One heli of a day

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My first heli ride ever!

The intro to backcountry and the backcountry freeride groups were combined together, so there was 12 of us plus three guides. We drove about 2 hours to Switzerland to the heli pad. There was a single heli transporting us, and only 4 could fit in a heli, so the heli had to make 4 separate trips to get us all to the drop zone.

The first scary thing that happened: when we were already way up in the air, the passenger door opened. Luckily Johnny grabbed it right away and shut it, then gave a little shrug to our helicopter driver. Oops!

Second scary thing: When the last heli arrived, and its passengers were getting out, 2 of them were crouched low, but definitely headed up the hill towards us even though the heli hadn't taken off yet. Apparently, they hadn't been given any instructions by the guide who was now too busy securing their gear to notice them, and the sound of the motor running was too loud for them to hear us yelling at them to stop. Someone standing next to me was becoming increasingly emotional and started screaming "you morons! you complete idiots! you're going to get your f#$@ing head taken off!" You could see this really confused look on Ed's face; for all he knew, we were yelling at him to come closer. Finally, one of the guides ran towards the heli waving his arms and the guys got the message.

For those of you who might ever ride a helicopter in the future: if you're not landing on something you know is flat, like the roof of a building, don't walk away from the heli even if you are crouching low. It's especially hard to detect contour in snow.

I think Ed was having a run of bad luck because shortly after the helicopter incident, he and Tim collided and Tim's pack smacked Ed in the eye. Well, at least we were told to leave our crampons at home today!

Johnny had warned us a day ahead that the Pin was likely to be tracked and also that we'd have to climb ladders at some point. The latter warning persuaded Joe to stay home; he has a strong fear of heights. We did climb some ladders, but Johnny was wrong about the tracks. The whole day was virtually trackless, and it was amazing. Even though it hadn't snowed for days, the snow was in great shape.

At the end of the day, we have some drinks at a local bar, which unfortunately would only accept paper euros (no coins) so we all ended up overpaying. Then back in France, after quick showers, my group goes into town for some celebratory curry with some friends of Ed and Joe (apparently, "going out for some curry" is the thing to do in the UK; one would never say "let's go out for Indian food"). It's hilarious to see the reactions of Ed's friends when they see his purple eye.

Incidentally, the heli was a great bargain. For 130 Euro ($178.86 US), we got one all-day heli ride plus the services of three guides.