Skiing and Sustainability: Our Respect for the Local Landscape
A snowflake settles on the outstretched arm of a tree, a beam of sun wrestles through the tangled understory, and a family of mountain goats travels silently through the deep snow. This is an everyday occurrence out in the mountain environment that Last Frontier Heliskiing’s Bell 2 lodge is nestled in. The Skeena and Coastal Mountain ranges are home to a delicately balanced environment that includes weather variables, changing climates and a few four-legged friends…
As is the case with any remote backcountry skiing operation, there are a lot of conditions at play that determine when and where the best possible skiing is. At Last Frontier Heliskiing, those determinants are: weather, snowfall, the previous evening’s wine consumption, and mountain goats. What? Yes. Mountain goats.
Last Frontier Heliskiing has worked with local groups and conservancy industry professionals to implant a strategy to work with the local landscape in a way that honours and sustains it. One of the most important tenets of this multi-pronged approach has been to support and assist in funding the mountain goat tracking programs that carry out research in the areas that we ski in. This allows us to give back to sustaining the mountains that we garner so much joy from, as well as contribute to the animal inhabitants’ care and sustainability. Essentially, by tracking the movements and habits of the mountain goats, we can plan our ski program to work around their natural cycles, leaving them undisturbed in their day-to-day movements and seasonal migrations.
Every skier will agree that having a deep appreciation and respect for nature is an integral part of the passion for the sport. Last Frontier Heliskiing takes great care in ensuring that the natural state and beauty of these incredible mountains is upheld, as our great reverence for the environment and its inhabitants; whether it be people, animals or vegetation. We do our absolute best to uphold a positive relationship with the local landscape by ensuring that there is nothing unnatural left behind and that the movements are made from zone to zone with the care of the mountains at the forefront of our decisions. Is it a bit selfish to want the snow to fall every year and the seasons to continue to beautifully cycle so that we can keep skiing powder?
On the flights in and out of the Bell Irving River Valley, in which the Bell 2 lodge is located, there are often sightings of moose and deer, languidly exploring the riverbanks. Wolves and wolverines are also kicking around, but they are much sneakier and harder to spot. Of course, the helicopter flying overhead changes the oratory experience of these animals, but sometimes it’s as if the moose are less excited by us than we are by them. Keep your eyes peeled: it’s a real life version of a Planet Earth: Canadian Wilderness IMAX experience.
We aim to ski in the mountains, but ultimately leave them undisturbed and unaffected. Last Frontier Heliskiing has no interest or aim in changing the way that the natural cycles occur out here; in fact, we want to seamlessly become a part of those cycles and work together to sustain them.