Their clients paying thousands of dollars to ski road runs on Thompson Pass that the average ski tourer can get to the top of in an hour. Violating their BLM permit by skiing in close proximity to other parties. Skiing above other parties in big avalanche terrain.
Thompson Pass (near Valdez, Alaska) is an incredible outdoor recreation destination. It’s truly world-class.
Unfortunately, non-motorized ski tourers (and even sled-accessed skiers and snowboarders) have been experiencing negative encounters with irresponsible, unethical heli-ski operators for years.
I’ve been rotor-washed (by the now defunct Alaska Snowboard Guides) while climbing a 50º slope up the Worthington Glacier. They definitely knew I was there from a previous flyover. No excuses.
On the day this video was taken Valdez Heli Ski Guides (VHSG) skied above and around me and multiple other non-motorized, non-commercial parties.
The average ski tourer can get to the top of these runs in an hour from the Richardson Highway. VHSG guides and clients skied down along the uptrack (directly above other parties in big avalanche terrain). At one point, a guide stopped to explain to another party that they weren’t in danger because avalanche conditions were “safe.”
In this video you can see the helicopter landing on the skintrack within a few hundred yards of the highway!
Not only is this behavior unfair to non-motorized user groups, it’s unfair to motorized-access skiers and snowboarders and even other Alaskan heli-ski operators.
VHSG regularly tracks out terrain popular with both non-moto and moto-assisted skiers and snowboarders, like Cracked Ice: less than a two hour tour, or 15 minute snowmobile ride, to the summit from the road.
No other heli-ski operator in the state has access, or is permitted, to operate in terrain so close to their base in such a way as to degrade the experience of other users groups.
Undue regulations suck. After all, this is America: Land of the Free. An ethical culture, with an etiquette of respect for other user groups and the common public resource, is hands-down preferable to government-imposed regulations. In lieu of regulations, I hope raising awareness of the unethical and unsafe behavior of certain heli-ski operations in this area can bring about positive change for a better experience for all user groups.
Is the partnership between carbon gluttonous VHSG and Protect Our Winters a joke?
29 сен 2024