Chase the Snow: A Skier’s Dreamy Heli Adventure to Start Your New Year Right

If you are looking for the experience of a lifetime, look no further. Great Bear Heli Skiing offers a unique and possibly life changing experience in British Columbia.

Great Bear Heli Skiing promo video / Great Bear Heli Skiing

While you are out west making your last turns of 2024, riding that lift early, trying to get beta on secret stashes and finding on your first run that the flakes have been all tracked up shortly after that overnight storm. Don’t despair, there is a place to satisfy those powder dreams. There is no rush, as you will have an area the size of 190 Whistler-Blackcombs and only you and three other guests in your private heli. Life is looking up! North, Great Bear Heli Skiing, has a few seats remaining for those wanting something different and real deep in 2025.

Can you say deep snow zone? Few ski areas in North America get over 500 inches (over 40 feet) of snow a year. Great Bear sits on the top snow stake, getting up to 100 feet of snow a year, so yes - this is called a powder paradise.

I asked Alan Smith, Meteorologist and Operations Manager, OpenSnow, about what he thought about this real snowy spot in the world, the Coast Range of British Columbia and more specifically, Bella Coola, British Columbia (BC), which is mid to Northern coastline, BC. Where Great Bear Heli Skiing is located.

Alan Smith noted:

• The location is pretty far north in BC, which combined with high elevation terrain, make the area less susceptible to rain events compared to areas further south such as the Cascades and even Whistler.
• The northerly location and high altitude also result in better snow quality (i.e. more powder) on average compared to maritime locations further south.
• The Northern/Central Coast Range in BC is well positioned to be hit by storms originating in the Gulf of Alaska, and snow begins to accumulate here earlier in the season compared to areas further south.

Just you, three other skiers and 2,400 plus square miles of mountains. Less than 300 skiers have ever been here, and only 20 percent of the terrain has had two sticks on it. You will be making the first powder tracks here. Anyone want to experience skiing runs with 5000 feet of vertical?

Beyond the turns you will be buzzing between big peaks. It is hard to describe what unfolds in front of you, a sea of peaks, rocky crags dropping deep into the ocean, and as far as one can see in all directions this mythical land of snowy pinnacles. Exploration and curiosity will be peaked here, as you travel above endless glaciers, venture into ice caves, and climb from cedar filled river valleys to the spire tops. 

Great Bear Heli Skiing has a backstory, in the summer it has been operating for over 60 years as the family run, Lower Dean River Lodge, a world famous fly fishing destination. Lower Dean River Lodge has the highest return rate in the fishing industry, sure the steelhead experience is one of a kind, but it's the people and passion they share in everything they do here. 

Don’t put this off - this is the winter to do something different. Most importantly though, although the enjoyment of really deep flakes is over the top, spiritual and surreal, it is all about the people of powder and the culture and history of a place that really makes these powder times so cool. When you leave you feel part of the family.

Lastly, in a Red Bull Media story titled, “The 10 most extreme heli skiing spots on the planet,” it picks Bella Coola, British Columbia as the best in the world. As it says, you’ll feel on top of the world here.