Kingfisher Heli. Our last run before lunch was on something that hadn’t been skied before. It had a nice steep pitch at the top and finished with more marsh mellow pillow drops at the bottom. Since it hadn’t been named, they offered Micah the opportunity to name the run. What an honor, not only did we do a “First Descent”,  but the 9 year old got to name the run! He decided to call it “Rush Hour”. Cute right? As it that was a concept out in the wild back country of Canada, but I’d sure like to rush back to ski it again.

Tired after our first descent and our morning of skiing, we landed for lunch at the Gold Panner Lodge where Kingfisher hosts their guests who like to stay in the mountains in a nice, but more rustic setting than the 5 star Sparkling Hill Resort where we were happily ensconced. We were greeted by Tim and hot butternut squash soup with bacon. What more could you ask for? It was great to take off all our gear and hang it up above the wood burning stove so we could start the afternoon totally dry. We chowed on sandwiches, soup, and fruit. How is it that heli skiing makes you so hungry? You think you are burning so many calories, but really, you eat so much heli skiing that there is never a deficit. Thank god they only weigh you when you arrive!

We got to sign our names on the wall and leave any kind of statement we wanted the world to know and play games with an ax and nails as everyone finished their lunch. With our bellies full and our gear warm and dry, we saddled back up into the heli for more.

The afternoon took on a different feeling right away, our “newbie” heli skier was feeling pretty confident by now. Guide Matt upped the ante in a big way. We got dropped into a run called Bucket List and it was delicious. It had about a 40 degree pitch and the snow was perfect. we started in the trees and then moved into a nice open couloir. It was about 3000 vertical feet and we skied it in two sections. I love tree skiing, but I have to admit, I really enjoy perfect powder on an open slope. Skiing perfect powder is like eating caviar, it is always good and a huge treat, but sometimes it’s good on blinis and sometimes it’s good on thin crackers. But since we I’m waxing rhapsodic on how I like my perfect powder, I’m saying I like it open with a nice pitch. The Bucket List delivered just that. We skied it down to the heli and went back for more since there were so many more lines open to ski. After the second time, the sun was starting to go down and we all realized we were tired, so Pilot Brad flew us back to Sparkling Hill so we could recover with some of Okanogan’s best wine and a spa tub.

We all had perma grins etched on our faces as we climbed out of the heli. What an amazing day and what an incredible experience for my son. I couldn’t have orchestrated a more perfect “First Time” experience for him in a million years. There is also something special about the experience of sharing a day heli skiing, Heather and John would now be friends for life after sharing this special day. I don’t know if it is the experience of being in the mountains alone and communing with nature or that little element of fear, but this is what memories are made of and I will always have Kingfisher Heli to thank for this. Please keep my number on speed dial in case of any complications. They fly direct from LA to Kelowna!

www.Kingfisherheliskiing.com