Helicopters have come a long way in the 60 years since heli-skiing started in North America and the first group of skiers piled into a small, plexiglass-domed machine, lifting off into the unknown.
Today’s helis are undoubtedly more sophisticated than the earliest Bell ‘bubble copters’ used during the first few years, though they do bear some similarities.
However, what carries little resemblance is the expert level of flying and helicopter knowledge that today’s pilots, engineers and guides possess.
The on-the-ground and in-the-air understanding of how helicopters, pilots, guides, guests, weather, and terrain fit together like pieces of a well-cut puzzle have evolved perhaps even more dramatically than the machines themselves.
This aerial know-how aspect of heli-skiing began informally. At first, it was part skill and part guesswork with a healthy dash of, “Let’s try,” and sometimes, “Oops, won’t do that again.”
Taming the circus in the sky
Hans Gmoser, Mountain Guide and CMH Heli-Skiing’s founder, initially worked with Jim Davies, CMH’s pilot for the first eight years of heli-skiing, to figure out how and where to fly, land, and ski among the Bugaboos’ many enticing peaks.
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If we both nodded our heads at the same peak, this is where he would land.
”Hans Gmoser
It was a buffet of could-be ski runs, but there was no guidebook or user manual to follow.
“Jim and I would consult the four sheets of the 1:50,000 topo maps of the Bugaboos that we had tacked onto the back door of the cook shack to see where we might fly today,” Hans once remembered. “There were vast snowfields, particularly to the west. It all looked very inviting. Once in the air I would point to a peak and Jim would either nod his head or point to another peak. If we both nodded our heads at the same peak, this is where he would land.”
Of course, it wasn’t always that straightforward. Heli-skiing’s infancy—particularly the first 10 years—was dotted with plenty of mishaps as everyone involved worked out the mechanics of this new way of using helicopters.
The first eye-opener happened almost immediately, during the maiden voyage in the Bugaboos. It was only the middle of heli-skiing’s second week when the helicopter crashed while landing.
Just as Jim touched down at the top of a run named Sauce Alley, the machine’s landing gear sunk into the deep snow. The mountaintop was wide and flat, but the helicopter tipped awkwardly as it settled in the snow, its still-spinning rotors smashing into the ground. The three occupants, pilot Jim, guide Hans, plus one client, hopped out safely and uninjured before the machine started to burn. Even though they extinguished the flames quickly, the helicopter was a write-off. Jim regrouped and made the long journey to Golden, BC, by snowmobile and vehicle. He picked up a replacement helicopter and returned to finish out the week ferrying guests.
Ultimately, the spectacular skiing everyone experienced those first two weeks overrode the events of the early-on scare. It didn’t deter the sport from catching on with wild popularity as soon as the guests returned home to tell their friends.
On other occasions, pairs of skis that hadn’t been properly secured for transport flew into the helicopter’s rotors, grounding it. Hard landings were had, and an occasional jump from the hovering heli occurred. On another memorable occasion, a failed fuel control forced Jim to land in the forest while flying solo between the Bugaboos and Brisco. He had to hike over 10 kilometres in deep snow to the nearest road before repeating the return slog a few days later to find his machine and free it from the trees with the help of an engineer.
Flight years ahead
Since those days when the sky was still a touch Wild West, flying in remote mountain terrain to heli-ski has advanced into an entire industry with highly specialized knowledge that requires years of training and experience to gain.
Today’s robust safety practices make many seat-of-the-pants scenarios experienced early on seem like a lifetime ago. We no longer jump from hovering helicopters or open helicopter doors while flying!
Hans once wrote his perspective on the history of helicopter use in skiing. His recount (included below, in part) highlights how little was known at the time about things we now consider base knowledge, such as landing a helicopter in flat light. Hans nearly tumbled from the heli while first trying to do so, mistakenly still quite high in the air.
How frequently those pioneering pilots and guides must have looked at each other wide-eyed from across the cockpit with each new lesson learned.
The earliest years of using rotors to go skiing were a high-consequence, high-reward classroom in the air. Yet it was one that thankfully succeeded and opened a whole new world on snow to thousands of skiers and riders.
In Hans Gmoser’s words
Editor’s note: To reflect and preserve the late Hans Gmoser’s voice, his writing has not been modified or edited. Grammar, capitalization, and punctuation remain true to the original. Subheadings are the only additions that have been made
Look before you jump
A major factor in the development of Heli-Skiing was the helicopter companies that provided the machines and the highly competent cadre of engineers and pilots. Earlier on I mentioned Jim Davies, the first member of this dedicated group, who was then, flying for Bullock Wings and Rotors in Calgary.
The first helicopter we used was a Bell B1. It only had one bench to seat the pilot and two passengers, all enclosed by a large plexliglass bubble. This arrangement offered unrestricted views in all directions. Since the machine climbed only 500 feet per minute, there was always plenty of time to enjoy the views and to look over the route of our descent. It also took anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to assemble a full group at the top of a run.
Since helicopters were quite new then, our understanding of them was nil. Some of the pilots had a similar lack of understanding of our objectives. This made for some interesting experiences.
It immediately became obvious that in flat light the pilot could not land above treeline without some reference. One time, while we were skiing in the Vowell Group, the weather began to deteriorate. The only way home we knew (there were no cleared runs on the Black Forest) was via the Bugaboo Glacier. I suggested to Jim that the two of us should fly up Vowell Glacier to a huge flat area just behind Bugaboo Spire. While he hovered close to the ground, I would jump out and he could then use me as a landing reference.
Jim agreed and up we flew. As we came over the flat area, I opened the door ready to jump. Jim said, “Throw your pack out first.” I did this and gaped in disbelief as the pack fell some two hundred feet before finally hitting the snow.
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Since helicopters were quite new then, our understanding of them was nil.
”Hans Gmoser
By 1966, we had graduated to a four-passenger, jet-powered French Artouste helicopter. This sped things up considerably. By 1968, we started using a six-passenger Allouette and it was hard to imagine the days of the Bell B1.
One day, however, when the Allouette was grounded, we found ourselves again using the Bell B1 – three of them at the same time! Without radio communication and without pilots familiar with the operation, it was a veritable flying circus. In one instance a machine dropped us off on top of a mountain, and before we had a chance to put on our skis, another pilot, not understanding our objective, landed next to us and wanted to fly us back to the lodge!
Bullock Wings and Rotors fully supported us throughout these first, trying years. They educated us in the use of helicopters and what to expect of them. The firm later became Bow Helicopters. During the years with Bow, many training and operating procedures were developed and the whole operation became very professional. Bow was eventually bought by Okanagan Helicopters and continued to serve several of our areas. By 1981 we began to contract the flight service from Alpine Helicopters. This firm now supplies helicopters, flight crew and maintenance engineers to all our areas and it is with them that we have experienced the most reliable performance and back-up. Alpine has also introduced numerous operating procedures, as well as modifications to their machines, to improve the reliability and safety of the flying.
Present day
Today, CMH flies a combination of Bell 212, Bell 407 and A-Star B3 helicopters. CMH is one of a select group of heli-ski companies worldwide that owns its helicopter operations, so we’re intimately involved in every step of the aircraft’s lifecycle: manufacturing, maintenance and flying. This is possible thanks to Alpine Helicopters, who is still our helicopter operating partner and has been part of the CMH family for more than 30 years. Alpine Helicopters has an industry-leading reputation for excellence and an Aerotech division that services Bell helicopters from all over the world.
The fleet of 30+ aircraft that make our heli-skiing program possible are flown by highly experienced mountain pilots and are maintained onsite by dedicated full-time engineers. Pilots and engineers are often assigned to the same CMH area for years and years, so they have an intimate knowledge of flying and operating in the area during all types of weather conditions. They bring thousands of hours of skill to their job and are simply the best at what they do.
