Did you know that Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing Guides are also qualified Ski Instructors? Not only are you safely toured through the mountains and the best powder lines by your guides, but they are also providing continual advice to bring your powder skiing to a greater level. Skiing or boarding in powder can be more strenuous than resort skiing. However, with preparation, training and the right equipment, your day of heliskiing or heliboarding will be the rewarding experience you expect. Tune in monthly for techniques and tips that will make you stronger powder hound. Then, put those skills to practice in the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains of Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing.
Back in the early 1980s, when heliskiing was still in its infancy, Mike had been travelling to Europe and talking to ski manufacturers about having a fatter softer more powder friendly ski developed. Everything used up until that time had some short coming: too soft for all conditions, too long for trees, to narrow to give good float... you get the idea. Of course, Mike wasn't about to settle for "almost Ok" of "sort of good". He wanted more and he knew that the key to injury prevention, more vertical and opening up heliskiing to include more than just experts, was a more user friendly ski. Ski design and manufacturing tends to be very costly and often provides low return for that investment. As Mike was finding, his desire to have a true powder ski design was proving difficult. Enter Atomic. Long time friend Rupert Huber of Atomic was interested. There may not have been a financial windfall at the end of this endeavour, but like Mike, Rupert believed that current powder ski design left much to be desired. After meeting in Europe, Mike headed back to Canada to get ready for the heliski season. Rupert had assured him he would bring the ultimate powder ski for him later in the year. When Rupert and Atomic did arrive in Blue River, as promised, they had with them a radical new powder ski. Mike took one look and told Rupert no one will ever use this ski. It was fat, really fat. The dimensions where unheard of at 133-115-122. The fattest of skis up to that point had run around 85 to 90cm. “No way”, Mike said, “anyone would ever even consider this ski”. Rupert asked Mike to just give them a chance. A few weeks went by. The ski shop continued to bring this monstrosity to Mike's heli pad. Everyday Mike loaded them in the basket at the beginning of the day and didn't pull them out again until the end of the day. This routine repeated itself over and over for several days. Mike had a special group of hard charging vertical hounds show up for their yearly attempt at the most weekly vertical. Mike noticed that this year they looked to be in particularly good shape! Day 1 56000'. day 2' 64000' day 3...one more run, everyone was feeling their legs. One more run thought Mike. He unloaded the basket and noticed that fat powder of skis sitting there as they had been every day, on every run since Rupert had left them with Mike. "well, I suppose I can try these for one run. Rupert did bring them all way from Europe" thought Mike. As he worked quickly to get off the pad before someone noticed his giant skis, he realized he was floating, moving effortlessly through deep wind pressed powder. " Come on. Follow me. " Mike called to the group. One turn, 2 turns " ha these skis aren't bad" he thought, 3 turns, 12 turns, 25 turns..."holy s#*%, these skis are incredible"..." wow I better stop". When everyone arrived, panting, tired from another day over 50 000', Mike knew theses skis where something special. And the first fat powder ski was born. The Atomic Powder Plus "Fat Boy". This past month, we were fortunate to host Atomic Canada here in Blue River for a little product testing. I sat down with Business Director Kyle McCarthy of Atomic and film a discussion on their new product line. The clip is around 20 minutes long, so grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy.
Tim McLean - Senior Lead Guide CSIA Level 3, CSGA Level 3
Click on the title to download the Ski Tip PDF.
TREEESKIING Dec 2011 - "To get this much snow means that it snows often and a lot. This generally means that we spend most of our time tree skiing..."
DRINK, SKI, PEE -REPEAT Dec 2011 - "It’s amazing how many people ignore the simple basic necessity of hydration when they are heli skiing..."
STAYING STEADY ON THE STEEPS Nov 2011 - "Getting into significantly steep terrain requires good stability (a must), quality snow and sound ski technique."
PREPPING IT UP Nov 2011 - "Now is the perfect time to get prepped for your ski week with a few turns at your local ski area. A lot of what we practice on the groomed can easily be used in powder skiing..."
KEEPING IT FRESH Oct 2011 - "This spawned a generation of fat skis as now every manufacturer produces several variety of fat skis and some produce nothing but powder orientated skis."
A SKI GUIDE'S SUCCESS TO KEEPING FIT Aug 2011 - " Andy is a seriously fit guy and competes in both single and multi-day bike races..."
HIT THE SLOPES THIS SUMMER May 2011 - "That‘s right, summer is no time to stop skiing. Adding a ski week in the summer is the perfect win-win. You still maintain the ski form you perfected all winter and you increase your time on snow."
SPRING (POWDER) BREAK March 2011 - "Unending fields of powder, vistas that never end, and runs with 200 or even 300 turns are the highlight of spring skiing in Blue River. To get through these runs successfully, requires more than leg fitness and perfect ski technique..." THE FUN PHILOSOPHY March 2011 - "The whole point of giving pointers is to make skiing more fun. By continually improving our skiing we can get more enjoyment of our time in the snow." FRANKIE SAYS "RELAX" February 2011 - "...Instead of trying to manufacture or create the un-weighting of his skis, I suggested relaxing and controlling the transitions between each turn. Let energy build through the turn and move to establish balance, speed control and rhythm..." STRETCH FOR SUCCESS January 2011 - "Flexibility exercises should focus on static or very slow stretching. To be effective, flexibility training must incorporate an element of overload. This can be achieved by:..." BOARDING POW : TIPS FROM BLUE RIVER EXPERTS January 2011 - “Unweighting is as important in snowboading as it is in skiing. In order to make proficient powder turns, you need to push into each turn then release the pressure and allow the board to rise up at the end of the turn. " ATOMIC REP DISCUSSES THIS SEASON'S POWDER STICKS January 2011 - In this video we were able to talk with Product & Marketing Coordinator, Jake Strassburger, from Atomic USA during his visit on what makes a few of the Atomic skis powder-worthy. DON'T LET YOUR ROCKERS RUIN YOUR STYLE December 2010 - "...utilizing the performance characteristics of rockered skis to move into the fall line efficiently with a quiet upper body in all types of terrain and snow..." TIPS FROM JOHN CREWS December 2010 - "...John’s story is an interesting one...I sat down with John after dinner the other night and picked his brain about the past, present and future of skiing." POWDER SKIING:THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY November 2010 - "As better ski construction and ski design has offered improved performance and a shorter learning curve, many skiers have become lazy." KEEP THE KNEE INJURY-FREE October 2010 - "So what can be done to help our knee joint and prevent injury? There are a few different facets that will help in this regard. Let’s consider flexibility, strength, pre-skiing warm up and good ski technique." THE ROCKERS ARE COMING! September 2010 - "There are a variety of rocker designs from extreme tip and tail rocker to minimal tip only designs. The bottom line to this design is that rockered skis employ a pre bend in the skis similar to a rocking chair."