Heli Skiing Wanaka

Heli Skiing Queenstown

Mt Cook Heli Skiing

Harris Mountains Heli Ski Terrain

Powderhounds Review of Harris Mountains Heli-Ski

The Harris Mountains HeliSki terrain is a dreamy place where there are rooster tails flying and powder hound tails wagging! We’ve been out with Harris Mountains Heliski several times, including some max vertical days and back in 2008 when I was a heli skiing virgin. Harris Mountains has a lot to answer for, because since my heli skiing cherry was popped, I’ve been fuelling my heli addiction in New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and USA and it’s made skiing at ski resorts and ski touring just that bit harder.

We’ve mostly heli skied out of Wanaka and more recently out of Glenorchy near Queenstown, where the snow was rather tasty (see video). We’ve met lots of regular HMH customers including a couple of fellas who’ve earned their 2 million vertical feet jackets. Blimey! That sort of record for repeat clientele business speaks volumes about the quality of HMH’s operation.

Of course even though Harris Mountains Heliski is a very reputable company, no heli skiing company is perfect for everyone. Our review covers different aspects of their operation so that you can determine if HMH is likely to match up with your priorities. It is worthwhile noting that many of the New Zealand heli skiing operations are very similar, especially the Queenstown and Wanaka heli skiing operators which have some shared pros and cons. Nevertheless HMH comes up trumps and we’ve rated Harris Mountains Heliski as the overall best heli skiing New Zealand operation. As a guide to the ratings, a 5/5 equates to absolutely phenomenal, 4/5 is excellent, whilst 3/5 is still a very good score.

Pros:

• Harris Mountains HeliSki is a very experienced operator and you can be assured of a high level of quality and service. HMH has a great reputation.
• HMH is the biggest NZ heli ski operation and have the capacity to take out lots of guests each day. The advantage this provides is that they can really cater for different ability levels and group guests accordingly. The chances are much less of being stuck with people that are way above or below your ability level or desire for speed. The size of the outfit also lessens any risk of a day being cancelled due to minimum numbers not being met.
• HMH is a great all-rounder when it comes to the terrain. HMH rates highly for the intermediate, advanced and expert terrain.
• Harris Mountains Heliski has the best terrain of the Queenstown/Wanaka operators and it links up nicely so that they can easily transition from one zone to another. The terrain is very sizeable so the guides have a good chance of finding reasonable (or even fantastic) snow conditions. If they have to go further into the backcountry to find the good snow, they won’t be stingy on heli flying time.
• The guides are great and have plenty of charisma to make the day even more fun. Of course they’re professional and incredibly experienced too!
• The staff in the Wanaka and Queenstown offices will not provide exaggerated reports of the likely snow conditions. Instead they will provide frank information so you can choose whether you want to go or not.
• As with all NZ heli skiing, the rates are a fraction of what you’d pay in other countries.

Cons:

• Like any heli ski operation, there is no guarantee of knee deep powder. However compared to the reasonably reliable snowfall in places such as Canada and Utah, the snow conditions with all the NZ heli operations are very variable. On the plus side as outlined above, the HMH staff won’t pretend there is thigh deep powder when there isn’t.
• As with all Queenstown / Wanaka heli skiing operators, the ski vertical is generally somewhat limited (approximately 600m to 760m on average).

Powder Snow
The snow conditions within the NZ mountain ranges can vary significantly from beautiful knee deep powder, to crud or spring corn. It’s all part of the magical mystery tour of New Zealand heli skiing! On all but one occasion (where there was a fair bit of crust), we’ve been suitably impressed with the snow conditions considering that the snow at the nearby ski resorts was often dreadful. We’ve even scored one amazing powder day where the temps were cold and we wondered whether we were possibly in Japan?! Mostly the snow has been good shin-deep powder or delightfully creamy snow, thanks to cooler temps at high elevation.
Overall Terrain
Harris Mountains Heli Ski has some impressive terrain within their vast tenure. HMH were the first heli ski company in the Queenstown/Wanaka area and staked their claim on the best terrain. We’ve done some superb heli-skiing out of Wanaka in the Buchanan Ranges, but it pales into insignificance in comparison to some of the terrain near Mt Amsted, the Headlong Glacier and Tyndall Glacier. The HMH website states that “several of our best skiing /riding locations are deep in the backcountry; we make the extra effort to get you to the best and deepest snow” and this is absolutely the truth! Their terrain elevations are higher than that of Southern Lakes and Alpine Heliski, and as such their average run lengths are a little longer. On one day we did a few runs of about 3,000 vertical feet and did one that continued for 4,000 feet, although this isn’t typical. Many of the runs provide fall line skiing and boarding that is to-die-for. The terrain also has interesting lips and huckable rocks as well as some spectacular glacial features such as ceracs and crevasses.
Alpine Terrain
All the Harris Mountains Heliski terrain is in the alpine. Other NZ heli skiing operators tend to cater very well to strong intermediates or experienced backcountry riders, but HMH is a great all-rounder.
Tree Skiing	zero
This isn’t Canada or the lower 48 of the USA.
Strong Intermediate Terrain
Harris Mountains Heli-Ski caters really well to intermediate riders, even if they’re not strong intermediates. There are 3 and 4 run packages that are pretty much dedicated to intermediates, and because of large guest numbers, there’s a high likelihood of like-abilities being grouped together. There is plenty of appropriate intermediate terrain, and the guides are extremely patient and encouraging.
Advanced Terrain
The terrain is perfect for advanced skiers and boarders (except that there’s only alpine terrain and no trees).
Expert & Extreme Terrain
Like any New Zealand heli skiing, when the avalanche risk is considerable to high, there are no steep trees where you can retreat for relative safely, so there could be plenty of days where you’ll just have to enjoy yourself on advanced type terrain. If experts can wait until the avalanche risk is low then there is an abundance of steep pitches to tackle. There are also plenty of lips and rocks to huck, and the guides are only too happy to point these out. One of our favourite days was with Whitney, where he put us on steeps right from the first run where the helicopter teetered on a razor edge ridge and we dropped into our warm-up run on a fantastically steep slope. Once again, a plus for HMH is the size of the operation which enhances the likelihood of being grouped with other experts, and the 10 run package is designed for experts only. Of course, like any heli skiing, the best way for experts to ensure they’ll have the ultimate day and flexibility to get to the best terrain for the conditions, is with a private charter.
Guiding
Many of the HMH guides have been in the business for 20 to 30 plus years and it shows (not because of their crinkly eyes but because their experience is obvious). They also have plenty of personality! They have lots of dedicated and highly experienced guides but also have on-call guides for busy days. The latter may not necessarily know the terrain as well as the old-hands but they’re not lead guiding so it’s not so crucial. The guide to guest ratio is usually 1:4 (or 1:5 with skinnies in the chopper) so the service is very attentive. We’ve had two trips with the legendary Whitney, a veteran of backcountry guiding. He did a great job of modifying his guiding depending on the situation. There was minimal or no re-grouping on mellow runs yet his guiding became very specific around hazards such as crevasses and cliffs, and his ability to pick the supremo snow was superb. We’ve also been out with Roger and Deano whose expertise and skills were equally impressive, and it was easy to feel very comfortable that they had the safety aspects well covered.
Heli
HMH use the same helicopters as their competitors, which are incredibly well suited to heli skiing and landing on narrow ridges.
Avalanche Mitigation Strategies
HMH monitors weather conditions and uses information sharing mechanisms to analyse snowpack stability. On a couple of days the avalanche risk was low so understandably the implementation of risk minimisation strategies was not really apparent, whilst on other days the guides dug pits. Only some guides discuss snowpack load minimisation and slope selection. Like their NZ counterparts, their website and safety briefings don’t demonstrate a really strong emphasis on avalanche safety. Only one guest pack with shovel and probe is provided per group (we take our own). Compare this to many Canadian heli skiing outfits where provision of an airbag with shovel and probe to all guests is the norm.
Safety Briefing
As is very typical with New Zealand heli skiing, the safety briefings regarding avalanche beacons and helicopters were very cursory. The briefings haven’t included what to do in an avalanche (other than use a beacon) and generally don’t cover shovel and probe use.
Frills
The frills are very similar across the Queenstown and Wanaka heli skiing operators. Harris Mountains Heliski provide accommodation pick-ups and drop-offs, rental equipment pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as a nice backcountry lunch with awesome vistas. Lunch included soup and cold items such as mini tarts and sandwiches. Hot and cold beverages were provided at lunch time, but you’ll need to BYO water if you think you’ll need hydration during other parts of the day. Powder skis can be rented at Racers Edge in Wanaka (next door to their office) or at Outdoor Sports in Queenstown. As is standard with most NZ heli operators, there’s no après session or finale for high-fiving but undoubtedly you’ll be able to do your own après-ski, especially if you’re in Queenstown! On request, Harris Mountains HeliSki can provide a video service whereby one of the guides will ski with the group and capture some of your rooster tails and face plants! A copy of the video can be purchased on a no-obligation basis.
Value for Money
As with most NZ heli skiing the rates are an absolute baaa…..gain especially when the New Zealand currency is that of a peso. The rates across the operators are very similar (see our NZ heli ski comparison for more information) so there’s not much point shopping around if price is your main concern.

Notes Regarding Review

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