The helicopter door opens. We take off our seatbelts and one by one we slide out, immediately dropping into hip-deep snow.
As I wade a few feet forward toward the front of the aircraft, I join the others who are huddled together. Our guide and co-owner of North Cascade Heli Ken Brooks can be seen on the other side of the bird quickly unloading gear. The pilot is powering up and the noise is getting louder as the rotation of the spinning rotors increases. Snow is flying everywhere now. I try to cover my face, but it’s getting worse from the rotor wash.
The helicopter is now just a few feet above our heads, quickly gaining altitude. I can hear the pilot give it more power, and as I glance up I can see the nose of the bird tipping forward and the heli diving down out of sight on the other side of the ridge. Seconds later it reappears a quarter of a mile down the valley, cruising at speed. Soon it disappears over the horizon.
There’s hooting and hollering coming out of the huddle as we look around at the vast, jagged landscape.
Gathering our gear, we all notice an indescribable silence and realize we are standing on a snow-covered peak in the middle of one of America’s most rugged mountain ranges, the North Cascades of Washington.
Oddly enough, this is what we came here for, and our only way down is to step into our skis and slide effortlessly through untouched, bottomless powder snow. This is heli skiing at North Cascade Heli.
Courtney Altringer Acosta, a Spokane native was blown away by the ruggedness of the North Cascades.
“I’m from Washington state and I didn’t even know this existed,” she said.
North Cascade Heli utilizes an A-Star heli, which is sometimes referred to as the Ferrari of the sky. The A-Star can seat four riders, a guide and the pilot. Our first drop off was in the Silver Star area, a zone surrounded by granite spires, cliffs and plenty of steep slopes. This landing zone sits at 8,600 feet and is the highest in the company’s tenure. Looking around, it’s easy to understand why the North Cascades are often referred to as the Alps of America.
On this heli-ski adventure I was joined by Courtney and her husband Chris Acosta, who were both very successful collegiate ski racers. Heli-skiing has always been something they have wanted to do together as most of their time skiing has been either training or hitting the gates on the racecourse.
Courtney grew up ski racing at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Idaho. She was talented enough as a ski racer to get recruited by the University of New Mexico’s ski team, where she ski raced for four years. During that time, she earned an All-American title and met Chris, who was a teammate.
“Heli-skiing was only something you dreamed about living out in the Midwest being a ski racer,” said Chris, who grew up in the small town of Ashland, Wis. “That’s what I pursued my whole life.”
Like Courtney, Chris grew up ski racing. He skied Division One for the University of Mexico Lobos ski team and had a six-time All-American record. For the past five years, he’s been ski coaching and sharing what he knows with the next generation.
“I’ve been skiing my whole life,” he said. “I’ve never been in a helicopter. I’ve never experienced heli skiing before, so when I got in that helicopter, it was by far the most exciting time in my life.”
North Cascade Heli is located on the east slopes of the North Cascades in Mazama, Wash., which gets hammered with snow. It’s no wonder the company set up shop in these mountains back in the late 80’s. Getting there is easy as it’s only a three-hour drive from Spokane.
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Each winter the North Cascade Highway is blocked at that location to restrict vehicle transit through these rugged, snow covered mountains. The road basically dumps you at North Cascade Heli’s heli barn, which is located adjacent to the Freestone Inn. Most of the company’s clients stay at the Freestone, which is a beautifully appointed log lodge with comfortable rooms and après amenities like a bar and a 24-hour hot tub to unwind after a day of heli skiing. The Freestone has excellent food at the Sandy Butte Bistro, where we had breakfast each day, or Jack’s Huts for dinner and beers. For me, there’s nothing better than a good pizza and a few cold brews after a day of crushing powder. I highly recommend getting the The Mack at Jack’s Hut, which is a fresh, handmade pizza loaded with pesto, bacon, chicken, artichoke hearts and ranch dressing.
Before our group or any group sets out on the first day of riding, North Cascade Heli’s certified mountain guides and pilot run through a snow and heli safety course. Each person learns how to properly use an avalanche airbag, an avalanche transceiver and a probe and shovel in the chance of needing to conduct a search.
Owner Ken knows these moun-tains very well and it shows as he navigates Chris, Courtney and I through his little playground, which is over 300,000 acres and has over 125 named runs. With each run, Ken would set us up for some mind-blowing powder turns that consisted of steeps, open bowls, tree skiing and every once a while some nice features for Chris to send it! You couldn’t keep that smile off Chris’s grill as he recounted his experience.
“First time heli-skiing, by far the best day of my life,” he said. “North Cascade Heli gave me the thrill that I’ve never had. You’re dropped off on top of that mountain, and you feel like your heart’s going in your throat and you are like, ‘let’s go, we’re going to go shred some pow.’ You feel free. You experience a sense of flow, like you’re floating and then you get hit with a big face shot of powder blasting into your goggles and helmet. Oh, we hit it so good.”
If the skiing wasn’t enough of sensory overload for Chris, the heli ride definitely put him over the top.
“He’s a little kid in most situations,” Courtney mused. “I knew if he sat in the front seat of the heli, he was gonna lose it and have the time of his life. Yep, I expected it!
Courtney knew it would be a trip to remember.
“For the two of us, out here skiing this together might even be better than our wedding day.” N
Story & Photography By Bob Legasa / Freeride Media
As Featured In: Winter/Spring 2021