Cat Skiing compared to Heli Skiing: Suggestions for both?

Heli sking is more of a high energy go go go kinda vibe while cat skiing due to the longer and quieter ride up has a different vibe, more conversation, more social than heli skiing in general.

Terrain is alway gonna be dictated by what they have and what nature lets you on.

Cats go when you cannot fly, one big advantage there.

Helis enable you to get probably two top three times the skiing in the same time.

In general cat runs are about 1500-2000 ft while an average heli run is about 3-4000ft.

Helis can access terrain the cats simply cannot get to.

Cats are a lot cheaper, but nothing beats riding around in the big mountains
in a heli.....nothing.

You can get a sucky group that holds you back on either but in an A-star with 4 buddies you can play that card by yourselves. Now a 212 with 10-12 people in BC is the same as a cat....random draw if you don't fill it yourself.

They both deliver a positive experience, cost difference is relative to the amount of skiing you'll get and how much cooler the heli is.

Heli experience at Wigglies, Diamond Peaks. Panarama and lots w/CPG
Cat at CPG only..... I've had some very good days there when we couldn't fly.

They both can deliver the day of your life....just depends on the day.

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Originally Posted by wstdeep

Heli sking is more of a high energy go go go kinda vibe while cat skiing due to the longer and quieter ride up has a different vibe, more conversation, more social than heli skiing in general.

Terrain is alway gonna be dictated by what they have and what nature lets you on.

Cats go when you cannot fly, one big advantage there.

Helis enable you to get probably two top three times the skiing in the same time.

In general cat runs are about 1500-2000 ft while an average heli run is about 3-4000ft.

Helis can access terrain the cats simply cannot get to.

Cats are a lot cheaper, but nothing beats riding around in the big mountains
in a heli.....nothing.

You can get a sucky group that holds you back on either but in an A-star with 4 buddies you can play that card by yourselves. Now a 212 with 10-12 people in BC is the same as a cat....random draw if you don't fill it yourself.

They both deliver a positive experience, cost difference is relative to the amount of skiing you'll get and how much cooler the heli is.

Heli experience at Wigglies, Diamond Peaks. Panarama and lots w/CPG
Cat at CPG only..... I've had some very good days there when we couldn't fly.

They both can deliver the day of your life....just depends on the day.

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We are still throwing around the heli idea, but we are seriously considering Mustang or Monshee for cat trips....Mustang's terrain looks SICK...

I've skied with both baldface and valhalla. Both can ski their terrain in any kind of winter weather. This December with Valhalla we had a gaper snowboarder who kept complaining that the terrain wasn't open enough for him. The rest of our crew, luckily, were locals who could rip. We skied amazing terrain the whole time. Pillows, cliffs, aprons, glades, bowls, you name it.



But I am no way near an expert when it comes to knowing about heli-skiing as I've never done it. Its kind of pricey on a teacher's salary. As is cat skiing but Catskiing is a little more doable. So you'll never see me on a Heli unless someone wants to be my benefactor.

the ONLY place to pay for heli in my opinion is AK. the scale of AK skiing is bigger than anywhere in the world. they fly you to places that are extremely hard to access, so you wont find a bunch of smelly hippies tracking out the hill before you get there as most lower 48 and BC heli ops farm pow and fly in places you can easily skin to on your own. the disadvantage to heli are down days. you could fly all the way to AK for a 5 day heli ski and only get in 2 or 3 days, but they'll be the best 2 or 3 days of your life.

cat skiing depends on the terrain accessed and the adventurous nature of the operators. Ive heard amazing things about chatter creek cat skiing in BC as far as sick terrain. the advantage to cat skiing is no down days for weather.

Shoot, I haven't done cat or heli. Just me and my skins for backcountry type terrain.

It seems as if heli skiing has turned into some all inclusive package deal rather than a 'show up and pay for a single ride' type of deal. Business-wise, that makes sense. Personally, I'd rather just plunk down cash for a lift to single big-ass scary line that I couldn't get myself when I know the conditions are right.

I guess it all comes down to knowing what you want and what you are willing to accept for terrain.

Yeah,i'd suggest you save your pennies and your heli-virginity until AK. Its only right.

I hate to say it but I agree with sledneck, I have alot of time in the helis and they are an expensive thirsty beast of a machine. For the price of travel, food, accomadation, and one day of heli skiing, you could purchase a decent sled and get many days of use out of it. Also you get to go wherever you want and don't have to worry about having a guide telling you where to ski(I hate snowfarming!). (disclaimer: If you have no avy experience and want to be safe go with a guide, they can take you to the goods and get you down safely.They are a great thing to have in unfamiliar territory)

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Originally Posted by powder11

they fly you to places that are extremely hard to access, so you wont find a bunch of smelly hippies tracking out the hill before you get there as most lower 48 and BC heli ops farm pow and fly in places you can easily skin to on your own.

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:eek: :eek: :) :)

I haven't done either but have been seriously contemplating doing either a heli or cat trip. In reading the comments of those who have done it, I'm a bit surprised to hear that there are a lot of gapers on the helis. What's the deal?Rich folks with too much money and time on corduroy at Deer Valley or Beaver Creek?

$$$ per vert is, or can be better on heli.

large, fast cat day = 15-20K ft

large fast heli day = 30-50K ft.

the terrain, speed, snow etc, will all be about the same, in the same terrain, same day.

you can only ski as fast as the slowest skier, and a steep as the guide thinks is safe for the group and the snow.

heli just gets you to the top faster for another round.

heli day = $600-1000/day

cat = $300-600/day

if you do standby it will be the low end of the price, and if you do acc'm food etc it will be the upper end

I'd add that you need time with an outfit before they'll take you into the shit... depends on their philosophy, the guide's impression of your abilities, and avy status. If you can only spring for a couple of days, might as well go wherever is getting good snow that year... Heli vs. Cat is not going to be the issue day one.

I've heli'd Chugach, Bugaboos, Rockies & Coast Range. Greatest diff was relationship I'd built with the outfit.

I 2nd the issue of slowest skiier; think hard about who you're with, and try and fill at least your lift with similar abilities.

Ask the outfit if they'll leapfrog you if you start catching up with the lift in front of you. Some will, some won't. I've spent a fair amount of time watching the group in front of us boarding their chopper... not optimal.

That said, it's sooooo much fun. You'll dig it the most.

I wouldn't necessarily say they cater to the weakest person. My guide was Jim Conway and we routinely went on stuff that was def testing the guy in the one piece. The guide always went down first and then we'd follow one by one in whatever order we wished,so you could ski as fast as you wanted,and absolutely NO farming at CPG's. There are so many variables though(weather,guide,company,terrain,group dynamics,etc)and its almost best not to think about. These factors will come into play WHEREVER you choose. You almost have to leave it up to the heli/cat powers that be. Oh,and they ask you beforehand what level skier you are and pair you accordingly. But there def is an element of, uh...filthy rich dudes. I wouldn't call em ALL gapers,alot of them could rip for being wealthy,older fellas. A lot of these guys only ski once a season and this is how they do it. A heli package.

But,i would never go to a place that made us farm pow. Who would wanna pay for that? Sounds like the cat may be the way you wanna go for this particular trip.

FWIW,I spent 850 and got the best day of my life. Soo good that i cancelled my cat trip the next day for the heli=the 2nd best day of my life.

I have been considering checking out this place.

A freind of mine got back from a week at Points North a few weeks ago. Due to weather she only got to ski one day out of the week. She said it was the best day ever, but she didn't exactly like spending a few Gs for one day of skiing and five days of dodgeball.

I've never been to Island Lake Lodge, but I would imagine that anyplace Scot Schmidt is part of the ownership has some gnar terrain.

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Originally Posted by Plakespear

A freind of mine got back from a week at Points North a few weeks ago. Due to weather she only got to ski one day out of the week. She said it was the best day ever, but she didn't exactly like spending a few Gs for one day of skiing and five days of dodgeball.

I've never been to Island Lake Lodge, but I would imagine that anyplace Scot Schmidt is part of the ownership has some gnar terrain.

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Well Island Lake owns Powder Cowboy, and I wasn't really impressed with the latter. Terrain was modest in elevation, and therefore vulnerable to the weather issues that plague nearby Fernie. The steeps were fun, but short. A relatively low % of the terrain faced within 45 degrees of due N.

As much as I didn't like their co-owner at the time, Valhalla was way, way better. Now that Lindsay is (I think) gone and Martin is still there, I'd be psyched to return. Even better, they are now teamed with a heli-op so you can get in a day on the heli if the conditions are right - low risk, high reward.

Bump for any more advice

This is all great...

We are going to Cat trip this one, and we are deciding between Mustang And Monashee...

I may as well throw this out....we have four guys going, trying to get in the second week of January....

If I get 8 more, we get an entire cat to ourselves....

Maybe this should be changed to a MAGGOT CAT SUMMIT???

Any interest?