Northern Escape Heli Skiing BC

There’s nothing a powder hound hates more than getting to the top of a slope only to find that others have put their dirty paw marks all over their powder! At Northern Escape Heli Skiing powder hounds can be rest assured that this will never happen. With a whopping 5,500 square kilometres (about 1.4 million acres) of terrain and 20 to 30 metres of snowfall each season, there are infinite lines of virgin snow that are yours for the taking. 

Be decadent and take an escape from the mundane and go heli skiing with Northern Escape. Just remember to pack a snorkel! An obvious reason to go heli skiing with Northern Escape is the snow. If you’re snow-vanistic you’ll love the volumes of powder and the reliability of the snowpack. 

And with the small group format you’ll be able to make the most of the huge terrain and the big pow. Then after a big day out, you can sit around and re-live all your tales whilst enjoying a mouth watering meal of three to five courses. That’s empowderment eh?

Where is Northern Escape Heli Skiing Located?

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing is located in Northwestern British Columbia Canada, nestled deep in the famous Skeena Mountains of the Northern Coast Range. 

Yellow Cedar Lodge (for Classic Packages and Private Packages) is located 11km southwest of the town of Terrace and 20km from the Terrace Airport, just off the Yellowhead Highway (16) on the banks of the Skeena River. Pioneer Lodge (for the Elite Packages) is about 1km from the Yellow Cedar Lodge on the opposite side of the highway.

Getting There

Terrace is approximately 1,360km northwest of Vancouver by road which equates to an easy two hour flight from Vancouver BC. This makes for reasonably quick and easy access relative to most other Canada heli ski operators.

Direct flights from Vancouver to Terrace, BC can be arranged with Air Canada or Westjet. You can look at flight options here. Please arrange to arrive on the evening of the first day of your package. Return flights to Vancouver should be arranged to depart after 18:00 hrs on the last day of your package. 

Here are some options if you need to stay in a Vancouver Airport hotel or Vancouver city hotel. The Hotel Fairmont Vancouver Airport is a 5 star hotel that offers the ultimate in convenience because it’s located inside the airport.

NEH will provide transport between the airport (about 30 mins travel time) and the lodges. 

Terrace Ski Area

The local ski area is Shames Mountain, which is 37km west of the town of Terrace BC. You may wish to have a couple of warm up days at Shames Mountain or use it to come down from your ectastic heli skiing experience! The ski resort is very low frills with only one chair lift and a T-bar, but the main attraction is the sidecountry and backcountry terrain that’s accessible from the ski area.

Shames Mountain is typically only open 4 days a week; Friday to Monday, although sometimes it’s also open on Thursdays or extra days during holidays. 

Northern Escape Heli Skiing Terrain

The heli ski terrain is vast, although that’s a bit of an understatement considering that Northern Escape is up there as one of the biggest heli ski tenures in Canada with a playground of 5,500 square km. 

The ski and snowboard terrain is between elevations of 450 and 2,350 metres, so the runs can be long and may offer a combination of alpine bowls and glaciers as well as naturally gladed trees. Or when the weather is fine, most of the skiing and snowboarding may just be up in the alpine, whilst the trees are ideal for days of lower visibility.

Snow & Weather

One of the mottos of Northern Escape Heliskiing is “it’s deeper up here” which sums up the masses of snow that are dumped on the terrain; an average of 20 to 30 metres of snow per season. 

And good news for those who like it steep as well as deep, because the coastal snowpack allows reasonably steep terrain to be safely skied. 

Make sure to head on over to www.powderhounds.com for more info on 'Guides' and Lyndell and Greg's own review of their experience!