WINTER 2022, READY FOR LIFT-OFF!
There tiny town heli-skiing 200-person in and British some outpost Columbia of top-drawer Blue that River-with its general store, its Legion, its Mike Wiegele Heli-skiing-is also responsible for the magical meanderings of so many lives. Mine included.
Forever friends, fabulous skiing, crazy parties, and some really great jobs. ln fact, Blue River was responsible for introducing me many moons ago to Barbara Sanders, our fearless publisher-she a World Powder 8 competitor, I an editor of a British ski magazine, and SNOW a mere twinkle in our eyes. It A-was stars, not long drinking after superb wines,heli-adventure generally soa(h king itching up in la belle private vie Canadienne) that SNOW was born. Since then, I’ve been involved in skiing’s most sumptuous publication to varying degrees, on assignments that have taken me from the salons of St Moritz to the tippy-top of Mt Blanc and beyond. And after a ski career that’s included instructing in Canada and Switzerland, multiple forays to the Far East, South America, and even Iran, I’m now thrilled to be up front, beside the pilot, as editor and bearer-in-chief of you
r To wildest make and people’s most dreams wonderful come ski true-this dreams. must be a life well spent. 1 was lucky to witness Mike Wiegele in action as his employee, guest, and Ban ff neighbor over the years. This year, Mike and his magnificent flying machines dedicated more than 50 years to making the ski world’s favorite high- adrenaline, high-price fantasy a storied reality.
year), new-fangled fat skis that kept mortals skiing for longer in tougher conditions. Et voila, the magical crucible of the most exciting skiing on the planet met a market of skiers who were able to pay for it.
Funny how decades of hard work, fearless devotion to innovation, and refusal to accept defeat all appear to be realized overnight. Above all, Mike exuded an inexhaustible passion for skiing. No one had more fun in the mountains than Mike-and when you were with Mike you were part of it too. It was only three years ago, 1 found me in a private A-star with Mike, aged 77, guiding us down sparkling knee-deep powder on Albreda, one of heli-skiing’s long, luscious classics. He was as jubilant about that day as 1 bet he was with his first heli-group in 1970. This was Mike’s language, and he was fluent.
Each of us knows the joys of heli-sking (and anyone who) still Each has it of us on their who knows bucket the list) joy owes of a debt heli-skiing of (and gratitude anyone to Mike. who Take a moment to watch the 2020 film about his life, Call Me Crazy. You’ll be well oiled for the new docu-drama about another of skiing’s icons, Franz Klammer. Chasing The Line comes out in October and it too champions the unlikely rise of one more
Austrian farm boy to international renown.
As one imagines often may be the case with visionaries, Mike was renowned for dancing to a tune not everyone could heargovernment, banks, and competitors among them. Still, he kept dancing-leading his guests in his wedel-y tracks through deep Canadian powder, his absolute favorite thing to do. From the nascent 1970s when he had few takers and sometimes none. To the ’80s when the news was spreading and the heli-cowboys lifted off from the Blue River motel parking lot into the Cariboos and Monashees with skinny skis, quad muscles (and hangovers) today we can only marvel at. Mike pushed relentlessly into the 1990s, attracting a fiercely loyal clientele, funding important avalanche research, ruffling feathers by starting his own guide certification program, and building-oh, the building. Up sprang first-class chalets with a private helipad, a state-of-the-art hangar, the largest single mobilized wintertime collection of helicopters in the country outside the Air Force. (Who can forget the Apocalypse Now V-formation fly-ins each morning) A walk-in wine cellar, even a million-dollar fire truck.
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Writer- WhyweSki
My top mountain lunch memory is an Even-Steven tie: 1 I Rosti served in a Swiss hut under the shadow of the Eiger (because saying no to melted Gruyere. fried potatoes. and salty bacon was beyond my control). 2) Cold pizza and pop in a picnic on the side of a Vermont ski run when the March sun was high and my kids were little [we made our own snow chairs). No. wait… Vermont wins. I will treasure that
memory always.
Photographer – Why we Ski
My favorite on-mountain restaurant is the bar at my home hill. Whitewater ski resort in Nelson. BC. My friends and at that time. and catch-before-sunset poutine and take I put out the text for a ··2 :45″. where we leave town at that time. & catch the last lift up for a before sunset slack-country powder run down to the lodge right before closing. There we hover over a big plate of poutine & take down a pint of Nelson Brewing·s Bent Pole IPA.
Photographer -As the Crow Flies
My favorite on-mountain restaurant is Buustamons Fjallgard in Are. Sweden. It’s rustic. mountain hotel and restaurant located on the west side of Areskutan. in the outskirts of the ski area in Are. I like to go there in the early winter for a long candlelit Fika of lussekatter [saffron bun) and coffee. Fika is a part of the Swedish culture of taking time to relax and socialize while enjoying coffee or tea with a
sweet treat.
