Experiencing Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing’s new heli-hiking adventure

In July, I got a hot ticket invite to experience Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing’s new summer heli hiking tours, joining three helicopter-loads of local media people for a three-hour hike in the alpine.

Guides Jeff Honig and Emma Mains treated to us to a great breakfast at Revelation Lodge at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, before meeting up for the weigh-in and safety briefing. Soon we were being whisked off from the helipad at the Revelstoke Mountain Resort village.

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Selkirk Tangiers is a pioneer in heli-skiing, and started operations here in 1978. But this is their first season offering heli-hiking. Their operation is integrated with Revelstoke Mountain Resort, so they can offer the before and apres amenities available at the resort.
The tour is one in a range of products offered this summer, including helicopter sightseeing flights, heli-assisted alpine picnics, heli glacier trekking and some heli-accessed mountain biking.

A panaroma of the ridge line near Ghost Peak. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer

When we went, Selkirk Tangiers had been offering the trips for under a week. Our guide, Jeff Honig, who is the operations manager at Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing, explained their new 50,000-acre summer tenure fits with new thinking for backcountry recreation tenures. Instead of the giant blocks of yesteryear, their new summer tenure is more selected, broken up a bit more into areas charted out for specific uses.

After lifting off, we headed down the the Columbia River Valley past Mount Mackenzie and took a left before Mount Cartier, settling onto a rocky ridge after about a 10-minute flight.

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Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer

We landed at the bottom of a long, rolling rock ridge, huddling beneath the helicopter as it lifted off to collect the next group.

It was the peak of the July wildfire smoke, so visibility was limited to about 150 kilometres, dampening the usually endless views.

For three hours, we walked over barren rocks, through early summer wildflowers, over patches of remaining corn-snow and up a couple of slightly scrambly bits towards our goal. There were a few slightly exposed spots, and you had to take care not to rain rocks down on the hikers behind you in a couple places. But other than that, there isn’t anything that anyone who enjoys a brisk hike can’t handle.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a great viewspot above alpine lakes at the foot of Ghost Peak, an imposing, dome-shape monolith of rock that pokes out from the valley below. From hundreds of feet above, the melting ice shelves looked like drifting icebergs as we ate wraps, sandwiches and baking provided by our guides. Nice!

Time for some more bug spray and the second half of the hike. We continued up the slightly more challenging slopes near the top as one of the hottest days of July got even hotter.

We inspected a few old grizzly digs, and wondered if the bear or the marmot won the battle of wills and frantically burrowing claws.

The pumice texture of the rocks clawed at my runners. Our long, looping, L-shaped route kept the sun at our backs all day, causing a few burns.

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Approaching the top. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer

The rich, deep clovey aroma of the ground cover intermingled with the metal-heavy smell of weatherbeaten boulders. Every now and then, a whiff of wildflowers. I even caught the smell of watermelon algae in the snow — sometimes called blood snow. The Chlamydormonas nivalis algae shows up as pink streaks on the snow, and just plain smells like watermelon.

Alpine wildflowers often reside together in groups. Our alpine route didn’t have the same floral density as the sub-alpine meadows, but there were communities of mountain arnica, purple sub-alpine daisies, red paintbrushes, sitka valerians, all mingling together in photogenic patches.

Be careful not to tread on the ancient patches of moss phlox! The colonies of tiny, ground-hugging purple flowers take many years to mature. A carelessly-placed hiking boot could set them back years.

The entry-level peak we hiked to offered great views of Ghost Peak, Mt. Mackenzie and Mt. Cartier behind us. Like all mountain peaks, it offers 360-degree views of the alpine lakes, snowfields, valleys and cloud vistas beyond, and it’s amazing up there.

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The media crew takes some snapshots as the helicopter picks up the first batch. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer

Again, we huddled in groups as the warm wash of the helicopter flushed down on us. The ride home was equally beautiful, flying between the alpine peaks and over the flooding Columbia River flats.

The big group hike was fun, and worth the splurge. If your office has a healthy social budget, it would be a great bonding day, with lots of opportunities for mixing and chatting as you hike. Like I mentioned, Selkirk Tangiers also offers heli-mountaineering, even for beginners. The service people were asking about most were the mountain bike drops, also available.

Honig explained they were on day six of year one of their summer tours, so it was all pretty new. They have more tours planned for the future, including expanded offerings.
And back at the Rockford Lounge, they treated us to food and pints of beer (but not until after I chugged three pints of water — it was well over 35 Celsius by the afternoon). The drinks and snacks were another nice touch!

Thanks everyone at Selkirk Tangiers and Revelstoke Mountain Resort for the invite!

To learn more about Selkirk Tangiers summer heli adventures, visit their dedicated webpage for Summer Heli Adventures.

And remember, in life you most regret the things you don’t do.