Health & Safety
Our Risk Management Program
The mountains are a wild and uncontrolled place and there is inherent risk for anyone who ventures into places less traveled. Although we cannot eliminate the risk, we do everything we can to effectively mitigate the risk, while providing exceptional experiences to our guests.
At the beginning of your trip and just prior to our first run, we’ll brief you on both helicopter safety and fundamental avalanche rescue techniques. All guests are provided with a Barryvox Avalanche Transceiver, Mammut Avalanche Floatation Pack, probe, shovel and personal radio. On your first run, we’ll introduce you to the basics of heli skiing so that you become comfortable traveling with a guide in the mountains.
Our risk management program starts very early in the morning at our AM guides meeting. Here, the guides and pilots review regional snowpack, weather and avalanche information in order to produce a mountain hazard forecast. Specific run options are coded open or closed for the day, based on the forecasted hazard. Once in the field, guides are constantly assessing hazard, monitoring conditions and making appropriate adjustments to terrain choices according to conditions. At the end of the day, the guides and pilots meet again during our PM guides meeting to discuss the program and to make adjustments to the forecast and risk mitigation strategy for the following day.
Many of our guides and pilots are industry leaders in avalanche education, Guide mentorship and mountain rescue; in fact, it is not uncommon to have over 100 years of combined experience in any given guides meeting.
Our guides
Our highly experienced guides are certified through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations and/or the Canadian Ski Guide Association. Our lead guides are Avalanche Forecasters, having received their training through the Canadian Avalanche Association. We are also an Accredited Member of HeliCat Canada, a national standards association for the helicopter and snowcat skiing industry. All of our guides have undergone extensive first aid and mountain rescue certification and training. In fact, Great Bear Heli Skiing is one of only a handful of operations that have helicopter long-line rescue capability. In the event of an injury or accident, we’re proud to be able to utilize the Boost Human External Cargo system in order to safely and efficiently rescue an injured guest from virtually any location in the mountains.
Safety is paramount; a very close second to that is the guest experience. We recognize the trust that you place in us as both your guides and as your hosts. In addition to a very high level of technical skill, training and expertise, our guides have been hired because they quite simply love their work. They are empowered to do right by you, our valued guests, in all situations and will endeavour to create an atmosphere in which you feel at home – both on and off the mountain.
our Aircraft
Your journey with us begins and ends at the South Terminal of Vancouver International Airport, just a short shuttle ride from the main terminal. Check-in is at 0830 for your Central Mountain Air private charter flight on a twin-engine turboprop Beechcraft 1900. You’ll depart for either Anahim Lake or Bella Coola - depending on weather - which generally takes just over an hour. Sit back, relax and take in the spectacular views of the Coast Mountains including Mount Waddington, the highest peak within British Columbia at 4,019 m / 13,185 ft.
Once on the ground again, you will transfer over to one of two AS350 B3 helicopters for a short direct flight to our lodge on the Dean River.
We are proud to be working with Contour Helicopters. All of our pilots have significant mountain flying hours and production helicopter skiing experience.
In order to deal with any and all unexpected events, we operate with an additional back-up helicopter, pilot and guide stationed at the lodge.
We are the most remote heli skiing lodge in Canada.
We are also one of the most accessible helicopter skiing operations in Canada. no car rentals, mountain highways or complicated travel logistics.
Central Mountain Air
Beech 1900 - private charter from YVR to Anahim Lake / Bella Coola.
Contour Helicopters
Astar 350 B3 - the most trusted workhorse for small-group heli skiing programs.
