Utah Heliskiing

"Schmoe" wrote in message
...
BoftheW wrote:
In article , Schmoe says...

Just ask Frank Wells and Craig Badami how safe those death traps
are.
I saw the latter one crash and I can attest to you that they are
*NOT* safe.

Nah, that's silly. Statistical likelihood of a fair weather
accident is minimal. Look it up relative to the hours flown. And I
don't know who Mssgrs. Wells & Badami are or were (as the case may
be). Anyway, everyone's gotta go sometime and that would be doing
something I love. Beats a hospital bed everytime.

Craig was the son of the past owner of park city ski area. He was
killed riding in a work helicopter that had a cable with a hook on it
dangling from the chopper. The helicopter was being used to move
equipment from the previous weekends world cup race. The hook caught
on one of the tech trailer as the heli tried to fly away. When it
released the cable shot up through the rotors and down came the
helicopter. It landed on it's side and Craig was on the bottom. I
believe he was the only one killed. I knew him pretty well and was in
the gondola with his wife at the time. It was not good. And Craid
LOVED helicopter skiing. He'd be ****ed at the thought of this poser
using his accident to try to prop up his failed attempts at elitist
status.

But then that's why I have him killfiled along with trunky
and.............??? oh wait, it's just the two of them.

pigo wrote:
"Schmoe" wrote in message
...
BoftheW wrote:
In article , Schmoe says...

Just ask Frank Wells and Craig Badami how safe those death traps
are.
I saw the latter one crash and I can attest to you that they are
*NOT* safe.

Nah, that's silly. Statistical likelihood of a fair weather
accident is minimal. Look it up relative to the hours flown. And I
don't know who Mssgrs. Wells & Badami are or were (as the case may
be). Anyway, everyone's gotta go sometime and that would be doing
something I love. Beats a hospital bed everytime.

Craig was the son of the past owner of park city ski area. He was
killed riding in a work helicopter that had a cable with a hook on it
dangling from the chopper. The helicopter was being used to move
equipment from the previous weekends world cup race. The hook caught
on one of the tech trailer as the heli tried to fly away. When it
released the cable shot up through the rotors and down came the
helicopter. It landed on it's side and Craig was on the bottom. I
believe he was the only one killed. I knew him pretty well and was in
the gondola with his wife at the time. It was not good. And Craid
LOVED helicopter skiing. He'd be ****ed at the thought of this poser
using his accident to try to prop up his failed attempts at elitist
status.

But then that's why I have him killfiled along with trunky
and.............??? oh wait, it's just the two of them.

Thanks for the response. Obviously, that accident was tied directly to an
industrial effort and not something it was used for on a consistant, daily
basis. Aviation safety is usually obtained from repetition. Most unfortunate
and sad, no doubt. Sorry you lost your friend. Glad to hear he appreciated
helicopter skiing as much as I now do.

"Schmoe" wrote in message
...

Thanks for the response. Obviously, that accident was tied directly
to an industrial effort and not something it was used for on a
consistant, daily basis. Aviation safety is usually obtained from
repetition. Most unfortunate and sad, no doubt. Sorry you lost your
friend. Glad to hear he appreciated helicopter skiing as much as I
now do.

Well I just had to add some first hand knowledge of the situation to
the inference some poser tried to make to further his own *little*
agenda.

And to add to that it was the previous spring that I got one run in
with WPB before the bird crashed above pork waste. That's the way it
goes. That hasn't kept me of many helicopters since. I can't even
count the number of times I've heli'd over the Grand Canyon (40-50 is
my guess).

pigo

pigo wrote:
I can't even count the number of times I've heli'd over the Grand Canyon
(40-50 is
my guess).

They changed the allowable altitudes and locations of heli flights over the
GC a few years ago. Most of the changes were enviromental and sound/privacy
related which I can understand. As opposed to the very few total helicopters
doing heliskiing, the GC is loaded with Vegas tourists.

"Schmoe" wrote in message
...
pigo wrote:
I can't even count the number of times I've heli'd over the Grand
Canyon (40-50 is
my guess).

They changed the allowable altitudes and locations of heli flights
over the GC a few years ago. Most of the changes were enviromental
and sound/privacy related which I can understand. As opposed to the
very few total helicopters doing heliskiing, the GC is loaded with
Vegas tourists.

I flew out of that little town there at the South Rim. I've also
hiked around the Canyon including a down and back trip to the bottom.
The helicopters never bothered me, except the one time I camped right
next to the departure zone. It's been about 10 years since I was
there though. But there were restrictions in place then concerning
elevations and locations of flights.

FYI: The GC is loaded with tourists, period.

Schmoe wrote:

I don't need to spend an entire day hiking just for 4k' vertical total.

True. That's about one morning's worth.

Just got back from my own trip to a hut on the edge of Monashee
Provincial Park. We used a copter to get in and out. Walked the
rest. Got a whole week of skiing, and 30,000+ vert for the cost of one
day of heliskiing, and that included airfare from SLC, food, booze,
everything. We could have done more vertical, but the rock stars had
to stop to get their pictures taken. And we were trying to reach some
peaks a good distance away and weren't really concentrating on
vertical, but rather the mountain experience.. You'll see the pictures
next year. The best part was that there was no one else around at
all. I really feel bad for the folks that came in after us
though. Things were pretty tracked when we left.

There's nothing wrong with heliskiing, but heliskiing in Utah's
Northern Powder Circuit is kinda like farting in a crowded elevator.

Well, I have a ton of snow to shovel. Glad you had fun. So how much
vertical do the WPGs give you in a day? The heliguides on the trip
were saying 30K was about an average day for the clients.


-klaus

klaus wrote:

Well, I have a ton of snow to shovel.

Lost your truck again?

lal_truckee wrote:
klaus wrote:

Well, I have a ton of snow to shovel.

Lost your truck again?


No. I was designated driver from the airport since I have a big gas
guzzler and the only one with a vehicle big enough to hold all the
schwag^H^H^H^H^H^Hgear. So the truck was in Smog Lake Valley and is
only covered by a foot or so from last night. We were packed in the
truck like sardines. It's the front door, windows, and deck of the
house that are buried under several feet. Oh... and the entrance to
the outhouse. It shouldn't be too tough. It feels *really* light. But
that could be because I kinda got used to that Canadian snow. Sure was
nice to get out of the Wasatch though. Berry, berry, quiet. True
alpine. Mountains to the edge of the earth. Not just toy mountains
like here. The Wasatch always seem so small when I get home. From
where we were, we could see the Selkirks, Valahallas, Bugaboos,
Columbia River, Cleveland.....

-klaus

klaus wrote:
So how much
vertical do the WPGs give you in a day? The heliguides on the trip
were saying 30K was about an average day for the clients.


I don't think it was near that much. I'd say it was closer to 18-20k.

Pigo,

I am very sorry to hear what happended to Craig. It is even worse that his
wife saw it. Wow...how tramatic.

I can say that accidents like that are EXTREMELY unusual. There were
multiple critical mistakes made that contributed to the accident. (You
should be able to look up the NTSB accident report on the web - if you want
to see it.) Eliminating even one of the mistakes would have prevented the
accident. For me (I think everyone should make their own decision on
acceptable risk) the risk of such an accident is small enough I would accept
it. The risk of being killed driving in a car to the ski area is much
higher than a recurrance of accident like Craig's. I still drive or ride
in cars on a regular basis.


"pigo" wrote in message
...

"Schmoe" wrote in message
...
BoftheW wrote:
In article , Schmoe says...

Just ask Frank Wells and Craig Badami how safe those death traps
are.
I saw the latter one crash and I can attest to you that they are
*NOT* safe.

Nah, that's silly. Statistical likelihood of a fair weather
accident is minimal. Look it up relative to the hours flown. And I
don't know who Mssgrs. Wells & Badami are or were (as the case may
be). Anyway, everyone's gotta go sometime and that would be doing
something I love. Beats a hospital bed everytime.

Craig was the son of the past owner of park city ski area. He was
killed riding in a work helicopter that had a cable with a hook on it
dangling from the chopper. The helicopter was being used to move
equipment from the previous weekends world cup race. The hook caught
on one of the tech trailer as the heli tried to fly away. When it
released the cable shot up through the rotors and down came the
helicopter. It landed on it's side and Craig was on the bottom. I
believe he was the only one killed. I knew him pretty well and was in
the gondola with his wife at the time. It was not good. And Craid
LOVED helicopter skiing. He'd be ****ed at the thought of this poser
using his accident to try to prop up his failed attempts at elitist
status.

But then that's why I have him killfiled along with trunky
and.............??? oh wait, it's just the two of them.