"The Bugaboos",By Brian Keating
Brian speaks with guest host Ken Lima-Coelho about the scenery and wildlife he's seen hiking in the Purcell Mountains in BC.
"Family Travel Five: Canada offers outdoor adventure",By Lynn O'Rourke Hayes
Excitement grows when your family boards a helicopter bound for a high mountain lodge.
"High Altitude Escape",By Amy Elisa Keith
Take the girls weekend up a notch with a helicopter ride up to the Columbia mountains for yoga, mountain hikes, zip-lining, climbing and a five-star dinner.
"Whirling Into the Forest Primeval",By Stan Sesser
After landing on a ridge line, it was possible to walk far enough on bare ground to see that in fact it did resemble a sidewalk—a smooth mixture of lichen, moss and finely crushed rock. Hiking in the Canadian Rockies, even at lower levels without the aid of a helicopter, is a thrilling experience: thick forests, spectacular waterfalls and wildflowers everywhere. But the bonus of heli-hiking is the unparalleled views, which otherwise would take many hours or in some cases a couple of days slogging up the sides of mountains to get to.
"Hiking is better at the top of the world",By Doug Firby
A collection of weekend warriors who have come here to achieve a new level of outdoor adventure are recovering from a half-day hike high in the Purcell Range of the Columbia Mountains in eastern British Columbia. Over the next three days, these hikers’ extraordinary and vigorous trips deep into this remote range will bond them together like old friends and pump a new addiction into their veins – the rush of heli-hiking through this spectacular region.
"Getting high on heli-hiking",By Lisa Monforton
This all happened on a weekend trip lasting less than 72 hours: a marriage proposal overlooking a breathtaking valley in front of a group of strangers, a hiker overcoming her fear of vertigo and another climbing a rock face no wider than a five-foot coffee table using her bare hands. Most remarkable of all though was the discovery of a new "drug" that delivers sheer happiness, with no side-effects. Such is the powerful seduction of heli-hiking.
"Hiking is better at the top of the world",By Doug Firby
Daily hikes often start with good-natured banter, but settle into long periods of quiet as hikers absorb the awe-inspiring grandeur of their surroundings. One day, we navigated across a broad scree face until we reached an icy pond that held the runoff from an ice-cave in the glacier we have traveled to. Taking off our sweaty boots, we dipped our toes into the ice water and sat in a sort communal reverence.
"Stunning scenery lures adventurers to British Columbia for helicopter hiking",By Ann Britton Campbell
The hands-down highlight of our trip is the six-hour climb up, over and down the two granite towers that guides have named Mount Nimbus. (These mountains are so remote that many remain, officially, unnamed.) Mere mortals like my family are able to safely complete the climb, including the scary suspension bridge, thanks to the via ferrata (Italian for " iron road"), a high-alpine route equipped with fixed cables on to which we clip our safety ropes, and iron rungs that we use when hand and footholds are scarce.
"Upmarket-Facing Dog",By Jerry Guo
Yoga devotees can do sun salutations beside zebras and giraffes in an African safari park, or fly by helicopter to the top of one of Canada’s Rocky Mountain peaks for a picturesque session.
"With a helicopter's help, paradise found",By Laurie Gough
The helicopter ride is an IMAX extravaganza of dizzying proportions before we land on a precipice at what feels like the edge of the Earth. Above us is the backside of the Bugaboos, a view we haven't seen. Below us is the gaping yawn of a canyon entirely devoid of human exploration. We tiptoe outside.
"Heli-Hiking Canada's Rugged and Remote Columbia Mountains",By Rebecca Rothbaum
The Bugaboos (so-named for a failed gold rush) are distinguished by striking granite towers (more Gaudi than Gothic), that were exposed and sculpted by glaciers. We see evidence of the glaciers everywhere, in the shale-walled cirques, turquoise tarns and gleaming ice fields.
By Alexandra Redgrave
Low energy, high stress and even disease can improve on vacation. A heli-yoga trip in the remote mountains of British Columbia shows how taking a break can help you heal.
"Heli-hiking takes visitors to dizzying heights",By Ann Campbell
My family trip is based out of the rustically elegant Bobbie Burns Lodge...Under the watchful eyes of our guides, we trek through alpine meadows, beside glaciers and along mountain ridges. At the end of each day the helicopter whisks us back to the lodge for rest, relaxation and delicious meals served family-style at long wooden tables.
"Solo travel works best if you have a focus",By Judi Lees
I find it tricky booking a solo vacation. It is about defining your comfort zone -- and perhaps stepping out of it. It is about being independent but, at times, having company...For those who don't like large groups, yet yearn to mix and mingle a certain amount, here are some suggestions.
"After 18 years of traveling, 14 top hotels",By Christopher Reynolds
Since I started writing about travel for the Los Angeles Times near the end of the last century, I've slept in close to 500 hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, not counting rental houses and cruise-ship cabins, campsites and airport seating areas. Most of these places have faded and merged in memory, but some stay with you.
"Heliskiing at Revelstoke Lodge, B.C.: A Day in the Life",By Jamie Preston
"All CMH areas have stupendous terrain, but Revelstoke provides perhaps the best variety of terrain options in the CMH tenure. The tree runs may not be as long as those at the Monashees Lodge, but you are still getting sustained glades that magically continue to open up as you descend blower snow."
"Heli-Skiing",By Trevor Thieme
"...as I stand perched atop one of British Columbia's most remote ridgelines, ready to plunge into the treeless expanse below, I'm certain of one thing: I've found heaven at approximately 9,000 feet above sea level."
"Canadian Mountain Holidays – a beacon for sustainability",By Celes Davar
As tourism operators, we often are not equipped with the tools that help us to understand how sustainable our businesses are, pr how to measure sustainability and where to look for shining examples of sustainability.
Hats off to you Dave and the entire team at CMH! Canada leads the way through such innovations in engaging sustainability as a core component of tourism.
"Roller Coaster in the Rockies",By Rachel Oakes
It is the best fun I have had since, well, since the last run and it is highly addictive. Day four and the sun comes up in a cloudless blue sky and we head to the open glaciers with rugged ridges and mammoth peaks as our backdrop.
"A via ferrata makes scaling a vertical face like climbing a jungle gym",By John Flinn
Bednar, 40, is the unlikeliest of rock jocks: She doesn't have Popeye-sized forearms, a devil-may-care attitude about great heights or the names of Sherpas in her Friends and Family Plan. She's never even set foot in a rock-climbing gym. Instead of pulling herself up by tiny finger- and toeholds, Bednar is ascending something called a via ferrata, Italian for "iron road." This series of metal ladder rungs, safety cables and bridges forms a vertical pathway to the summit.
"Canada with the Transworld Crew",By Tom Burt
I made it back home from 5 days at the Monashees, CMH heli operation. I was there with the Transworld Shred Session.
"Season of snow setting up for 'unreal' Olympics",By Kelley McMillan
With 4 weeks to go until the Olympics, what can ski athletes expect when it comes to the weather at the Games? Ask Whistler local Dave Gauley who, as a ski guide for heli-ski operator Canadian Mountain Holidays and one of the top extreme skiers in the world, has spent his adult life reading and interpreting British Columbia's precarious weather patterns.
"Unusual Accommodations for Adventurous Travelers",By Lois Friedland
Are you seeking adventure travel that involves unusual accommodations where you can spend the night? Here are three unusual lodging choices stretching from mountainsides to treetops to an ocean bottom.
"Six Reasons to Go Heli-Skiing",By Kelley McMillan
Not that you needed any. But here are the six best things about booking a trip to CMH’s Cariboo Lodge in BC.
"Peak Performance",For avid skiers, heli-skiing is the sport’s Holy Grail, offering the best imaginable terrain and conditions -- minus crowds or lift lines. Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) is the world’s premier heli-ski operator and has 12 wilderness areas with lodges throughout western Canada, ...
"Best Climbing Trip for Mortals",The new cable- and ladder-assisted climb to Nimbus's needle-like summit is North America's first world-class via ferrata, with hundereds of feet of hand-and-foot scrambling and panoramic views of glacier-draped peaks.
By Omri
The Tour D'Adamants vacation package - guided by TV sports commentator Bob Roll and Tour de France competitor Ron Kiefel and presumably part of the company's Powder Masters program - revolves around a stay in the isolated Adamant Lodge.
By Kelley McMillan
...While heli-skiing in Canada. CMH and K2 partner up to offer two seven-day trips to be part of designing the next generation of K2 skis. Where do we sign up?
By Crai S. Bower
“My apprehension about being “dropped” in unfamiliar territory (or feeling overwhelmed by a lack of heli-skiing experience) was quickly assuaged when I saw the level of detail in the preparations (and options) provided by the operator.”
"Fear Factor",By Andrew Evans
Andrew Evans confronts his acrophobia on Canada's
newest vertical challenge: the Via Ferrata.
"Vacations That Require You to Break a Sweat",By David Kaufman
The snow may be a few months away in most places, but the glaciers remain frozen year-round in the Canadian Rockies, where heli-hiking replaces heli-skiing in the warmer months.
"Summit of B.C.'s Purcell Mountains within reach",By Mark Sissons
Stepping onto the hundred-foot long plank-and-cable suspension bridge, I feel like French tightrope walker Philippe Petit, star of this year's Oscar-winning documentary, Man on Wire.
By Susan Crandall
Conquering Mt. Nimbus is a top-of-the-world emotion that makes me feel like a kid again, with an afterglow that lasts and lasts.
By Zac Unger
Suddenly, western Canada's exquisite glaciers and high peaks are no longer the province of exhausted trekkers and grizzled trappers. Now any urbanite or retiree with two (more or less) working legs and the good sense to hire a helicopter can enjoy the simple freedom of a walk in the mountains.
By Greg Dixon
It's quite some sight watching a helicopter moving quickly and noisily below you before rising up to where you wait, on a speck of ice in the middle of nowhere, with the cloud already obscuring the stunning mountain scenery and the wooded valleys below.
By Bryan Cassidy
I was researching my next potential heli-skiing trip based on the amount of fun I had on my first trip to Canada. As I surfed various websites, I realized that there really are no good lists of important information a person should know when planning their first heli-skiing trip. The websites I saw basically listed very generic tips that really leaned on the fact that these trips can be expensive. Thus, I decided to put a list together of ten tips that I knew prior too my trip and some that I learned on my first heli-skiing trip.
By Beverly Mann
Imagine meditating on a glorious 8000-foot glacier with verdant valleys and meadows below steeped in bright pink Indian paintbrushes and yellow daisies. Envision luxuriating in a warm mineral bath looking out toward snow-capped majestic peaks jutting into a powder-blue sky, backed by dense forested greenery.
By Diane Slawych
On a recent visit we hike in an alpine meadow filled with wildflowers, walk along a snowy ridge near a glacier, then pick wild strawberries in a dense forest, before hiking along a meandering river. Three completely different wilderness landscapes in what feels like three seasons -- all in one day.
Two of the ski industry’s most innovative companies, CMH Heli-Skiing, the company that introduced heli-skiing, and K2 Skis, known for its cutting-edge ski design, have announced a new partnership for the 2009-10 ski season.
Aside from the "ordinary" thrill of backcountry skiing in some of the world's most pristine powder, CMH Ski Demo guests will also get the rare opportunity to go "behind the scenes" and be a part of the testing and design of the next generation of K2 BackSide skis, to be released in fall of 2010. K2 ski engineers will also be on-hand to gather real-time feedback from Heli-Skiers about the feel and performance of the skis, which will help fine-tune the prototype design. At the end of the trips, each CMH Ski Demo guest will go home with a certificate for a brand-new pair of K2 skis of their choice.
Vertical skiing: 30,500 vertical metres (100,000 vertical feet). Skiing Gear Junkies: K2 ski demos. Dreams of deep snow: Heli-Skiing. All of it only for the small price tag of $9,075 US. Desire: Priceless.
Notre explorateur Christian Milette continue son périple au coeur des Rocheuses canadiennes à Golden en Colombie-Britannique. Il nous amène vivre des sensations fortes sur le chemin de la « Via Ferrata » et sur les fameuses tyroliennes du « Bobbie Burns Lodge ».
Join CBC reporter Christian Milette at the CMH Bobbie Burns Lodge as he experiences Heli-Hiking for the first time. Glaciers, ridges, zip lines, and the world-famous Via Ferrata. In French Only.
By Maribeth Bond
Last summer, at the peak of the wildflower season, my college-age daughter and I flew to Calgary for an unforgettable adventure in one of North American's most dramastic settings: Canada's mini Himalayas in British Columbia.
By Debra Cummings
Cast together on CMH's three-day, all-gals hiking trip, dubbed Bodacious in the Bugaboos, I had initially been the suspicious one. Here to hike and practice high-altitude yoga, the all-gal component of this three-day getaway was secondary. But spend hours zigzagging along Grassy Ridge, learn to lock-step up a knife-edge lateral moraine and ... the camaraderie becomes thick.
Rocky Mountain High
This hiking adventure packs a ton of thrills - via ferrata (mountain route with fixed cables), zip line, high mountain bridges, a glacier wak with crampons and harness - all in the magnificence of the Canadian Rockies.
Take Mom on a getaway for Mother's Day and the memories will keep on giving long after you return.
By Jim Farber
Experience the thrill of heli-hiking in the mountains of Western Canada
It seemed amazing. The day had dawned clear with only wisps of clouds against a blue August sky. We'd hiked all day in high-mountain meadows dotted with vibrant wildflowers and lunched at a glacier lake well above timberline. We’d seen soaring eagles, marmots, a snow-white mountain goat and one awe-inspiring grizzly bear.
The February 2009 issue of National Geographic ADVENTURE issue has arrived on newsstands and includes the eagerly anticipated “Best Travel Companies on Earth” list. This year, Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) has been selected as the Best Heli-Adventure Company on Earth.
By Greg Coates
Adventurous skiers looking for something a little out of the ordinary can now tackle the Rockies' Bugaboos range with Canadian Mountain Holidays' (CMH) new Ski Touring program. After a day of skiing, guests return by helicopter to the Bugaboos lodge.
By Steve Bramucci
Transported from the heart of suburbia to the wilderness of Canada's Purcell Mountains, one writer finds his inner frontiersman while heli-hiking in pristine terrain.
By Louise Hudson
Having left behind boyfriends, husbands and children, our gang hit the helicopter pad with pretty parkas, excess baggage (which had to be trucked in separately) and non-stop chatter as we prepared to invade the traditionally male-dominated enclave of a heli-skiing haven.
By Joe Nocera
Your pilot is weaving in and over and around snow-capped mountain peaks, maneuvering up and down verdant valleys, sliding past ... wait: are those glaciers out there? They certainly are.