March 2019 Heliskiing Conditions Report

March started out with a monster vertical week. Over 72,500m was skied at Bell 2 Lodge and Ripley Creek racked up over 63,000m. Under blue skies our crew descend into the distant lands, skiing perfectly preserved power from a late February storm cycle. March 2nd to 8th might go down as one of the best heli skiing weeks for snow stability in Last Frontier history and our guides seized the opportunity to ski some of the steepest lines [not pictured] in our tenure.

A Storm Arrives

A sudden storm front quickly rolled into our tenure in the second week of March. Over 80cm of fresh fell at Bell 2 Lodge, with Ripley Creek in Stewart receiving 60cm. The fresh POW allowed us to venture down into the trees, where we had some of the deepest days of the season. Skiing conditions ranged from Excellent to Wicked all week and our guests left with huge grins on their faces.

March 16th to 22nd proved to be more challenging with a warm cycle following the previous week’s monster storm. However, as the week progressed the skies cleared once again and spring-like temps allowed us to ski beautiful corn snow on solar aspects. Some serious goggle tans ensued.

Sun, Sun and More Sun

As we head into the final days of March, the sun continues to shine and offer up incredible opportunities to venture into seldomly skied areas of our heliski tenure. First descents are starting to become the norm this winter given the stable snowpack, excellent weather and adventurous guests. While temps have been unseasonably warm for the past two weeks [generally we don’t see this trend until late April], we are still able to find preserved power on high-altitude North aspects. Solar exposed slopes are skiing well too, with corn snow forming in the late mornings.

We now have two weeks left in our 2019 season. If you have plans to ski with us in 2020 or beyond, be sure to check in with us about availability.

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