We’ve seen a lot of smiling faces over the last few weeks and it’s not too surprising considering all the awesome powder we’ve had! With feedback like this coming in – “We went out with your crew last Thursday and it was the best day of riding I’ve ever had. We felt like we won the lottery, a bluebird day, tonnes of powder and an awesome guide.” – we know we must be doing something right!
We received some fantastic feedback from David, a client from Australia, who flew with us recently and thought we would share his great photos and comments with you right here on our blog. Thanks David!
Loving every minute of it! (David pictured in the middle)
Super sweet fresh lines!
Big smiles all round and powder friends for life!
Here’s what David had to say about his heli experience with us:
“Thanks very much for a great day I’ll never forget. What an experience! It was a real adventure. I felt like I was in good hands and was confident making the plunge.”
“Service – Impeccable. Safety – Careful, thorough, expert and reassuring. Fun – You bet. Patience – Appreciated and given freely. Lunch – Fantastic and desperately needed. Extra Run – The best one of the day. Excitement – Couldn’t sleep for 24 hours afterwards… too pumped.”
What can we say?! A day of heliskiing or heliboarding with us is definitely one you won’t forget in a hurry! We love hearing all your feedback and memories of your day, so keep it coming. You can keep in touch with Harris Mountains Heli-Ski at our Facebook page and post plenty of feedback and photos up there too!
Here are our latest heli ski videos from last week. Lots of powder, lots of sunshine and lots of very happy people!
Filmed on our GoPro HD on 24 August.
Another mind blowing day on 25 August.
Don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page – you’ll find daily updates, powder alerts, snow reports, videos, photos and lots more on there. Plus you can post YOUR photos, videos, comments and feedback on there too!
The team here at Harris Mountains Heli-Ski would like to send out a huge congratulations to Shelly Gotlieb, New Zealand’s top female snowboarder, who took 2nd place last week in the Slopestyle finals of the 2010 Burton NZ Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort. Go girl! Each winter season Shelly steps up and pushes herself and the sport, a real inspiration for all girls who love to ride.
Last winter season SnowSports NZ awarded Shelly ‘New Zealand Snowboarder of the Year 08/09′ – an outstanding achievement which prompted us to reward Shelly with a day of heliboarding with us during the 2009 winter season. Here’s a few snaps from that day… which just so happened to be an epic day of blue skies, deep powder and high fives!
Photos: Sarah Mulholland
A perfect bluebird day and a sweet view to start the day from Aspiring Airstrip in the Matukituki valley, Wanaka.
The day’s crew led by guide Jef Desbecker… first drop, amped and ready for action! And yep, that’s Mount Aspiring in the background.
Shelly sends it!
Flying up for more, lap after lap of powder goodness… checking out our lines on the way.
Touching down in a snowy valley for lunch… yeah!
Shelly was buzzing all day, super stoked! Life doesn’t get better!
Fresh lines in the North Buchanans range all day long.
A little stop to take in that epic view of the Southern Alps!
Shelly and Jef… and some well earned beers at the end of the day.
Ladies, don’t miss out on our awesome event next week – the Harris Mountains Heli-Ski Girls Day Out taking place on Wednesday 25 August. Whether you are a hardcore chick who rips, or an intermediate / first time heli skier or snowboarder – this event is the perfect opportunity to come together for a heli day with like-minded ladies. You’ll be skiing / riding powder in specific small groups with girls of a similar ability, led by our team of all women guides – Anna, Karen and Katie. For more details, scroll down to our special Blog post. It’s only a few days away and places are limited so give our friendly team a call on 03 442 6722 if you would like to book.
The last couple of weeks have seen some truly epic conditions here in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, especially in the Mount Cook region where a single storm delivered 1m of snow! Check out our latest videos from last week.
Another day of bluebird powder goodness in Wanaka, heliskiing and heliboarding in the Motatapu Range.
This one is our favourite so far! While out heliskiing in the Ben Ohau Range, Mount Cook on 11 August we ran into some very special friends – a group of wild Tahr mountain goats, who looked like they could benefit from having a snowboard strapped to their feet to get through all that fresh powder!
Brand new for the 2010 Winter season, we are bringing all you ladies out there a very special day out with us! Drum roll….. announcing, the Harris Mountains Heli Ski Girls Day Out!
Join our team of all women guides: Anna, Karen and Katie, for a day to remember. You’ll be out lapping fresh powder lines in some of New Zealand’s best heli skiing terrain. Your mode of mountain transport, whether it be ski, snowboard or telemark, is up to you and we’ll organise the rest! And remember, if you can ski, you can heli ski. We’ll take to our best terrain, suited especially to your ability level.
The day includes: 4 run heliski day, sumptuous lunch, Moet champagne, return transfers to heli-staging areas, avalanche transceivers, $50 Le Spa voucher, Goodie Bag and we’ll donate $30 to Breast Cancer.
When: Wednesday 25th August 2010 Price: $825 per person. Don’t miss out – limited places available, so call 03 442 6722 to book now.
It’s mid-winter in New Zealand and after a dry spell during July, it’s starting to really dump. The snow gods are smiling on us again and August is living up to it’s reputation of being the powder month! The Southern Alps got hit hard by last weekend’s storm and our terrain received 40cm+ of fresh snow. Following that we’ve had perfect bluebird days with hardly a breath of wind. Winter weather is hard to predict, but August is definitely off to a great start!
August is also the month when Queenstown and Wanaka really start buzzing. With the 2010 Burton Open kicking off at Cardrona Alpine Resort today, Wanaka is definitely the place to be if you want to check out all the action, mix with the pros and party it up. And don’t forget to give us a call, if you want a powder hit. It’s epic out there right now!
We’ll be back soon with a video update of the conditions since the huge snowfall over the weekend, but for now sit back and enjoy this footage from our day heli skiing and snowboarding in the North Buchanans range on 4 August.
Check out the Harris Mountains Heli Ski Vimeo Channel or YouTube Channel for regular vids. Subscribe, add us as a friend and we’ll make sure we bring you plenty of powder stoke all winter long. If you’ve been out with us, we love to see your photos and videos too, so feel free to post them up on our Facebook page – where you’ll also find daily updates, snow reports and lots more!
Here’s some more footage of the awesome snow we’ve been skiing and snowboarding out in the backcountry this week. This vid is from our 25 July trip into the Mount Aspiring National Park, Wanaka. Super sweet conditions just now and there’s a serious dump of snow on the forecast for this weekend, we can’t wait. Life doesn’t get better than this!
The New Zealand heli ski season is now well under way and winter is really starting to deliver. We’ve had 40cm+ fresh snowfall in our terrain over the last week and conditions are currently great… and there’s more snow on the radar. The powder drought is over! With July coming to an end, we’re excited to see what August – usually our big powder month – will bring. Fingers crossed, the snow gods will deliver the goods!
We’ve had lots of perfect bluebird powder days over the last week, with our guides hunting down the best snow and best lines to ride. Take a peek at our most recent video, filmed on 25 July 2010, in the stunning Mount Aspiring National Park.
There’s nothing better than waking up bright and early on a powder day… especially when you are heading out to ski with helicopters. Yesterday was one of those days. With our eyes on the weather every second, finally the much anticipated storm arrived and delivered the goods. 30cm+ of fresh snow waiting for us in the backcountry on 21 July! It was on! Check out this vid of the epic powder day we got yesterday, we had sooo much fun out there.
For regular updates, snow reports, powder alerts, videos and more check out the Harris Mountains Heli-Ski Facebook page – packed with daily info to get you stoked and keep you up to date throughout the winter season! Don’t forget, we love to see YOUR photos and videos too, so if you have been out heliskiing or heliboarding with us, get posting. If Twitter is your thing, we’re on there too… so what are you waiting for? Follow Harris Mountains Heli-Ski on Twitter!
Check out our latest heliskiing video filmed on 18 July in the Mount Aspiring National Park. You can really see how big our terrain is and what about those views?! Since this was filmed we’ve had lots of new snow, so if fresh powder is what you are after, give us a call – 03 442 6722 (Queenstown) or 03 443 7930 (Wanaka).
