Countdown is on!

So we've passed our first milestones of the season; the first snow has fallen in the mountains, the first frost has appeared at the lodge, the puddles have frozen and the leaves are starting to fall off the trees. These are all tell tale signs of another winter season fast approaching!

Life around the lodge is picking up into high gear, with preparations for another heliski season and putting the finishing touches on the lodge. The newly renovated lodge rooms are looking great! Our construction crew have done an amazing job and the decorator is now being kept busy. One thing is for sure, no more 70s flower beadspreads or pink lamps!

We'll be welcoming back lots of the same faces for the 2011 season with most of our guides coming back along with a few new faces. With the re-opening of the lodge there will be lots of new faces in the bar & lounge, restaurant, front desk and housekeeping staff! The addition of our new spa will bring new faces and new treatment options all designed to soothe the body and mind during your vacation.

As we countdown the days to the start of the season we are also counting down the days until the start of a new year. Coincidentally falling on New Years eve, the start of our 2011 heliski season is set to go off! What's New Years eve without a party? and here at TLH we're set to kick it off right with dinner, dancing, and a champagne toast! Our 3 & 7 day packages both start on New Years eve with space limited to 10 heli-skiers.

Can't wait to see everyone up here to ring in the new year, TLH style!

What do you do in the off season?

You all know what we do up here at the TLH lodge in the winter season... heli-ski all day everyday! But what about the summer or "off" season? Many of you may know that our beautiful home base of Tyax lodge is actually a fully operating Wilderness Resort in the summer months. From mid May until mid October the lodge functions as a hotel and attracts guests from all over the world to enjoy the peaceful serenity of Tyaughton lake.

The area surrounding the lodge is also a mecca for mountain bikers who come from all over BC, and many other parts of the world, to experience endless backcountry single track trails.

Many of our winter heli-ski guides, office staff and even our General Manager are seasoned mountain bikers and on any given sunny summer day you'll find us out pedalling through Spruce Lake park or around some of the more local trails. For the ultimate South Chilcotin mountain bike experience we recommend taking a guided trip up in a float plane and being dropped off high in the alpine at Spruce Lake. From there you'll descend down through beautiful alpine meadows, through a sub-alpine pine forest, finishing off by following Gun Creek down to the pick up location.

For others winter is for all the fun and the summer season is time to work. Some of our staff work hard in the summer, doing carpentry or other construction work. We are currently undergoing a major renovation on our main lodge, keeping lots of people busy. All of our lodge rooms are being updated along with other parts of the main lodge including, the bar, restaurant and a new spa area. When it's all done the lodge will boast a beautiful new decor and some great new amenities.

Others might prefer a more relaxed summer including sunny days spent down by the lake; fishing, canoeing, or wandering around the lake side trails. Whatever it is you do during your summer make sure to keep your ski legs in shape to make your pre-heliski workout sessions easier in the fall.


Enjoy the summer and let the countdown to another great heli-ski season begin!

2 weeks to go!

Well we're sad to say we have just 2 weeks to go this season but we still have some great skiing conditions here for our guests.

So our thoughts are already turning to 2011 with expectations that we'll have as great a season as we had this year.

Next season the lodge will be back open, fully renovated and looking even better. So that means we'll have more spaces available on our tours.

Plus as our 2010 program proved so popular we're continuing to offer Unlimited Vertical and only 1 group per helicopter which means almost no waiting time and plenty more skiing!

The 2011 tours are up on our website now and you can take advantage of early booking prices until the end of next month.

Check them out here .

Week 11- And boy this kid can ski!

Well week 11 saw some more awesome ski conditions. Despite poor stability in the region we managed to find some good low risk slopes to ski and with soft snow and blue skies we skied almost every day this week. (1 down day). Over 42000m of vertical!

We had a youngster along this week and he sure showed us a few tricks, in fact I think he spent more time in the air than on the snow- it was incredible to watch.

We also had our K2 rep along for a couple of days and the guests all got to try out next season skis and snowboards with the new rocker technology we saw vast improvements to everyones skiing and riding.

You can come along and try those skis and snowboards for yourselves next season as we'll be stocking them for our guests.

Check out the photos here.

Week 10 belongs to our new owners

This week we welcomed our new owner Nicolas Saverys and 3 generations of his family. For many of the team here it was the first time to meet the family that make it possible for us to run the awesome Heliskiing program at TLH.

Nicolas has also recently purchased Tyax Wilderness Resort and was pleased to see the progress of our renovations on site as we prepare for the new Summer program.

But it was not a work week for them! We took off into the mountains every day with fresh snow conditions most days and bluebird skies for most of the week there was a lot of skiing to be done! Over 31,000m of Vertical. (So much so that it kept our massage therapists busy each night)

Nicolas has been a guest with TLH Heliskiing for over 7 years and in true Victor Kiam style he "liked it so much he bought the company".

This week only went to prove he had made the right decision, the group were all smiles and overheard Nicolas's nephew say "I just had the best day's skiing of my life!".

And whilst we entertained the family on the slopes all day, they entertained all the staff in the evening. Our guests turned into our hosts for an evening as we got to know, and become part of, his family.

I chatted to his daughter who was here for her first heliski, she had been training for months hoping to be good enough to make the most of the unlimited vertical on offer and she was so pleased at how great the skiing had been and that her fitness regime had paid off.

Apart from the skiing we had a competitive game of ice hockey (Belgium v Canada) and toured around the lake on the snowmobiles.

It was great to meet the family and sad to see them go, but we're looking forward to showing off the renovated resort to them when they come back this Summer. See you then guys!

For now here are some photos of the week

Week 9- ALREADY?!

We can hardly believe its week 9 already, only 5 more weeks of the season left but there's so much more snow fun to be had in the meantime!

This week we've got some guests who are reinventing the fuel business so we decided we better energize them up every morning and ski them til they had nothing left! I'm pretty sure they were happy with that though.

We've had great conditions, stability has improved somewhat from last week but we're still being cautious where we ski and taking lots of snow observations.

So far this week we have skied 25100m vertical and about 43 runs in just 3 days!

We've had a couple of bluebird days which are always awesome, and some 20cm of fresh snow leading to some boot top deep powder days in the alpine and dropping into the trees.

Eldorado Cabin Ski Touring Helicopter Drop

Not many people know about this lovely little cabin set in the South Chilcotins but most weekends we take a helicopter full of ski tourers in to the cosy log cabin which serves as their base to ski tour from for a few days and then ski back out to us at the end of their tour.

I'd only ever mountain biked up to the cabin before but this week I was lucky enough to accompany our guests in and see how cute it looks covered in deep snow, so I thought I'd share the experience with you through my photos....

The cabin in winter and...

in Summer!

Cosy living quarters for 6-8 people and a great log Sauna outside the cabin too!

FYI - we are now running guided ski touring adventures at TLH check them out at: - http://tlhheliskiing.com/content/SkiTouring.php

Week 8 starts with a long weekend!

This week's guests started out with some long weekend warriors. What a weekend to pick, the sun has been shining all day everyday, the skies are blue as blue can be and the mountains as white and fresh as ever. Sweet conditions to ski and board in.


At last night's bonfire outside the chalet after dinner we stared at the stars in the clear night sky and the mountains silhouetted and I was told that yesterday ranked as one of the best 3 or 4 days they have skied over the last 7 years of skiing here, it just gets better and better!


To top that we have the Olympics to watch as our evening entertainment what a weekend!


So far there's been a lot of skiing and now there are plans to come back and mountain bike here too.


Runs this weekend: - 50900m Vertical Skied!


Saturday: - 14150m


3G's
Grahams x 2
Herbs x 2
Tillsworth x 5
Lufthansa
Blindmans Bluff
Ipoo Glacier
Ipoo Mountain
Slim Too x 2
Leckie Lakes Peak
Ambrosia
Amnesia x 2
Barnyard x 2
Snowboarders Heaven
Molly glacier


Sunday: - 12750
Teatime
Swiss Peaks x 2
Slim Peak
Little Heirs
Ice tea
Ault Lake
Magic x 2
Lepton Mountain
Reincarnation
Tahiti Bite x 2
Amnesia
Hagar the Horrible x 2
Purgatory
Paradise Lost
Arrowhead Glacier x 2


Monday: - 5000m


Dickson Peak
Lone Star
Tillsworth
Turnaround
Slim Fast
Ladies First
Magic
Xanadu
Just for Fun
Farmyard
Horsein around
Hagar the Horrible
Ice cubes
Hercules
Orions Belt
African Tribesman


Tuesday: - 8100m
Upper Eldorado
This Way
Grahams
Slim Fast
Slim Peak
Little Heirs
Leckie Lite


Wednesday: - 7700m
3 G's
Trev's Gullies
Tillsworth
Ipoo glacier
Teatime
Slim Fast
Sarah's Playground
Little Heirs


Thursday: - 7700m
Pearson
Tillsworth
Slim Fast
Slim Peak
Sarah's Playground
Little Heirs
Leckie Lite
Leckie Glacier West


Friday: - 3600m
That Way
This Way
Trevs Gullies
Grahams
Tillsworth

Week 8 Hotsprings Excursion

We had so much great skiing this week that we decided to take a rejuvenation break and pick up our non-skiers for a helicopter ride to the local natural hot springs!

What a surreal experience to land our helicopter right next to the springs, strip off ski gear to our bathing suits and relax in the hot water, surrounded by snow and a small waterfall.

After a couple hours relaxing we were back on the slopes for some more skiing within minutes- fully rejuvenated.

This sort of experience reminds you why you come to Canada to ski in the backcountry- wow!

Week 7- Olympics Week

While the highly trained winter athletes of the world are performing their best and while VANOC overcome the challenging snow conditions on Cypress and Whistler this week, we still have a powder playground to enjoy and lots of it.

This week we've skied over 21000 meters this week, and over 42 runs and the average age of the group? 65! Pretty impressive eh?

This week's guests have been coming for the past 9 years and are enjoying this year even more than ever- and we sure are enjoying their jovial company.

Snow Artists at Work

When conditions are this good, watching the guests and guides carving fresh lines in the snow is like watching an artist at work on a blank page. The rhythm and flow as they effortlessly bounce from turn to turn and send powder face shots up with each compression is breathtaking!

With another bluebird day and the sun glowing as their backdrop, the guests this week have taken good advantage of our unlimited vertical package and chalked up over 42000.

The limbs may be weary at night but each morning everyone makes it to the yoga stretching session and is raring to go by the time we take off in the helicopter.

More snow is on its way at the end of this week - so it just gets better and better!

Check out the photos of the week in our Week 4 photo album.

2010 Week 4 Photos

Find more photos like this on TLH Heliskiing

2010 Week 4 Starts on a High!

The first guests arrived yesterday for week 4 and had an awesome day of skiing, 11 runs with over 7350m of vertical skied!

Add to that the pure blue skies and sunshine all day and snow conditions at their best now the fresh snow (275cm last week!) has had a few days to settle in to create a skiers paradise. Suffice to say as the weary limbs returned to the chalet there were some very happy faces beaming at apres.

Yoga this morning was well attended to loosen up the muscles for today's skiing- more of the same looks to be on the agenda as the clouds dissipated from the lake and the helicopter disappeared up into the Alpine.

10 skiers have headed up in the 2-12 today and they are certainly making the most of their unlimited vertical every day.

Check out some of the awesome photos in our albums here.

2010 Week 2 Heliskiing kicks off

The 2010 Heliskiing is well underway, the guests have all had their transceiver training at the lodge and started the week with a helicopter briefing, learning the do's and don'ts of boarding and disembarking a helicopter on a mountain with all your ski gear- it certainly gets the excitement and adrenalin running.

Day 1 we had some freezing rain rain so only got out for a half day, nevertheless that meant good snow up top and we squeezed in 2100m of vertical. Day 2 saw a full day and 4250m of vertical skied, everyone had big grins and exhausted legs at the end of the day.

Day 3- was a down day with freezing rain at the lodge we embarked on a game of Ice hockey Canada vs Austria. It was rather competitive and I believe both sides claimed the win! Lots of fun had by all of course!

Day 4 - we got our first Alpine runs under our skis!

Landing at the tip of Ambrosia we found 120cm of fresh new snow. Sweet!

There were big grins all round as we swept through the deep snow through the Ochre zone. A couple of tumbles just added to the grin factor.

On our second run, unfortunately Glen took a tumble and tweaked his knee so the guides sprung into action to diagnose the issue and help him out- but no need for an evac he was back up on his skis and took a steady slow run out while we whizzed down to the helicopter.


By the third run down Hagar, the conditions just got better and better and we were all yelping with delight at a sweet run. The next run saw a few tumbles along the way- pretty energetic and entertaining efforts to dig yourself out of this deep stuff.

Lunch is always a welcome sight - all sitting around a snow table by the helicopter, surrounded by mountain views soup and tea warming us up and some freshly baked cookies- yum! It started to snow again and we were back in the helicopter, over to Tillsworth descending through the open runs into the treeline this time.

4500m of vertical - awesome!


Check out the 2010 week 2 photos!

Snow Artists at Work

When conditions are this good, watching the guests and guides carving fresh lines in the snow is like watching an artist at work on a blank page. The mountains here are our gallery. The rhythm and flow as the skiers and boarders effortlessly bounce from turn to turn and send powder face shots up with each compression is breathtaking!

With another bluebird sky and the sun glowing as their backdrop, the guests this week have taken good advantage of our unlimited vertical package and chalked up over 42000.

The limbs may be weary at night but each morning everyone makes it to the yoga stretching session and is raring to go by the time we take off in the helicopter.

There have been a couple of adrenalin shots too, jumping out of a hovering helicopter was a true highlight today and pulling Mike out of a tree well earlier this week was a good reminder why we buddy up to ride the trees!

More snow is on its way at the end of this week - so it just gets better and better!

Check out the photos of the week in our Week 4 photo album.