Photos Courtesy of Greg Harms

Heli Skiing Alaska by the light of the Full Moon 

We set off to heli ski again after dinner to celebrate the Summer Solstice with a late night ski on the full moon. This called for a new outfit of course, so I broke out the camo ski skirt from SOS. I’d never skied in a skirt before, so I was excited to give it a go. Joanie wore SOS as well, and Andrew selected a great Bergans of Norway suit. Brett the lodge manager joined us to make some turns on her board in honor of the Solstice. One of the perks of working here is filling an empty seat. Greg Harms, our guide, set us up on a ridge top to take our first warm up run. Once again, the snow was perfect. Feeling good back on our skis, we got dropped onto a sliver of ridgeline and hiked into a little chute. Unbeknownst to us at this point, it was also the night of the full moon. The view from the ridge of the moon in all her glory took our breath away and added to the mysticism of the already magical night. We dropped into the chute and took our turns down to the bottom of the plateau.

Next we skied beside a magnificent grouping of minaret peaks. The experience of being in this landscape takes skiing to another level. In bounds at a ski resort you find yourself focused on the snow conditions, grooming, etc, but skiing at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge, the mountains and the terrain take over every conscious thought.

Just before midnight we settled onto a ridge and popped a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Rose Bubbles to celebrate the Solstice and our fabulous night. Our pilot Glen flew in to pick us up, flying right in front of the big full moon. We flew back via the glacial moraine and stopped to grab some ice from the glacier for our Martinis the next night.ssnight ridge ssnightbarb SSnight ice ssnight andrew