Mica Heliskiing Trip, Revelstoke, Canada

Mica Heli. One of my favorite places to go. Heliskiing was always our dream honeymoon trip so I had put us on a few different catskiing and heliskiing operator waitlists in 2019 to see if some spots would open up. In December 2019, we got the email from Mica that they had some spots open up for February 2020. We said yes thinking we couldn’t pass up this trip of a lifetime and that we’d only go just this one time…well, we turned out to be very wrong about only going once. It was one of the best trips of our lives and when they asked if we wanted to put in a deposit for 2021, we couldn’t say no.

Fast forward to February 2021 and the Canadian/US border was still closed due to COVID-19. So we rolled our deposit to February 2022 with the hope that Canada would want to allow us American tourists in by then. Thankfully they did! Although I will say, having to take a PCR test within 72 hours of our flight turned out to be quite stressful, and I had some issues getting my results. However, I won’t bore you with those details because you’re here to hear about the the trip, the skiing, and see the pictures.

Both Mike and I got our negative COVID tests back and headed to Kelowna with a connection in Vancouver. We had no issues on our flights, but once we landed in the Kelowna airport, the only bag we received was our ski bag that just had both our skis in it. We had each also checked a personal duffel bag with our clothing and some additional ski gear. Both of the times we’ve flown to Kelowna from Denver, we’ve had Air Canada lose at least one bag so I don’t think we’ll be flying with them again if we can avoid it. So we went to the baggage desk (it had quite a line - clearly this was a common issue), and they said one of our bags is still in Vancouver and will be on the flight to Kelowna landing at 10:15pm while the other bag wasn’t in the system at all and they had no idea where it was. Great. Thankfully, we had carried on our ski boots, helmet, gloves, googles, and one full ski outfit so we would be able to go skiing, but the question would be how smelly we were going to be.

We went to check in to our hotel that was a few minutes from the airport and decided to head back to the airport that night to see if our bag arrived on the 10:15pm flight. We had no idea if it would be mine or Mike’s so neither of us wanted to get too excited. It turned out to be mine so our next task was to see when we could get Mike’s bag. We checked in again with the baggage desk and were told that his bag was still sitting in Denver. We got to the airport over 2 hours early and somehow his bag still didn’t get on the plane. The earliest they could get it to Kelowna was 4pm the next day. At 4pm the next day we were going to already be at Mica’s lodge that can only be accessed via helicopter.

The next morning, we were informed by Mica that it would be a $1500 fee to deliver the bag from their Revelstoke location to the lodge so Mike ended up going on a 30 minute shopping spree in Revelstoke for some clothes. This was definitely the cheaper option, and he got some new cloths so in the end I don’t think he minded that they lost his bag!

Without any further hiccups, we made it to the lodge by that afternoon. After a refresher on avalanche safety and how to use a beacon, shovel, and probe, we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. The next morning, we were to be ready by 8:30 for the helicopters to start taking groups out. We were in a group of four with the other two people in our group being a father and 19 year old son from Canada. Both turned out to be great skiers and the 19 year old kept us on our toes to keep up!

The first day we woke up to over a foot of new snow. It was overcast and still snowing so we spent the majority of it skiing trees, with a lot of time in an area called “The Burn” that had been impacted by a wildfire a number of years ago. Because none of the trees have any branches, it makes for some wide open gladed skiing. As is usual for me, I think I skied too much that first day and may have tired out my legs a little too much. Oops.

Day 2 and day 3 were bluebird days but they sure were COLD. Both days were in the -30C range with the windchill. Thank goodness for heated socks and hand warmers. We skied a lot of the alpine runs you can see in my pictures on these days. By day 3 my legs were pretty exhausted, and I was ready to quit after just a few runs after lunch. This turned out to be a great decision because they felt significantly better on the fourth morning. The fourth morning was our last day (we ski a 1/2 day and then get shuttled back to Kelowna) and was a mix of sunny and overcast so we spent it in a wide variety of terrain.

We ended up skiing about 120,000 vertical feet over the 3.5 days. We were ready to head home to take a few days off and get some rest. Will we go back next year? I’ll let you take a guess at the answer. :)

Krista

Can you see me entering the whiteroom?

DEEEEEP

Mike

The lodge

Happy campers

Waiting for the helicopter

Apres with a view

View from our room

Cold!

Did I mention the food is always on point too?