The heliski season 2011: Gaining momentum!
The second heli-skiing season immediately presented us with a nasty surprise: there was minimal snow fall during January, meaning that towards the beginning of the season, which begins at the end of January, the composition of snow on the mountainsides was deemed by us to be insufficient for enjoyable skiing. In the interests of safety we delayed opening the season by one week, hoping for a change for the better. Our hopes were fully justified as snow poured forth the next week, not letting up for even a minute, blocking the mountain roads and cutting remote mountain villages off from civilisation. Not to worry, the roads were cleared in due time and the village inhabitants were rescued safely while the exceptionally deep layer of powder remained on the slopes, much to the joy of all extreme skiing enthusiasts.
We had at our disposal a new helicopter, the elegant black Eurocopter AS350 B3, side-number HB-ZES, from the Swiss company Eagle Helicopters. In addition to the Gudauri Marco Polo hotel which became the main base for visitors and for our office, we developed good relations with the skiing resort’s most popular hotels among tourists: Gudauri Hut, Carpe Diem Gudauri, Panorama, and Truso. We also added a new one-day heli-skiing programm to our repertoire. It was designed both for beginners deciding to try out a new heli-skiing experience, and professional freeriders wanting to become better acquainted with the mountain peaks of the region. We exerted every effort to develop the heli-skiing industry in Gudauri.
