Heli, Cat or Hiking to your terrain?

[RIDEr]

Which do you prefer?

Now, the easy \ simple answer is to choose Heli.... HOWEVER, maybe you like to earn your turns and hike. OR, believe that Cat track skiing brings you to enough good terrain.

Personally, I have only had the opportunity to Cat and Hike looking for the opportunity to Heli ski in the upcoming season. My girlfriend had the enjoyment of heli skiing in British Columbia and not only enjoyed the terrain loved the ride. Overall, I think each brings you to different terrain... that's not the question. Each has a great benefit for every skier to boarder.

When you provide your answer, where is the best place you have been doing it? My debating over next year already and trying to determine whether to Heli in Alaska (BIG MONEY, BIG TRIP), head back out to Wolf Creek in Colorado and Cat or go back to Jackson Hole and hike.... difficult decisions, but somebody has to make them.

 

[riverc0il]

This question's choices don't quite add up as very fair. I chose Hiking for two reasons:

A) I have never Heli or Cat skied so I have no basis to make a fair judgement.
B) Heli and Cat skiing are WAY too expensive for my budget regardless of pow potential.

I guess Heli and Cat skiing fall into the realm of "gotta try that at least once before I die." Not exactly something I am drolling over wanting to try. Nothing wrong with doing it the old fashion way and saving a small fortune for one day of skiing.

 

[skibum1321]

This question's choices don't quite add up as very fair. I chose Hiking for two reasons:

A) I have never Heli or Cat skied so I have no basis to make a fair judgement.
B) Heli and Cat skiing are WAY too expensive for my budget regardless of pow potential.

I guess Heli and Cat skiing fall into the realm of "gotta try that at least once before I die." Not exactly something I am drolling over wanting to try. Nothing wrong with doing it the old fashion way and saving a small fortune for one day of skiing.

I am with river on this one - it's just not in my budget to drop $3k on a week of heli-skiing. So my vote will also go to hiking since it is my only viable option and the only thing I've done.

 

[Marc]

I agree with the above sentiments. Heli skiing, while a nifty idea, just doesn't seem like a good return on my money at the moment. But again, I've never heli skied, and I've never cat skied.

I sort of like the idea of a backcountry trip involving snowmobiling to your peak, climbing and skiing the peak, and snowmobiling back. Not only could you access remote, relatively untracked (by skiers) terrain, but snowmobiling is damn fun in its own right.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I am with river on this one - it's just not in my budget to drop $3k on a week of heli-skiing. So my vote will also go to hiking since it is my only viable option and the only thing I've done.

$3k per week is on the cheap side from people I know who have done it. I know one guy who goes every year to BC and he says it's more like $5k. Must be nice.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I've never hiked for turns, it's not that I'm against the idea, but most of my friends don't do it. In recent years there are a couple of guys I've met who do sometimes, so maybe someday.

I've never helied, but hope to some day.

I've cat skied once at Cooper, it's free there.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

I think or most of us, heli and cat skiing are really not in the budget for anything more than a very special occation.

Back in March, I was fortunate enough to be able to squeeze in a trip to Jackson Hole (thanks, in part, to a voucher from American Airlines for the priveledge of them loosing my luggage and ruining a trip last summer.)

We has originally looked into Heli skiing one day with High Mountain Heli. At $700+/day, it was out of our league. I searched around and narrowed it down to Brundage or Grand Targhee for Cat Skiing.

With the travel time factor and the a discount for filling the cat, we went to Grand Targhee. Still, this came to $270/person for the day. By the time we figured in the tip, it was almost $300.

Did we get tons of untracked all day long? Yes. Did we al have a blast? Yes. Will I do it again? Maybe someday. It's a great experience, and I can only imagine that Heli gives you more options for terrain.

I enjoy hiking/skinning a lot. For the money of a day of cat skiing, I can pay for a season's worth of fuel to get me up to some BC terrain.

 

[JimG.]

I've done all 3:

Heliskiing in Portillo, Chile: undoubtedly expensive, but I'd already dropped a load of cash just going to Portillo, so it didn't seem to matter as much. $350 got me 3 runs on first descents on peaks right next to Aconcagua, at almost 23,000 feet the tallest peak in the western hemisphere. It was POW and skiing heaven and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Cat skiing in Wolf Creek: it may seem silly to do since Wolf Creek gets so much snow, but this is a nice way to get away from the crowds and get some untracked snow fields for little effort. This was not as thrilling as heliskiing, or as comfortable in my opinion, but it was cheaper and still tons of fun. Some of the Cats nowadays are like RV's regarding comfort.

Hiking (mostly around Hunter and the MWV, but anywhere will do fine): cheapest, best workout, more fun when with a group because when money is involved, the skiing is more like a powder frenzy than a group event. In addition, hiking for turns seems more satisfying because it is free, but also because every turn you make was earned through personal effort.

I didn't vote because I couldn't honestly decide which of the 3 I like most.

 

[ga2ski]

I hike as I can't afford the heli or cat skiing

 

[AdironRider]

Just got into the hiking thing this year with my first venture into Tucks, definately something Im going to do more often. Heli Skiing would be money though.

 

[Beartrap]

Can't afford Heli, or cat, and I am too lazy to hike. Not to go off topic but I prefer the chairlift or surface lift for my skiing(which was nill this past winter due to finances and a wedding next year)

 

[Geoff]

Heli-skiing rules. I just wish I could afford to do it more often. My one experience cat skiing, I found you didn't get all that much vertical considering you were out from dawn 'til dusk and you spend 2/3 of your time trapped in a humid cabin with gigantic diesel noise. I only earn my turns when there's no other way to get up the hill.