Heli skiing is a wonderful adventure sport that can be experienced in Manali, which is said to be one of the best heli skiing places in the world. The only catch is that it is out of the reach of most people due to its very high cost. Read on to find out more about it.
Heli skiing is the ultimate skiing adventure where you are dropped on to high mountain ridges by a helicopter and you ski all the way down. It is an exclusive sport that very few can afford. It grew out of the need to find untouched slopes and ski where no one has skied before.
In Himachal Pradesh skiing wasn’t as popular as in the west and no one knew that there were some great slopes in the area that provided a rare combination of conditions to create the perfect skiing experience. In 1983, Roddy Mackenzie was caught in a storm in the mountains near Manali. The Australian climber was surprised to see the amount of snow that fell and realized that these slopes could be great for skiing.
Years of survey work revealed that Manali was probably the best place in the world for Heli Skiing. Himalayan Heli Adventures started operating heli skiing operations from 1990. They have years of experience in ensuring total safety of the guests and providing them with the best heli skiing experience.
Their packages include flights from Delhi to Kullu and a stay in a world class lodge in Manali. Expert guides, pilots and engineers make up their team of heli skiing experts who take the guests up to slopes as high as 5000 meters. The guests need to be at least intermediate level skiers while expert skiers can make the most of these mountains.
The only problem, for people like you and me, is that we can’t think of affording it. The packages are very expensive with most of them being over 50,000 rupees. The cost is not unfair as heli skiing is a risky operation and requires great expertise on the part of the tour operators.
They have the best guides who have been trained at other heli skiing location around the world. The guides are also experts in mountain rescue, medical aid and avalanche detection. Swiss pilots and engineers operate the helicopters. So it is not a surprise that the cost is so high.
While we can only dream about one day going on this magnificent heli skiing tour, those who can afford it should not miss the opportunity to ski on some of the best and highest slopes in the world.
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