The Wasatch Powderbird Guides supposedly keep records of many things (wildlife, explosive duds, etc.) but one of the only documents they are required to actually submit to the Forest Service each year is their Usage Statistics. This probably has more to do with the Forest Service wanting to make sure they aren’t getting cheated on their permit fees than anything.
Courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act, here are the 2008-09 stats:
2009-09 WPG Usage Statistics
Some lowlights…
- Number of Explosives Dropped in Tri Canyons Area – 44
- Number of Explosives Dropped in Periphery Areas – 28
- Total flights – 1,619
- Number of skier tourers/snowshoers seen in the year – 408
- Number of snowmobiles seen in the year – 54
- Total number of guests – 907
- Total number of skier days – 730.6
- Total number of Alpine Touring excursions – 0
Brought to you via a formal request under the “Freedom of Information Act.”
This is the document that the Wasatch Powderbird Guides gives to the Forest Service every year to outline how they will (or more likely, won’t) be behaving. In turn, the Forest Service often defaults to this whenever there is a complaint. For example, if you were out skiing and the WPG landed close by or dropped bombs right in front of you on a dawn patrol, the WPG Operating Plan says they will try, whenever possible to avoid doing that, but leaves the option open to do so at any time. Sorry Charlie.
Wasatch Powderbird Guides Operating Plan 2009 – 2014
The Operating Plan also contains details like Rusty, Kevin and Olie’s cell phone numbers, as well as the WPG radio frequencies and the names of the helicopter companies (and pilots) they work with.
I thought they had to update this every year, but it appears they are now allowed to do it in five-year chunks. Awesome.
As part of the Wasatch Powderbird Guides typical disinformation package, they claim to follow the Helicopter Association International “Fly Neighborly Guide.” Since I’d never heard of this (and WPG obviously doesn’t know much about it either), I found a copy on the internet.
Fly Neighborly Guide
It only takes reading a page or two to realize they don’t follow any of these suggestions, ie, not flying the same routes, flying 2,000′ above the ground (ha – try 20′ in the WPG case), avoiding people and many other infractions.
This was a typical Wasatch Powderbird Guides maneuver…
Since it looks like they are losing their helibase at Snowbird, WPG quietly applied for a business license in Summit County and made plans to relocate their operation to The Canyons ski resort in Park City. They were basing the move on the premise that their permit from 5+ years ago when The Canyons was Park West was still valid and they quitely tried to get Snyderville Basin’s permission to establish a “low impact” “temporary” heli-base right in the middle of one of the most densely populated areas in Summit County.
Everything was going great until they applied for a permit to build three helipads and a storage shed on their chosen lot, which triggered a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). Unfortunately for them, CUP’s require a public hearing which in turn generated 100′s of letters of opposition and heartfelt pleas from nearby home owners not to allow it.
In a rare instance, the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission actually denied the permit, which effectively shut them down, at least for this spot. I’m sure WPG will try to appeal this or look for another home in Park City, which is not great, but good to know. Forewarned is forearmed.
Click here for The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission Staff Report on the WPG application.
A classic bit of Wasatch Powderbird Guides propaganda from WPG owner Rusty Dassing who was trying to weasel his way into heliport in the middle of The Canyons ski resort.
Some selected humor:
In WPG’s 37 years we have seen how the sizzle of a heli-ski operation draws many visitors to the area who hope to one day achieve skiing’s most exciting challenge…
Local lodging, dining and retail businesses will enjoy increased sales due (sic) the high spending habits of heli-skiers.
The many visiting skiers who are excited by the sound of the ski patrol using explosives to minimize avalanche risk will likely find the presence and sounds of the ski helicopter exciting as well.
Read the full letter here.
Link to the Summit County staff report on the Wasatch Powderbird Guides application for a heliport in The Canyons Ski Resort
There are some classic lines in here!
“The many visiting skiers who are excited by the sounds of the ski patrol using explosives to minimize avalanche risk will likely find the presence and sounds of the helicopter exciting as well.”
“In WPG’s 37 years we have seen how the sizzle of a heli-ski operations draws many visitors to the area who hope to one day achieve skiing’s most exciting challenge…”
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.
Wasatch Powder Bird Guides – Explosives Use for Slope Stability Testing – Program Review, August 2005
After a formal Freedom of Information Act request (and then the expected follow-up note weeks later to ask if/when the the Forest Service was actually going to send it) I’ve finally received the January and February 2008 daily Wasatch Powderbird Guides report.
I’ve always thought it seemed like there were a lot of helicopters flying around at the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon, but never imagined the WPG were making as many flights as they do. With only twelve days of operation in January, they managed to pump out a staggering 511 flights, for an average of 42.6 flights per day. Bear in mind a “flight” is there and back, which means when they were flying, it was a virtual war-zone of flying choppers.
Shocking, eh? But then there was February.
In an ear-shattering, peace disrupting effort, the Wasatch Powderbirds cranked out 720 flights in just 14 days during February! That’s an average of over 51 flights per day. No wonder it seems like the helicopters are in your face all the time – they are.
During Jan/Feb spree, they managed to drop 41 bombs of which there is no record of the damage they caused to flora and fauna.
In the combined 26 days of operation, they saw 328 “ski or snowshoe users” which comes out to 12.6 per day, or only one backcountry user for every 3-4 flights they took. They must not be looking very hard.
The hard-to-read pdf document can be found here.