Making helitracks

Carol Kauder, Special To The News

Published March 13, 2004 at midnight

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There's nothing quite like flying in a helicopter low over the San Juan Mountains at 13,000 feet: the sense of weightlessness, the experience of floating over jagged peaks, the phenomenal scenery surrounding you. It's the next best thing to skiing fresh powder.

So Helitrax of Telluride has put the two great experiences together in Colorado's only heliskiing operation. Going up almost is as much fun as coming down. And coming down 2,000 vertical feet in the best conditions around, in one of the most scenic areas of the country, is pretty darn fun.

Heliskiing in Colorado requires neither the time nor the money of big-mountain skiing in British Columbia or Alaska. Those trips take a week or more, and much of the time is spent waiting for weather suitable for flying.

With Helitrax, Colorado residents can do much of the waiting at home and time the big day just right.

"If you have ever dreamt it, it isn't that far away," Helitrax guide John Humphries said.

With access to 250 square miles of National Forest and Bureau of Land Management land, Helitrax can offer many big days during its season from mid-January to late March. Its terrain reaches from Telluride south to Durango Mountain Resort, east to Silverton and south to Ouray.

"We're searching for the best possible snow - the deeper the better - in the most spectacular environment," co-founder Michael Friedman said.

With 21 years of experience, Helitrax guides invest considerable time monitoring snow conditions, both for avalanche control and to ensure that guests every day have excellent powder, even days after a snowfall.

Telluride local David Kuntz said Helitrax is a shortcut to ski mountaineering.

"People who don't heliski think it is this divine experience that can't be reproduced," he said. "Heliskiing is a lot like backcountry skiing, only that much easier."

Typically, skiers and snowboarders set out in groups of four with one guide, the lowest skier-

to-guide ratio you'll find heliskiing anywhere, Humphries said.

"It's an intimate experience. You aren't in a helicopter with 10 or 11 other people and two guides," he said. "There's the pilot, guide and three or four guests, total."

The day begins at 8 a.m. at the Inn at Lost Creek in the Telluride Mountain Village. Breakfast is followed by safety orientation, then everyone heads to the helipad on the 18th green of the golf course.

The helicopter might alternate shuttling several groups on a given day, but groups are kept far enough apart to enhance the sense of wild solitude. A day generally encompasses five runs, with descents ranging from 1,100 feet to 3,200 feet. The cost is $795 a person.

While heliskiing often is considered extreme by those who never have tried it, Helitrax guides say it is appropriate for anyone with "advanced intermediate" skills, able to ski comfortably on black-

diamond slopes.

Extra-fat powder skis make it much easier to negotiate the bottomless powder; Helitrax encourages clients to use them and has them available for rent.

This year, Helitrax is introducing a new option for skiers in Aspen and Vail. A charter plane will fly guests from the Aspen and Eagle airports to the Telluride airport. The helicopter meets them there and takes them into the winter wonderland beyond.

At the end of the day, the charter plane takes them back to Aspen and Vail.

John Humphries of Helitrax said the flight alone is a unique experience.

"It's a pretty spectacular day, with a flight over the Rockies," he said. Then add the heliskiing. "It's quite a day to experience Colorado."

For more information, visit www.helitrax.net or call 1-866-

435-4754.

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