Girdwood vs. Valdez Heliskiing

**AKbruin** · 02-15-2007, 04:23 PM

Me: Poorish but credit card-wielding; live in Anchorage; have a pass to Alyeska.

What I'm Looking For: I want to do a single day of heliskiing from either Girdwood or Valdez. (Cordova is out because I can’t drive there.) My main concern is that the heliskiing will be too mellow (imagine 80's Warren Miller powder-8 stuff down open bowls), which is cool, but not $900/day cool. Bearing in mind that I’m not exactly Seth Morrison,* I’d still like to get at least some steeper, gnarlier rides including some moderate hucking of the 10-25’ variety. Y'know, stuff that’s radder than the in-bounds stuff at Aly, 'cause $900 is a lot, yeah?

With this in mind, anybody have opinions on:

(1) Girdwood vs. Valdez heliskiing?

(2) Favored operators in Valdez?

(3) Last, whether I might get more bang for my buck catskiing for a couple days ($225/day in Girdwood; $300/day in Valdez)?

Many Thanks!

*I like to think that I'm the Michael Jordan . . . of baseball . . . of skiing. Better than most, but unable to hang with the pros.

**whatcomridaz** · 02-15-2007, 04:48 PM

If you want anything remotely close to 40 degrees head to Valdez. I got way more gnar inbounds at Alyeska in a day than during my week at the local heli op.

That said the owner of the local op is a nice guy and posts here regularly

**freshies** · 02-15-2007, 04:52 PM

not sure VHSG does daily trips anymore, but callthem and see what's up. As with any heli or cat trip, you are only going to ski what the weakest link in your party is capable of. If it's a public ship, and Joey overweight from Cleveland is on board, you are facked. Call around and tell them you want on a ship with strong skiers, etc.

Also, Theo's operation off Thompson Pass (I forget the name, but he was Doug's old lead guide when he owned VHSG) seems to be the go to operation these days for accessing the gnar. Have fun and post-up when ya get back!

**AKbruin** · 02-15-2007, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by whatcomridaz

If you want anything remotely close to 40 degrees head to Valdez. I got way more gnar inbounds at Alyeska in a day than during my week at the local heli op.

Yeah, I didn't mean to slight Aly. It's a fantastic place, especially this winter (500"+ already!). But I've done 25 days there already, and for $900, I want more than casual pow runs.

**Karl Stall** · 02-15-2007, 06:55 PM

I don't know if you tried, but this subject has been discussed at length several times . vdz & akrendezvous, hands down, by the way. they're all good, though.

**HotCarl** · 02-15-2007, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by freshies

not sure VHSG does daily trips anymore, but callthem and see what's up. As with any heli or cat trip, you are only going to ski what the weakest link in your party is capable of. If it's a public ship, and Joey overweight from Cleveland is on board, you are facked. Call around and tell them you want on a ship with strong skiers, etc.

Also, Theo's operation off Thompson Pass (I forget the name, but he was Doug's old lead guide when he owned VHSG) seems to be the go to operation these days for accessing the gnar. Have fun and post-up when ya get back!

Tell me about it,i know i'm gonna get fucked on my CPG trip. Its just my luck. I'll be sittin next to some dickbag from deer valley. Please,some rippers or big tittied blondes sign up for st pattys day.

**AKbruin** · 02-15-2007, 09:17 PM

Any opinions on Alaska Backcountry Adventures? They run out of Thompson pass, appear to have snowcats, and are a fair bit cheaper than the other outfits ($675/day).

Originally Posted by Karl Stall

I don't know if you tried, but this subject has been discussed at length several times . vdz & akrendezvous, hands down, by the way. they're all good, though.

I've done a search or two but didn't really find anything comparing Girdwood and Valdez. Then again, the search function on this forum isn't the most discriminating. [Edit: I just found this helpful thread. I don't know why I didn't find it before.]

Rendezvous seems like a great outfit. But it's hard to tell from their website whether they offer single day sessions. But, they offer a local package of 2 nearby runs for $250, so you would think so. Ditto for VHSG. Thanks for the tip.

**Shredhead** · 02-16-2007, 09:23 AM

Theo will take you on a standby basis. You just have to show up and hang out until they find a spot for you.
It's also the closest Valdez place if your driving from ANC.

**BFD** · 02-16-2007, 11:38 AM

Never gone with CPG but with 4 different outfits in Valdez and Cordova. I am a little suspect of CPG in that they try to fill seats from the hotel.
My sons and I went with ABA last year. Thay overstated their vert by around 1000' which adds up when paying by the run. Everyone in our heli was looking for steeper saw no one getting it other than a private group. Also ABA likes to hit the road shots which shits on the people touring. We did not when we flew.
I'll recomend Rendevous, as I like the fact they bought ground and built a lodge. Also the area they fly is not as heavily used by the tourers.
I would recomend going early like the first week in March. Also early gives best chance for first tracks. The good thing about living here is you can go when the snow is good. If they have an empty seat and you have a credit card I'm sure you won't have any trouble getting out.

**wstdeep** · 02-17-2007, 08:52 PM

Heli skiing "the gnar" relies on a number of things coming together, ability, stability, group dynamics etc. A day shot at most operations is a tough throw of the dart if you want to hit it perfect. For sure your best bet is to find 3 others with the same goals and at least have your own group to eliminate the weak links in that chain. If you can monitor local conditions you can narrow down the stability issues. Now you have to find an operator/guide who is comfortable getting you on the good stuff.......that ain't gonna happen till they feel you out a bit, so that can be a bit tough on a day shot.

I've done a number of days w/CPG including 4 this past week, we flew 3 and did snowcat on the last. The cat terrain is really good with a number of places to get air, similar elevation to the resort, unfortunatly the bomber underlayers you have right now with only a 6-10" inch top layer really didn't give much encouragement to go big, and the soft top layer was only reasonably bonded so super steeps were pulling out and avoided. That said we had a great time ripping runs through the trees and dropping stuff up to about 15'.

For the money the cat can really deliver some fun. At about four days for the price of one it's a pretty good buy. If your thinking about CPG simply stop by the office and talk to Owens a bit and tell him what your looking for, he might be able to plug you into a group with similar plans if you can go on short notice. They certainly have some guides who can deal with that sort of a group......again they have to the right conditions and confidence in you as well. He might tell you they don't want to deal with someone hucking big stuff as the backcountry is no place to get badly hurt. No operation wants to pull the plug for the day on their whole operation to evac you out of the field if you screw up and get hurt bad. Pisses of all the other clients if some loose cannon goes where he wasn't suppossed to and augers in, not saying thats you, but it happens. Goes back to the guides having confidence in your abilty not to screw up in the first place. Film crews are another story, they rent the whole copter for days at a time, have multiple guides and saftey crew around and generally accept in advance that the sh^t might hit the fan and have contigency plans in place for just that.

Never been to Valdez so I can't offer an opinion there.

Hope you find what your looking for.....and come back in one piece when you do.

Good luck, have fun

**ak_powder_monkey** · 02-17-2007, 08:57 PM

go cat skiing

**Valdez_Skier** · 04-06-2011, 10:24 AM

if your thinking at all about cat skiing, you might as well just bring a sled down to the deez. you can session most of the pass off a machine. also there is stone mountain, and 19 mile mountain which are pretty easy access with good "chugach magic" most of the time, because it doesn't neerly get touched as much as the pass. also there are some fun cliffs to session.

**Imz** · 04-06-2011, 12:48 PM

Number one most important thing- Ability of the other people in your group!! Showing up as a single rider at a heli op can be a roll of the dice.

Subject has been hammered on before, but I've had a couple of epic trips with ABA.

ABA has transitioned ownership this season & a bunch of guides have changed, so I'm not sure I can recommend the current operation with the same passion- I'll probably explore other parts of AK on my next trip.

Powder Monkey Ops- Chugach

Imz' Heli Outfit Checklist

Heli Op Opinions

**Imz** · 04-06-2011, 12:52 PM

One other thing- If you only ski with an outfit for a single day, it might be a little harder to get into their signature terrain.

It seems to be a little bit of a relationship building exercise; as they get more comfortable with you, they take you to gnarlier terrain. Everyone starts off on mellow shit for shake down, and if you only have one day, every run becomes that much more important.

**ak_powder_monkey** · 04-06-2011, 03:24 PM

I just noticed you were looking at spending over $600 for a single day of heli skiing...

I'd recommend flying to Juneau next weekend for folk fest and Heli Skiing... first off folk fest is the best party in Alaska period. Second you pay per run in Juneau, and a really god day can be as little as $300 ( http://alaskapowder.com/ ) you won't be skiing stuff you can access via sled or long hiking (ala Gird/Valdez) and lastly if its still open Eaglecrest blows the doors off Alyeska in terms of terraine

so essentially you get to fly to Juneau, go to an epic party, heli ski, and have a sick ski area for the price of a day in valdez

**BGnight** · 04-06-2011, 04:43 PM

I showed up as a single with VHSG and split the day with two groups and two guides and had the best day of my life so YMMV.
I rode with Jeff Zell the first half and Doug Workman the second half and both are great guides. Working man's, no frills guides. They won't kiss your ass. They'll just get you on the goods if conditions warrant and your group is strong. I was lucky enough to get first group on N face and W face (gunbarrels) on Mt Dimond to end that day. Still have wet dreams about it! Don't show up in the morning though.
Go to ABA, VHSG, H2O, and tell them your situation the a day or two before you think it might go bluebird and make sure you have your orientation done with them (beacon search, breifing, etc...). Then call them and bug them and let them know you aren't afraid to spend $$$ if you can get on gnar. Be proactive and persistent imo.