The verdict is in! Our new ‘Small Groups, Steep Chutes’ program has been a huge success. With a small group of only six guests and two guides, this is still primarily a cat skiing program, but it involves a bit of Alpine Touring to get into some of the interesting terrain we can’t normally bring groups to. The program has allowed us to ski many first descents this year which has been a great experience for guests and staff alike. We’ve also been able to tour to the top of Anstey Mountain, the highest peak in our tenure, which offers mind blowing views of surrounding the area.
We’ve been getting great feedback from the guests who have participated in the ‘Small Groups, Steep Chutes’ program this year. Lee Faver, a recent guest from New Hampshire said, “I’d say that our Small Groups, Steep Chutes trip was the experience of a lifetime except that I’ve already booked my return next year!” Our guests aren’t the only ones who have been stoked on the program. One of our Lead Guides, Grant Statham said, “[it’s] super exciting for us to get to guide this stuff.” Our Tail Guides have also loved this program as well. They’ve finally been able get into the terrain they’ve been drooling over for years, but haven’t been able to ski with the larger groups. Only having to keep an eye on six (expert) skiers has allowed them to do more skiing in more adventurous terrain as well.
Aside from the small group, key factor in the success of this program is the skiing ability of the guests participating in it. In order to ski some of the steep, tight couloirs we do require guests to be expert skiers. Having a higher overall level of skier ability has allowed us to ski some really cool terrain, like the Twilight Zone Couloir pictured below. This colouir is one that we’ve been hoping to ski all year, but just haven’t had the right conditions. On March 26 the stars aligned and we were able to make a first decent down this line!
When you talk about cat skiing, everyone wants to know about vertical, right? Ponder this for a moment… not only does having a small group of advanced skiers allow us to hit some trickier terrain, it also allows the groups to move around the tenure more efficiently. In early March, one of our groups did a whopping 23,800 vertical feet in one day. Those are heli skiing numbers y’all!
So as our last Small Groups cat of the year is finishing up their last day of skiing, it’s safe to say that the response to this program has been overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to more of the same next season!!
