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.
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.
A fun video with some nice terrain, but what you are not really seeing is that the helicopter took off from the base of Snowbird, then landed a few seconds later almost at the top of the resort, where the party then had to tour under their own power to get out to this region. Helicopters are not allowed to land within the wilderness boundaries (where all of this skiing in this video takes place), so they land as close as they can get… then everyone skins from there. Helicopters are hardly necessary for trips like this – the chairlifts get you to almost the same place, and for much, much less money (and impact).
A short but well produced video teaser of both sides of the conflict:
As a humorous aside, as the Director/Producer of this film was driving up up Little Cottonwood Canyon to interview one of the main owners of the Wasatch Powderbird Guides, he was tail-gated, then recklessly passed by a car from behind, which resulted in a one-finger salute from the Director. When the Director pulled into the WPG parking lot, the WPG owner recognized him as the guy who flipped him off and declined to give an interview. End of the film project?
A day with the Wasatch Powderbird Guides is often confused with a day of “real” heliskiing in places like Alaska or Canada. Skiers and boarders imagine big lines, deep powder, killin’ it with the bro’s and skiing steep lines.
This is not the case.
The Powderbird Guides operate in the very small and congested Wasatch Mountains and cater to intermediate skiers & boarders riding intermediate terrain. The average flight is a few minutes (if not seconds) and many of the runs are only 1,000 – 1,500′ long and heavily chaperoned. Not possible? Put on your gold chains, unbutton your shirt and get down to this video from a day of skiing with the Powderbirds:
