snow sports

Die Hard Heli-Skier - Guest Blog

Die Hard Heli-Skier - Guest Blog

I enjoyed my visit to the Total Heliski London Show 2011 even more than I was expecting. Why? Because I came away having won a 3 day heliski holiday with Snowwater in Canada!

Even though I’d heliskied before I was very apprehensive as I’d heard that Total Heliski was for “hard core” skiers whose aim was to cover the maximum number of vertical meters during their stay. Being fifty-seven (and three quarters), a little older than the average Total Heliski customer, I realised I had to get into serious training. I took my 22 year old daughter Katie – at least that brought our average age down a bit!

Knee Braces

Knee Braces

Getting fit for the Northern Hemisphere ski season?if you’re a serious snowsports enthusiast, then the answer must be yes. But spare a thought for what it would be like if you had to get ski fit after a serious injury last season? I for one, have had to do this, after a tough few months of rehab from a pretty big knee injury and two knee surgeries. So, getting back to ski fitness is not just a good thing to do, for me, it’s been essential to ensuring an injury-free future.

Heli Ski 101

Heli Ski 101

With the ski season fast approaching, I have been inundated with questions from friends and clients on everything heli skiing. Their main questions, I call Heliski 101, and can be summarized in three words:

When? What? How?

When is the best time to go skiing?
What can I expect once I get there in terms of facilities?
How do I prepare for heli skiing?

So here’s my Heliski 101…

What Do They Have in Common?

What Do They Have in Common?

Not a lot really, but I thought this was a neat title to use for this blog entry about my recent experience at the 2010 (London) City Ski Championships.


Whilst Total Heliski members were flying through the pow-pow in Canada, Alaska, and Europe this season, Total Heliski set our sights on our mission to convert a whole bunch of neat, disciplined ski racers into free- willed, hedonistic heliskiers.

I am on the right track here...

I am on the right track here...

I was chatting to one of my operators last night, to their lead guide, who told me that he’s in the heliski business for his love of heli skiing (no surprise). And he told me that the reason he wanted to work with me, was because he could see from my website and had heard through the grapevine, of the passion that I hold for skiing and specifically heli skiing. No surprise either..

Heli Skiing in Greenland

Heli Skiing in Greenland

By Hans Solmssen, Guide de Montagne.

I first came to Greenland to heliski 10 years ago. I expected quite mellow and monotonous terrain, given all the talk about the ice cap. What I discovered, was better skiing than any other place on the planet. And because the area is so vast, using a helicopter to access the terrain provides the ideal way to ski here. My “little” area covers an area greater than all the Alps from Chamonix to Zermatt. Not only is the skiing much more exciting than what any other heli operation has to offer, but the stunning views and cultural experience is simply outstanding. Many of our runs approach 2000 meters of decent, which means we do in 3 days what most operations do in 6.

Heli Skiing "Tipping Point"

Heli Skiing "Tipping Point"

I am fascinated by the concept of ‘tipping point’ as it relates to the commitment to go heli skiing (for first timers), not in the collective sense of the market, but in the individual sense. In business speak, the tipping point normally refers to the moment when a product or service achieves mass adoption. For Facebook it was several years ago, for Groupon it’s more recent.  As an expert on heli skiing, I wish I was better at determining the individual tipping points of my clients sooner. It might allow me to better manage my time and disappointment. Here’s what I mean.

Introducing the ‘Heli-filter’

Introducing the ‘Heli-filter’

Singles Heli-skiing anyone? When a bad situation turns into good. And good turns into an opportunity.

I couldn’t help myself, but I shed a small, private tear this morning.

I don’t often cry, but it’s been almost a week now, that we have had the global volcanic crisis. And, I have had the opportunity to have the company of two Aussie girlfriends who have been stranded extend their stay with me. One, Liz is my dearest best friend since university who was visiting en route to further travels. The other, Dani is a recent friend, who owns Swiss Ski Safari, one of my Total Heliski operators, she was popping into London to do some business. Both are stranded and not surprisingly, we’ve had an amazing time together hanging out in my Kensington apartment, especially since the London weather has been amazing. We were discussing how the three of us feel like we’ve known each other for years, and that if it weren’t for this incredible event, that we wouldn’t have had this chance to hang out and have so much fun together. I am sure that there are stories like this all over the world right now.

Bella Coola

Bella Coola

Is it about the journey or the destination? Part 1

Given that this year alone, in my quest to test the goods for Total Heliski, I have circumnavigated the world several times, spending over 100 hours inside a metal tube, or in obscure airports doing transfer layovers, I started pondering about the age old question, whether in heli skiing (as in life), Is it the journey or the destination that matters more? So, I start Part 1 of this piece, with the argument for the journey.

Barmy Army

Barmy Army

Barmy Army – My adventures at the 2010 British Telemark Ski Championships


Take 80 fit guys from the British Army, (most in elite forces like commandoes or marines) in tight lycra ski race suits, a quaint Austrian alpine village, bars full of Jagermeister and German beer, and you have every single girls dream, (or nightmare) whichever way she is prone to look at it.

Chatter Splatter

Chatter Splatter

Epic and consistent. Sitting on a train en-route to Austria for the British Telemark Ski Championships, reflecting. At last weeks London Total Heliski Info Show event, the crowd were blown away with the pictures I shared of epic and consistent skiing at Chatter Creek Cat over New Years. Here are a few shots that sum it up. Mmmm. Where to start?

From the moment we took off from Chatter Creek’s helicopter transfer base, near Golden BC, we were flying over some of Canada’s best back country. With each passing minute, I sensed increasing remoteness and anticipation building for skiing pure untouched powder snow.

3-2-1 Lift Off! Total Heliski is born

3-2-1 Lift Off! Total Heliski is born

Talk about a whirlwind few months. When I look back on it, I kept getting signs from all sorts of people and places that I felt were encouraging me to invest my time and energy into something that turned out to be Total Heliski.Or perhaps I was just now open and looking for the signs. After all, I was reading all sorts of blogs (Seth Godin’s was most influential here), talking to friends about the merits of doing an MBA or doing a startup, and then one day in July I think it was, I got an email from Greg Porter, the owner of Great Canadian heli skiing (heli operator), asking me whether I was actually going to setup a heliski promotion company to represent his operation and showcase it to people in the UK and other markets because he would like to see more Brits come heli skiing.

Turning Dreams into Reality

Turning Dreams into Reality

I thought the most appropriate starting point for my blog is to talk about my philosophy: Seize life, realize your dreams and create everlasting memories. It really is at the heart of my blog and my new company called Total Heliski. I came up with this sentence recently when I was trying to crystallize what I am all about? What makes me happy and drives my life? And what could I perhaps share positively with others?

It all starts with seizing life, and by that I mean to adopt a positive, unrestricted approach to life and goal setting. Without initial vision, dreams, objectives or whatever you call them, it’s impossible to achieve them, right? So, for me, Total Heliski is about helping people find out a bit more what’s out there, and what’s possible to fulfill their passion around skiing and vice versa.