Documenting the Destruction of the Wasatch Moutains by the Wasatch Powderbird Guides
In one of the greater ironies of the Wasatch Heli Wars, the Forest Service prohibits jeeps, dirt bikes and ATV’s from tearing up the Wasatch Mountains, but for some reason allows helicopters. Fortunately a Heli-Free Wasatch supporter was able to fix the trailhead sign:
The link below takes you to a PDF document which was compiled by the Wasatch-Cache National Forest as a result of the Jan 2005 Wasatch Powderbird Guides bombing campaign which senselessly devastated large tracts of trees in the central Wasatch Mountains. With known avalanche instability, the Powderbird Guides went on a bombing joyride which triggered massive avalanches in the backcountry, tearing out trees and weakening the snowpack in the process.
As subtle as an A-Star landing within five-feet of your head on a clear, calm day, a secret stash of Heli-Free Wasatch stickers has been discovered and are yours for the bargain donation of only $5.00 for two of them - one for you and one for the neighbor’s Hummer.
At 10″ x 3″, these leave no doubt as to your feelings towards heliskiing in the Wasatch Mountains. As with the smaller stickers, these include postage, a blank piece of paper with “Thanks!” handwritten on it and eternal good karma.
Here is a quote from the Wasatch Powderbird Guides website that makes you wonder what kind of drugs these guys are on:
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the United States Forest Service, while heli skiing with WPG, you will be recreating on your national forest with assurance that these activities cause no harm to the environment and minimize the disturbance of others.
If this isn’t harming the environment, I don’t know what is:
Here’s the WPG version of “minimizing disturbance of others” - landing not only one, but two helicopters full of guides and clients directly on top of a touring party in broad daylight within inches of the ski area boundary.
Here is yet another brilliant video by Derek. Simple, to the point and thought provoking.
The Wasatch Cache Forest Service has granted guiding concessions to three operators in the Wasatch Mountains; Exum of Utah (backcountry skiing & climbing), Utah Interconnect (Skiing between the ski areas) and the Wasatch Powderbird Guides. While most people have never even heard of the first two guiding concessions, the Powderbirds on the other hand is one of the most controversial guiding operations in all of America. It is hard to imagine the Forest Service granting a permit to, say, a fly fishing guide service which allowed them to bomb the rivers, tear out trees so their clients could cast easier and land directly on top of other river users who have hiked in to the prime fishing holes on their own. The Forest Service does this as they are set in their ways of 35 years, and more importantly, they collect user fees from the Wasatch Powderbird Guides.
It’s a sad yet familiar sight… you are out backcountry skiing in the beautiful Wasatch Mountains and just as you come up to the top of a peak, there is a little pile of WPG flagging attached to a snapped off tree limb.
This is called “litter.”
And because it makes the Wasatch LitterPig Guides feel important and like a REAL heliskiing company, there is a lot of it!
Real heliskiing companies use 36″ (or longer) staffs that they plant in the snow with durable flagging, then they remove it at the end of the day or the season. The Wasatch Powderbird Guides just rip a branch off a nearby tree, tie a piece of tat to it and leave it to rot. This is done mainly to impress their clients. Not only that, but they often place the flagging so low that it is buried by the next snow storm, so they have to plant even more litter.
WPG is sanctioned by the Wasatch Cache Forest Service to place all of this litter and rip branches off of trees as they see fit. They have no provision for cleaning it up and claim the flagging is biodegradable, which it probably is… in 25 years. In the meantime, it just clutters up peaks and then gets mulched into the talus in the summer.
This makes backcountry skiers mad:
Remember, PUT LITTER IN ITS PLACE, which in this case is the Wasatch Powderbird Guides parking lot.
Almost any discussion with the Powderbirds ends up with them getting fed up, frustrated and finally saying (grrrrr..) “It’s just all about the powder.” To them and their clients it may be, but to backcountry skiers, it is about being landed on, rude WPG clients & guides, litter, noise and WPG’s poor backcountry behavior. This photo is a classic illustration about why it is NOT about the powder:
This incident took place between Alta and Brighton, which is a 45 minute hike for a touring party and a two minute flight for the helicopter. It was a clear, sunny day and the helicopter decided to land on a cornice which threatened a touring party below. After disgorging its group of clients and guides, it returned five minutes later to do the same thing all over again. Note the very chopped up powder - hardly the stuff of heli skiing dreams.
Perfect for making a subtle statement on your skis, snowboard, pick-up truck, Porsche or A-Star helicopter! Sized at a svelte 3.5″ in diameter, these stickers can be artfully applied to a coffee mug or water bottle, which makes a perfect holiday gift for your favorite Forest Service employee. Snuggled up on your bumper next to a Save Our Canyons sticker, these leave no doubt that you won’t be flying with Crusty, Oily, Bombardier Bradley or any of the other WPG goon squad.
$5.00 gets you a package of THREE stickers, an envelope, cancelled stamp and a FREE piece of 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper with the word “Thanks!” written on it.
Printed in America, dammit!
A photo sent in by Ryan Kluh from April 3rd, 2008. The Wasatch Powderbird Guides say that “whenever possible, they will try to avoid backcountry skiers.” I guess in this case, it wasn’t possible (or convenient) and they didn’t try very hard. This photo is taken in broad daylight on Superior Ridge, which is a 30 second flight from the WPG heliport. WPG could have easily landed elsewhere instead of right in front of this backcountry skier, but they chose not to.
This is why people hate them.
