Canada & Alaska - Need Help

I’ve got a decision to make and need help making it.  I’m heading over to Canada in March to stay with my mate in Silverstar.  I have never been to Canada or Alaska before.  I’ll be there for a total of 4 weeks and I have two options:

OPTION 1 - head over early March and ride Silverstar for 4 weeks including road trips to Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, Big White etc.

OPTION 2 - head over mid March, ride Silverstar and do a few road trips for the first 2 1/2 weeks, then do a road trip to Alaska and do some heli-boarding until my 4 weeks are up.

What option should I go for?  I’ve heard that the drive to Alaska could take up to 5 days and there may be a wait for the right conditions for heli, so I’d be doing less boarding if I go with option 2.  Is Alaska worth risking a week and a half of boarding?  It really comes down to the question ‘do I want to get more boarding done, or do I want to experience Alaska?’.  At the moment I can’t answer this question.

Thoughts please.  Thanks.

My vote….

You will always get an opportunity to board…. but how many opportunities to Heli in Alaska!...?

Heli skiing in AK is my dream.

Hell Yeah…........... Heli, Heli, Heli…...........

A sounds sensible. B sounds epic! I’m with the other guys, as good as option 1 would be, heli in AK blows everything else out of the water.

Can you do both options for a fairly similar price?

I think time not money is the problem.

sitting around alaska waiting for the right conditions to heli eats up days he could be on snow elsewhere. Also the drive would take a bit of time.

but you are going for a month. Its not like it is either a week at one resort or a week in Alaska hoping that conditions are right to heli. You will boarding for a fair few days.

You can make up you mind in Canda can’t you? keep in contact with the heli company and most are pretty honest with the conditions.

Thanks for the responses people.

The Alaska option will be more expensive as I would need to pay for accommodation (I have free accommodation at Silverstar), plus heli.  So that’s probably at least $2,000 extra for that option.

I need to make up my mind before I book.  The earliest my mate can leave for AK is the 1st April, so if I end up just deciding to stay in Canada I may as well get there as early as I can to get better snow and to reduce my waiting time till I go over.

Hmmm again have you asked the heli company their thoughts on the timing??

How well do you ride?

I did a pretty sketchy heli run in NZ but I know AK is on another level.

Pretty sure if ya open and honest with the Heli Crew, they are gonna take ya somewhere that is right for ya anyways!!!!!

Hmm,

It has to be OPTION 2.

If your short of time why not fly to Alaska? Never done it but hear the drive in the winter can be difficult..

Ok I’m kinda leaning towards option 2 (i.e. AK).  I think I’ll stay in BC for an extra 5-7 days of boarding while my mate drives to AK and then fly there to meet him.  Flights one way are around $350 so it’s not the end of the world.

Now I’ve been told that during late March/early April there is plenty of snow around BC (or Silverstar at least).  Can people please confirm if this is true? Obviously I know that the snow won’t be as good as earlier in the year.

We had some awesome powder days in March and even mid April (don’t count on that though) in Whistler last season. In regards to snow pack, yeah there will be snow.