link turns down Rendezvous Bowl and the Hobacks, they can ski anything we do.” Although Shick and his crew have expanded their efforts to uncover Mother Nature’s finest powder stashes, concern for wilderness areas has informed the company’s efforts to secure the right white stuff. Jackson Hole heli-skiers won’t notice much difference this year, despite a recent court decision that, over a four-year period, scales back HMH’s skier days in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area, his most popular and successful terrain. Shick is currently working with the Forest Service to open new terrain. This winter HMH will explore several areas with potential for new helicopter-skiing terrain while they await a decision from the Forest Service. Shick hopes to incorporate the new terrain into his special use permit by winter 2012. In the interim HMH will move most of its skiing farther west, into Idaho and south of the Snake River. “We are committed
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