Heli Skiing in New Zealand
It had always been a dream of ours to one day go Heli Skiing. It was therefore no surprise that when we had been on a ski holiday in Wanaka New Zealand for over a week with almost no snow, we started to make enquiries about how much it would cost to access some of New Zealand's greatest ski terrain. To our surprise the prices were not as crazy as we expected. I mean, we had flown from Australia to New Zealand for some powder & so far all we had encountered was bullet proof ice. What was a few extra $ to make the trip worth while & cure our powder cravings.
Our first day began with a leisurely drive out of town to the Backcountry Heli farm. There we formed our groups & made our way to base camp. We took the option to drive to base & then get the heli ride on the way home. From base camp we embarked on our first heli drop. This was my first time in a heli and I could not hold back my excitement. Our guide Chris picked out a peak & we all listened intently at the top to the various safety instructions. At this time he also pointed out the storm that was fast rolling in and advised us we would need to get out of here fairly quickly! With the adrenaline pumping through me I made my first decent. For the first drop our guide didn't want us to vere too far from his tracks so I stayed close to the left side of the previous track. Unfortunately for me I was forth to drop & that meant that I was further from the guides track than I should have been, but the snow was phenomenal & the turns unbelievable! In the distance I could see James & our guide up higher than me and that meant I was in a gully. The light was very flat so I could not make out the rise in the snow ahead of me, only that the others were higher. I wanted to make sure I made it up the rise & not hold anyone up by boot packing it. So I went for it, full pace. Turned out the little rise was the equlivant of a quarter pipe & I launched myself off . My legs were certainly not ready for the G-force & I impacted my mouth crushing my front teeth & cutting my snowboard pants & legs. I felt dazed by the knock to the head & hoped my teeth were still there, but then I tasted blood. James and Chris came rushing over & confirmed that I had managed to knock out my front left tooth. I was devastated but in the end I couldn't do anything up there on the mountain and the only way out was to snowboard down to the launch where the heli could reach us. So that's what we did. By this stage my mouth was totally numb & the adrenaline was pumping through me. It was an epic ride down & we arrived at the heli with no further incident.
The storm was rolling through at a rapid pace & the decision was made to take a break down at base camp, have some lunch & wait to see what the weather brought. When I had first booked this tour I mentioned to the reservation agent that I required a Gluten Free Lunch. I was therefore very pleased when they were handing out the lunches that my Gluten Free Chicken Salad arrived. Only problem now was that I couldn't eat anything with my broken teeth!
After lunch the decision was made to call off the rest of the day due to bad weather & reschedule for 2 days time when the weather improved. I would have ridden all day with my broken teeth, but I certainly was not complaining about postponing for 2 days.
The snow continued to fall in the alpine for the following two days. I made an emergency trip to the dentist & we spent the other day sightseeing in Queenstown where I have to tell you we had the best Gluten Free polenta fries. To this day it is still the best breakfast I have ever had, gluten free or not - poached eggs with bacon & polenta fries complimented by a deliciously creamy latte.
The next day we woke to a beautiful sunny day & 20cm of fresh snow in the alpine. This time our heli skiing went without a hitch & I was able to enjoy my Gluten Free lunch on the snow surrounded by towering mountain peaks. We had orginially signed up for just 5 runs, but were having such a good time we signed up for 2 more. It was the best decision as the last 2 runs were down 35 & 45 degree shoots with boot deep powder. We definitely had our adrenaline fix & were happy to call it a day & enjoy the magestic heli ride home.