Rob's Heli Day

Our lift for the day...
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Right, this is actually my first piece of writing on this blog, so you may notice a couple of style changes, spelling mistakes etc, but i thought it was worth writing a bit about my 30th Birthday present Heli day!

After checking into the Alyeska hotel and riding a surprise powder day on the Friday where we got some great first tracks in Alyeska resort, rumors were it was supposed to be clear for Saturday, (my flying day) but to be honest it didn't look too good (you need clear weather for the Helicopter to fly) so i was very excited to get up at 6:30 on Saturday to clear blue skies - especially awesome since the previous 5 days had all been canceled

The Ship leaving us at the top of another awesome run
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Not normally being a morning person made me a touch anxious about missing the 7:30 am meet, but I need not have worried - it was like Christmas morning when you're 5 - awake and excited very early.  The excitement and some nervousness continued as we had our safety briefing and tranciever training - it makes you think a bit about the avalanche risk when they make you practice and pass a test before you go!!  With all that done i had an hour and a half till the off and couldn't sit still - it seemed to take forever.  On the bus to the hangar, the same sort of nervous excitement seemed to be with everyone - it didn't really stop for me until we were crouched on the ground with the helicopter landing next to us for the first lift.

View from the window - not really done justice in the picture, but the trip would be worth it for the views alone
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kneeling waiting for the "Bird", there was so much wind generated by the rotors it was unreal - the snowboards had to be held down to prevent them being blown away.  After clambering into the back and the guide loading all the gear,  we were off, and it was truly awesome - not only the helicopter but also the fact that it was taking me to the top of a huge mountain to ride down.

The first landing gave a good impression of the pilot's skill level.  We touched down and got out in an area about as big as 2 car park spaces on top of a cornice.  I swear the guy could park with more accuracy than I could in a car (no comments about my driving)  after strapping in, the guide said something along the lines of "OK, we're going this way, there's a bit of a drop to start with, give me a 50 meters and then follow"

View over Turnagain Arm - not a bad backdrop for a day's snowboarding
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So - faced with a 6 foot ice cliff to start the day - just what i needed - i dropped in and that was that!  Going was pretty hard for the first few hundred meters, but we soon found a good stash of fresh stuff, and aside from a bit of avalanche rubble towards the bottom of one run, that was what we stayed on all day - big grin. We pulled in 4 runs in the morning, then settled down for a great lunch and a bit of a rest!!

We tried a run called "Reef" in the afternoon.  I cant really begin to describe how good this was but, with about a thousand meters vertical of total fresh then a 5 min wait for a helicopter to pick you up and repeat - those of you who ski or ride will know what i mean i think...

Loading up
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After 7 runs total we called it a day and headed back to the heli hangar for a well earned beer.

I don't think the photos do justice to how good the day was so I thoroughly suggest you give it a try.  Even if this means a while of saving up it will be worth it - It's even making me contemplate that dreaded W word (work) so i can afford to do it again!

Just remains to say thanks V for the most amazing birthday present!