Firms seek OK to offer helicopter ski services

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is considering a proposal that could bring helicopter skiing to state lands in the Whitefish Mountain Range.

The agency is taking public comment on the proposal for commercially guided helicopter skiing on portions of the Stillwater and Coal Creek state forests. The proposal comes from Valhalla Adventures and Triple-X Helicopter Inc., a new company in the Flathead.

Valhalla, run by Fred Dietrich of Whitefish, already has a special recreation license for a "cat skiing" operation that provides skiers expanded access to fresh tracks in the upper reaches of the Stillwater Forest.

Helicopter skiing, Dietrich said in an interview this week, would add altitude and vertical drop for skiers.

"There's all kinds of good stuff," Dietrich said of the terrain potential. "I would say on average it would allow 2,000 to 3,500 vertical feet [runs], about twice what you get in a normal cat skiing operation."

Cat skiing relies on multi-passenger snow machines that are mostly confined to routes over groomed forest roads.

The helicopter proposal is being considered jointly by the state, but Valhalla and Triple X Helicopters are distinctly separate operations, Dietrich said.

He explained that Triple X is applying for permission to have guided trips into the Coal Creek State Forest, with Winona and Coal ridges specifically identified as potential areas.

Valhalla will continue to focus on the Stillwater Forest, with the Stryker Ridge area specifically identified in the state proposal.

Dietrich said his company may provide guide services to Triple-X Helicopter and he may contract with the company for helicopter flights. But there are several helicopter operations in the region, and even some outside the region, that could be used, Dietrich said.

He said the biggest obstacle to having a consistent helicopter skiing operation is unpredictable weather, and the Whitefish Range gets its share of that.

But there are successful operations in Canada that deal with the same obstacles.

"The demand is out there, I think," Dietrich said. "There is nobody doing helicopter skiing anywhere in the state of Montana. Canada is going crazy with helicopters and cat skiing. And if we want to compete in the U.S., even a little bit, we're going to have to get something going."

Dietrich said Valhalla is attempting to broaden winter use on public lands in many ways. In addition to providing snow-machine transportation to backcountry skiing, the company sets up a large yurt on the Stillwater Forest as a comfortable overnight shelter for all types of winter recreationists - snowmobilers, snowshoers, cross-country skiers and dog sledders.

The Stillwater Unit of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is accepting comments on the proposal through Oct. 3.

For more information on the proposal or how to comment, contact Nicole Stickney, special use forester, at 881-2666 or by e-mail at nstickney@mt.gov.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com