| The Valdez Heli-Camps Vertical Advantage |
 We operate on the world-famous heliskiing slopes of Valdez, birthplace of big mountain skiing. Many groups (including adventure film companies) visit us specifically for these steeper, jaw-dropping verticals. While you don’t have to go to the extreme to enjoy your time with us, we tend to attract higher caliber skiers and riders who thrive on this kind of challenge. The skiing and snowboarding opportunities found at Valdez Heli-Camps are second to none and offer much variety. Valdez Heli-Camps tends to attract a high caliber of skier/rider. Several of our groups visit us specifically for the steeper slopes that Valdez is famous for. The responsibility of utilizing these slopes quite often dictates that we ski one at a time to minimize exposure to any hazards that may exist on slopes such as these. Accessing the type of terrain that produces the high quality experience we strive to provide to our guests can often mean more time is required to negotiate a slope. This can equate to less vertical over the course of a day or a week than one might find at a typical heliski operation. The great benefit is found in the quality of a very unique and challenging skiing experience. One like you will find in no other place. The satisfaction of challenging yourself at a high level with the security of a small professionally guided team, just 4 riders of the same ability, offers a much more enjoyable experience than could be expected where the focus trends toward maximum vertical calculation for the operator to bill out. Racking up run after run along side several people of varying abilities, in some instances, as many as 10 or 11 people in a group does not compare to what is available with Valdez Heli-Camps.This is one of the most important reasons why skiing in Valdez with Valdez Heli-Camps has gained the reputation it has throughout the world! For those that do enjoy the freedom of wide-open slopes skiing and snowboarding side by side with friends and comrades nothing is sacrificed at Valdez Heli-Camps! We can quite easily provide for this level of desire. We accommodate several first-time heliskiers and those whose goals are to put up the big vertical numbers that are produced by "lapping up the Chugach" in one of our very fast A-Stars helicopters. These less technical slopes can offer a higher level of security allowing us to achieve large amounts of vertical for those with a preference for this type of experience. Our guests often choose this option and ski on the same day in areas directly adjacent to those groups working the high angle terrain. Quite often you can watch other groups from across the valley challenging the Chugach while you are doing the same at your level or, mix it up bit, with some steep challenging runs and some powder cruisers of your own!!!! We wrap that all together in what we call our Vertical Guarantee: The amount of vertical achieved in a week depends on conditions and the group’s desired experience. The guarantees of 40,000, 50,000 and 80,000 feet are based on historical averages and used for creating a base price for your trip. On average our groups will achieve 80,000 feet in a typical week accessing our steep technical slopes. Many riders that prefer more open powder skiing, on slopes of higher relative security may easily ski more than 100,000 in a week. An average ski day from the helicopter will produce 20,000 vertical feet. If we consider that we may expect 4 out of 6 days in an average week of flying we arrive at 80,000 feet for a base price for the 6-day 7-night package. This same thought process applies to the 3 and 4 day packages and their relative guarantees. This formula has proven to give our guests a very realistic expectation of the total amount they will be spend on their stay with us. Seldom do extra vertical charges or credits exceed $500 in value as observed over our 10 years of experience with our pricing system. |
