The Purcell Range
Every powder skier dreams about hopping in a helicopter and flitting up to the top of a snow covered peak, only to step into their bindings and slash turns in perfect snow all the way to the valley floor. I’ll admit, I knew I was going to go heli skiing at some point in my life, but with a meager income from raft guiding during the summer months and living out of my van to cut corners on bills, I didn’t expect my first flight to happen anytime soon.
Thanks to the Powder Highway, my first flight in a ‘bird’, as it’s known in the industry, came much sooner than I could ever wish for. On January 19th, 2010, with recent snowfall and decent conditions in the backcountry, I found myself driving East on the Trans-Canada Highway towards the Purcell Helicopter Skiing heli-plex near Golden. Only a ten minute drive from Golden’s city center, Purcell Heli is a good option for skiers visiting nearby Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and looking for some untouched powder turns.
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