Haines’ heliski season lifts off this weekend, featuring one operator’s earliest start in years and an expected return to stability for an industry affected by covid and last-minute regulatory changes.
Alaska Heliskiing begins guiding Feb. 4, a couple weeks earlier than usual. “This is our longest season we’ve ever had. This is the earliest start we’ve had,” owner Sean Brownell said.
Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures’s season begins Feb. 15 and Stellar Adventure Travel will start its second year as a borough-permitted heliski operator on Feb. 25. Alaska Mountain Guides has the shortest season planned, with a March 11 start.
This will be the second season that the Haines Borough regulates heliskiing by helicopter use instead of “skier days,” or the number of people who ski with an operator each day.
Borough manager Annette Kreitzer allocated two helicopters each to Alaska Heliskiing, SEABA and Stellar and one helicopter to Alaska Mountain Guides. Companies aren’t permitted to use both their helicopters for the whole season, but all seven helicopters will be in play between March 15 and April 15.
The Haines Borough Assembly changed the borough’s heliskiing regulations within a few weeks of the start of last year’s season, following months of debate about whether to allow a fourth tour operator in the Chilkat Valley. The assembly ultimately amended borough code to raise the permit cap from three to four for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons.
The timing of that change might have led to challenges last season, borough manager Annette Kreitzer said in her end-of-season report, published last July.
Kreitzer described “some concerns regarding safety of operations” during the season, including “issues of congestion.”
“It is my opinion that the changes to the borough code so close to the start of the season contributed to the factors affecting this guided activity,” Kreitzer wrote.
Brownell also said there was congestion during the 2022 season. “There were a handful of conflicts last year between operators,” he said. “I guess that’s just to be expected with having four people in a small area.”
Kreitzer also recorded a few instances of operators landing outside the permitted ski map boundaries, including three instances that drew a total of $750 in fines for Alaska Heliskiing.
“None of the operators believed they were operating outside the boundary lines, and therefore did not report these infractions on their weekly use reports,” Kreitzer wrote. “I will work with the operators and the assembly to resolve the real or perceived misalignment of the map boundaries before the next season begins.”
Weather also played a role in last year’s challenges, particularly last March, when short windows increased traffic, Kreitzer said in her report.
As far as conditions go for the upcoming season, Brownell said the snowpack is fairly typical. “It’s not a super deep snowpack yet but it’s still early in the season.”
*Correction: This article originally reported that both Alaska Heliskiing and Stellar Adventure Travel were fined for landing outside the permitted ski map boundaries. However, Stellar was not fined. Additionally, Alaska Heliskiing was fined a total of $750, not $500, as originally reported.