B.C. skiers face off over remote peaks

Tobin Seagel — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:44:11 -0400

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Heli-skiing firm wants to open range to flights

GRANT SHILLING

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

A heli-skiing company is hoping to open up the remote Waddington Range to flights, pushing the clash with quiet-loving landbound skiers to new heights.

If Knight Inlet Heliskiing has its way, the classic answer to the why-climb-a-mountain question may soon be replaced by "because there's air."

The application by the Courtenay-based operation has reignited debate over appropriate use of wilderness areas: Should technology such as helicopters be used to overcome human limitations faced by skiers who make their way to the peaks on foot?

The Waddington Range, containing the highest mountain located entirely within B.C., is a remote, rugged region far from the most rudimentary roads. The range is situated between Bute and Knight Inlets.

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Mountaineer Don Serl’s reflection is seen in a photograph of Mount Waddington’s Upper Tellot Glacier Serra Peaks. He is concerned about preservation. (Rafal Gerszak for The Globe and Mail)

Knight Inlet Heliskiing's application has raised concerns among ski mountaineers who feel that any introduction of the sport to the range would significantly alter its wilderness character.

Over the past 30 years, Vancouver's Don Serl, regarded as one of the West Coast's most knowledgeable mountaineers, has made a dozen forays to the range and is the author of The Waddington Guide.

The Waddington area covers about 2,000 square kilometres (about the size of Yosemite National Park in California) and has been used by ski mountaineers for more than 95 years.

Mr. Serl feels there is a "purity" and "deepness" to self-propelled recreation that is not shared by motorized heli-skiing.

"Heli-skiing undermines the essence of wilderness through the imposition of technology," he says.

John Dawson, founder of Knight Inlet Heliskiing, obviously feels differently. Mr. Dawson declined comment when contacted for an interview, other than to state that he did not welcome any publicity over the application at this point.

The Globe obtained a copy of an e-mail that Mr. Dawson sent to the Federation of Mountain Clubs and Diane Tetarenko, Manager of Adventure Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and Art.

"We appreciate that others use the same lands. If for example, a group of climbers planned on making a winter ascent of a particular mountain peak, we would accept notification of their planned routing and schedule," Mr. Dawson says in the e-mail. "Our subsequent operations would be altered to keep any flight paths or ski activities a minimum of one kilometre away from their intended routing during the period."

"That's a joke," Mr. Serl says. "For him to say where there are people he'll stay one kilometre away displays either an insensitivity to that kind of deserted wilderness experience or a lack of concern."

Mr. Serl points out that in the Whistler-Blackcomb area, perhaps the most heavily used area in North America for heli-skiing, flying buffers are of a much greater range -- as much as 10 kilometres.

He estimates that two to three dozen people typically ski in the Waddington Range in the spring, and that a similar number enter the range to climb in the summer.

As Mr. Serl points out, there is no danger of Waddington becoming the next Yosemite, which plays host to millions of visitors per year, but heli-skiing represents "the erosion of wilderness values."

However, Mr. Dawson says in his e-mail that the Federation of Mountain Clubs "has used for many years and continues to use helicopters for transport of people, supplies and gear into the area, and also relies on air transport out."

"Mea culpa," Mr. Serl says. "But what we do is throw our gear from a helicopter and then say goodbye and are on our own for two or three weeks. In heli-skiing every foot of the experience is shadowed by a helicopter."

Ultimately, Mr. Serl says, he is not opposed to heli-skiing in the area, but feels all stakeholders must be considered and Mr. Dawson must structure his operation with respect for the skiers and climbers who cross his path.

James Morris is Marketing Communications Director for Pantheon HeliSkiing, based out of Bella Coola. Last year, Pantheon operated out of the Waddington Range but was careful to avoid areas targeted by the Federation of Mountain Clubs and other climbing organizations.

"We were very careful to select areas that weren't sensitive to these communities," Mr. Morris says. "We actively lobbied and approached these organizations before any heli-skiing was conducted."

Three sensitive areas identified by mountaineers and the Federation of Mountain Clubs -- Nirvana Pass, the whole of Mount Waddington and Mount Munday -- "were stroked off our charts as important to these people."

With regard to the Knight Inlet Heliskiing application, Mr. Morris says, "no one in the heli-skiing community is very happy about it. They are seeking approval without consulting the necessary parties."

But he notes that the rush from heli-skiing is tough to beat. The skiing offered by Pantheon has been described by Powder Magazine as "taking place in a landscape as wild as it gets in Canada, filled with skiing opportunities that would rival any location on the planet."

Mr. Morris says the goal of Pantheon is "to bring economic benefits to a region that desperately needs it without ruining a pristine area of B.C."

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B.C. skiers face off over remote peaks

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