The History of Last Frontier Heliskiing

2015 marked the 20^th anniversary of operations for Last Frontier Heliskiing. 20 years of adventures, growth, smiles and improvements have made them one of the premier heli-ski ops in the world – boasting smaller groups (groups of 5 for 2015/2016 and dropping down to groups of 4 for 2017) than their top competitors. As is true in our own lives, it’s important to know where we came from (our history, lessons learned, ski outfit choices that should never be made again) in order to truly appreciate where we are, so warm up your coffee, grab a holiday cookie and settle in as we take a look back at the history of Last Frontier Heliskiing.

1968 – Herb Bleuer, a mountain guide from Switzerland, was hired to complete avalanche control work for the Grand Duc Mine near Stewart, BC. In his free time, he ski-toured around the area and explored the mountains, lines and valleys in the area. After his stint working for the Mine, he guided for several heli-ski operations throughout British Columbia.

1994 – Through Herb’s tales about the amazing terrain near Stewart, Last Frontier founders (George Rosset, Franz Fux, Mike Watling and Geoff Straight) decide to explore the area for themselves to see if it could be a good area for a heli-ski operation. They discovered a prime staging area for their op – Bell 2 Lodge – a lodge that was built in 1979 for people traveling to and from Alaska.

1996 – Using a single A-Star heli, Last Frontier Heliskiing spends eight weeks exploring the terrain available to them. They take along TGR to document the first descents and now accessible (for Last Frontier Heliskiing) mountains and terrain. This footage would end up being used in their movie Re: Session.

1997-2003 – From small traveler’s lodge to full-on heli-ski village, Bell 2 is transformed into a beautiful mountain paradise.

2005 – Last Frontier establishes another heli-skiing area in the small community of Stewart, BC. This new area (known as Ripley Creek) is explored and established by lead guides George Feitzinger and Andre Ike.

2008 – Last Frontier heliskiing makes it mandatory that all guests be issued avalanche airbags – one of the first operators in the heliski industry to do so.

2010 – Bell 2 Lodge adds a third helicopter to their fleet, bumping guest capacity to 35.

2013 – The common facilities (the dining room and gift shop) at Bell 2 Lodge are renovated and modernized.

2014 – Franz Fux and George Rosset give-up their stakes in the company – Franz stays on as Director of Ops and George’s role as Managing Partner is succeeded to Mike Watling.

2015 – Last Frontier Heliskiing turns 20 years old! High five for that killer history lesson!

As Last Frontier Heliskiing embarks on their 21^st year (for those Americans out there, this is always a rather exciting one), they step forward with excitement – remembering their history, but focusing on the moment, and always having an an eye on the future. What will the next 5, 10, 20 years bring, you may ask? More… much, much more.