A couple of weeks ago I went Heli Boarding. This unbelievable opportunity was offered to me only 12 hours previous by Southern Lakes Heli Ski, and before I knew it I was ducked down holding onto my snowboard as the thunderous sound of the chopper coming in close was completely desensitised by the sudden gush of air hitting me across the face as it landed only a meter in front of me. With everything happening so quickly I tried to remember the briefing we’d been given approximately two minutes before of how to safely get into the heli without being eaten alive by the blades. And as we strapped in, and started to take off, I was overwhelmed with a rush of euphoria – it turns out that feeling was going to last all day.
Flying up and over the far end of Lake Wanaka, everything else faded into oblivion as we entered the mountain range that would soon become our very own playground. Suddenly as far as the eye could see, there were only mountains. I was so blown away in that moment, that as we touched down, and the helicopter perched with its nose precariously balancing over the end of a ridge line, I had to give myself a serious inner pep talk to remember how to appropriately exit the vehicle. And as the chopper flew away we remained there; five human beings, standing together, on top of the world.
Since the phone call the night before, up until that very moment, I was so totally in awe of the experience that I hadn’t given any thought to what the terrain might be like. I felt a sudden pang of fear creep in as we strapped into our bindings and made our first tentative turns in this open expanse of mountainous territory. But after our first run down, the anxiety had melted away, and all that was left was a bubbling of excitement - the combination of sheer adrenaline and the incredible feeling of being so inconceivably lucky.
Four runs in the morning followed by lunch with the most spectacular view I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating in front of, and we were off again. Jumping in the heli, heading to a new face of the mountain, we circled up and over the area were about to ride down. This afternoon was definitely not going to be as cruisey as the morning. As the helicopter dropped towards a ridgeline I looked out of the window to my left and wandered if our pilot had stopped in the right place. The heli was perched on a corner where there appeared to be no ground to get out onto. Whilst pondering this over, our guide had somehow manoeuvred himself out of the heli and opened my door. I was first out. Mystified as to where I was supposed to put my feet, our guide braced himself against the heli and told me to grab on to his arm. With no time to consider what I was doing, I jumped out of the heli and was swung around the corner to where there was thankfully ground beneath my feet. Exhilaration levels were definitely at an all time high!
With an afternoon of steep chutes, wrong turns and falling into holes, we came to our final run of the day. The freshest, fluffiest powder engulfed us in all of its magical glory as we blissfully made our way down to our final pick up point. And so we flew away from the powdery heaven that had surrounded us, with an experience non of us will ever forget, back down to earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTjl538VSvU&feature=youtu.be
Big thanks to Southern Lakes Heli Ski for taking me up with them, couldn't have asked for better guides. Check there website out here,
https://www.heliskinz.com/