Holiday adventures - heliboarding

Slightly scared but ready for the first run of the season.

This is where we sat for lunch. Not too bad, huh?

The view from 2400 metres. We could see Mt Cook in the distance.
Incredible.

The real purpose behind our NZ holiday was to do some heliboarding. A had been wanting to do it for ages and we figured we ought to do it before we have kids. I will no doubt feel less inclined to head off into avalanche territory once we do. So off we went. After a week of bad weather and wind we were finally good to go. Our first two days were with Methven Heliski who were fantastic. They were organised, friendly, dealt well with differing skill levels in the groups and made an absolutely delicious picnic lunch.  

For the uninitiated (sorry if I'm stating the obvious), heliboarding, as we did it, means climbing into a helicopter with a guide, being flown to the top of a mountain and then boarding down to a point where helicopter can pick you up. Repeat. The guide checks the safety of the slope and goes down first taking the biggest part of the risk and also picking the best lines to follow to get the best snow.

I was a bit intimidated by the whole idea and I'll admit that at the top of the first run I had a few frozen-with-fear-sh*t-that's-steep-I-can't-do-this moments. I was the only girl and all the guys had been talking up the places they'd been and the powder they'd skied in (as they do). Then the guy before me fell over. I felt so much better. That sounds cruel, but the snow was so soft it might as well have been cotton wool - I saw that he was fine and figured I would be to. So, with the fear gone, I was off. It was incredible. The snow was so deep and soft and quiet - none of that on-piste, icey, scraping sound. You felt like you were floating and gliding rather than slipping and sliding. At one point, our guide stuck a probe into the snow to see how deep it was. The probe was 2 metres and it went all the way in. Wow.

We boarded past the remains of a glacier, into wide bowls, down valleys with steep walls of rock and snow. The boys were in it for the adrenaline, to go fast and to try and hit that jump. I just enjoyed cruising along and checking out the scenery.  It was definitely the highlight of the holiday. And for the non-skiers, if you are in NZ get on one of the helicopter scenic flights as the views really are amazing. 

Before we went some one told us that it we liked Tasmania we'd enjoy NZ as it is similar but on a grander scale. They also said that if we liked NZ, we should go to Canada and it's similar to NZ but on a grander scale again. I think we'll have to start saving for a Canada trip sometime in the future!