Heli-Skiing + Winter Flying

[Savoia]

Flying over the Italian Alps:

[Savoia]

Heli-Skiing in Alaska:

[Savoia]

Unique Heli-Ski Expedition: Pakistan

Last year a group of skiers from Canada, France, Switzerland, Serbia and Russia descended on the Karakoram mountains in the northernmost region of Pakistan for a unique Hel-Ski expedition. As Heli-Skiiing has yet to 'take flight' in Pakistan (along with winter sports generally) the skiers were slightly stumped as to how to achieve their goal given that there were very few (as in none) civilian helicopter operators in or around the Karakoram mountain range.

Enter the Pakistan Army Aviation Command, specifically the 5th and 8th Army Aviation Squadrons, who agreed to allow their aircraft to become Heli-Ski transports and for their pilots to become Heli-Ski 'drivers' for the event!

The Pakistan Army did not charge the skiers for providing this service, but instead re-tasked their standard training missions for "Operation Heli-Ski!" After the event the Army Aviation Command declared that their pilots had learned some valuable high altitude take-off and landing techniques.


The Pakistan Army turn some of their AS350B3's into Heli-Skiiers


Pakistan Army pilots with the Heli-Skiiers as well as children from the Gilgit–Baltistan region


The Baltoro glacier in the Karakorum mountains which border Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit–Baltistan (Pakistan), Ladakh (India), and Xinjiang region (China). The highest peak in the range is 28,000 ft

[Savoia]

Mt. Hutt Ecureuil, New Zealand (Majestic Rotors, SnowCopters Collection)

[Savoia]

A snapshot of Heli-Skiing/Heli-Tourism in the Argentinian Andes (aka Patagonia) with Heli Ushuaia.

http://www.heliushuaia.com.ar/en/

[Savoia]

Winter flying in the French Alps (load lifting for a publicity stunt) with now defunct Eagle Helicopter of Switzerland and their AS332C1 Super Puma. The aircraft (HB-ZKN) has recently been bought by SAF Hélicoptères of Courchevel in France (see story here).

[Savoia]

Dogs from Wasatch Backcountry Rescue at the Brighton Ski Resort, Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch mountain range, Utah; participate in a four day mountain rescue training exercise with together with an AW109S from Life Flight's Utah based 'Intermountain' rescue unit in 2012

[Savoia]

Classic Heli-Ski





Helitrax Bell 47 Soloy as seen in Colorado c. 1983 (Photos: Mike Friedman)

[Savoia]

Bell 429 F-HPBH as seen at Courchevel in February 2015 (Photo: Gilles Paccalet)

[Savoia]

Russian Bölkow Running Taxi and Take-Off

[Savoia]

Hiller UH-12ET Soloy C-GWRY (cn 1788) as seen in British Columbia in 2016 (Photos by Alicia Haque)

[Savoia]

Bell 206B F-HUBA as seen at Courchevel in 2015 (Photo: Gilles Paccalet)

[Savoia]

VS Helicopters AS350B2 N351VS as seen in Valdez, Alaska in November 2017

[Savoia]

EC120B RA-04042 (cn 1558) as seen at Gostilitsy Airfield in Russia on 25th December 2017

[Savoia]

Flugpolizei (Air Police) EC135P2+ OE-BXG (cn.0675) together with Christophorus Flugrettungsverein (ÖAMTC) (Air Rescue) EC135T2+ OE-XVA (cn.0533) as seen in Riezlernm, Vorarlberg, Austria on 6th March 2016 (Photo: Robert Niederwolfsgruber)

With our thanks to Robert for this lovely photo.

[Savoia]

Rotor Icing

[Savoia]

Red Bull Ecureuil and the Art of Flight

Behind the Scenes

[Savoia]

Lauberhorn 2018

This is a left over from the winter flying season; a montage of movements captured at Air Glaciers Lauterbrunnen base during Lauberhorn 2018 (12-14 January) when multiple operators ferried passengers to the annual world cup ski challenge.

[Savoia]

AS350 Heli-Ski in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado

[Savoia]

Reykjavík Helicopters EC120B OY-HIP (cn.1419) as seen landing at Sandskeið Airport in Iceland on 9th December 2018
(Photo by Kas van Zonneveld)

[Savoia]

HeliDrive B407GX RA-01615 (cn.54498) as seen at Krepost Heliport in St. Petersburg (Photo by Dmitry Yakovlev)

[Savoia]

Air Greenland Bell 212 OY-HMD (cn.31125) as seen in Greenland in October 2018

[Savoia]

Bell 407 as seen in Canada's Monashee Mountains (NFI)

[Savoia]

Gendarmerie EC145 in Chamonix

EC145 'JBK' piloted by Jean-François Martin, conducting rescue ops in support of an injured hiker in the Anterne Pass, Chamonix on 2nd January 2019.

[Savoia]

Russian Heli-Ski

Russian Alouette III RA-05701 performing heli-ski ops
in the western region of Lake Baikal, November 2019


EC135 in Germany


EC135P2+ D-HDRP performing helimed ops in Germany on 19th November 2019

[Savoia]

EC135 in Austria

EC135T2 OE-XEV in Osttirol (East Tyrol) Austria in November 2019

[Helipixman]

Anyone got a scraper ?

[Savoia]

Ha ha .. that's a great shot Elipix .. as always!

I think the man in post #7 has a scraper!

[Savoia]

R44 RA-04338 as seen in Nizhni Novgorod, Russia on 26th November 2019

[Savoia]

HF Helicopters R44 refuelling in Lappi, Finland on 28th November 2019

[Savoia]

'Helitack Huey' Bell 205A-1 N205WW (30329) as seen at William Fox Airfield in LA County on 28th November 2019



AW109SP Da Vinci flying as 'Rega 10' in Hasliberg, Switzerland on 28th November 2019