Hit the Slopes!

Helicopter's eye view

That's what happened to me last season. It was mid-April, slush-riding time at the hometown hill, when I drove from my house in Montana to a podunk outpost 100 miles from anywhere called Blue River. Cupped between British Columbia's Cariboo and Monashee mountain ranges, Blue River contains one bar, one general store, and one world-class resort. MIKE WIEGELE HELI-SKI VILLAGE, the billboard-size entrance sign proclaims, and inside the gates is a tidy collection of Bavarian-style log buildings and a half-dozen circular landing pads upon which squat a fleet of dragonfly-shape helicopters. I was assigned, along with two other snowboarders, to a cabin labeled"O.F.'s," which I was told stood for Old Farts. Whatever. The place came with its own pet, a docile and fat Burmese mountain dog named Blaze, whose lush coat was black and amber and white, swirled together like a specialty ice cream.

Blue River, British Columbia

There were about 40 guests at Wiegele's the week I was there, eight of whom were snowboarders and exactly two of whom were women. (The bar scene, in a word: depressing.) We attended a brief orientation session, ate a meal that single-handedly negated a month's worth of exercise, drank beers in town at the Legion (where each time you swear it costs you a quarter), and crashed hard.

	For More Information Contact Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing at (800) 661-9170 or (403) 762-5548.

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