Heliskiing down a Mountain
Heliskiing is a very interesting sport, although it is similar to regular skiing but it has a major difference. The point of heliskiing is to get to places that are inaccessible to the average skier and experience a new thrill in the great winter sport that is loved by many around the world. Heliskiing involves flying in a helicopter to a remote snow covered mountain and skiing off of it. This gives skiing a new and exciting element that most skiers don’t get to experience.
The interesting thing about this type of skiing is the fact that people go heliskiing because they want to experience powder white slopes. A website explains this phenomenon, “It is the dream of every ski or snowboard maniac: just once, to ski on an untouched powder snow slope.” This seems like a very special dream that skiers and snowboarders have, it could stem from the fact that they are tired of having to ski down slopes that have been manufactured artificially or have lots of people on them already and they have to vie for space. They want to ski on slopes that are still pure and untouched by humans, until they get to them that is. It seems these skiers are purists, those that are determined not to go with the masses and want to cut their own path on the slopes. This seems to be a recurring theme in those that pursue any form of extreme sports; they seem to have the innate desire to do crazier stunts than others and experience things that haven’t been done before. This is why wherever one looks they can see people doing the craziest things with boards, bikes, boats, helicopters or with things they have invented on their own time.
Heliskiing like other extreme sports and recreational activities has a certain amount of danger linked to it. Skiing is a relatively safe sport that people from every corner of the globe take part in and have a great time doing it, but sometimes accidents do happen, even in normal skiing. These accidents can be very bad sometimes leaving people paralysed and in extreme cases can also lead to deaths of the skiers. These dangers get amplified in heliskiing because the skier takes on an unchartered and hostile mountain that is untested by experts. But that seems to be the allure of these powder white slopes. People don’t seem to mind the dangers; things like one small mistake could send a skier careening down the mountain or the fact that skiing down a mountain can lead to an avalanche that has the potential to follow the skier all the way down. Also there is no place to stop mid way down the mountain during the ski descent. It seems to be only advisable to try for people who are experienced skiers, but it seems to be getting safer with instructors accompanying amateur skiers down the slopes to help them out in any tight spots. Also since more and more winter resorts offer heliskiing as a recreational activity for their guests to enjoy, they make sure that instructors are on hand to help out.
A question comes to mind here, can heliskiing or heliboarding get any more extreme. The answer has to be of course, with those crazy people out there that relish in making things more dangerous and more extreme we will soon see an even more mental type of skiing on hand. Maybe something like skiing off the highest peaks in the world or a new sport could be invented tat would combine skydiving and heliskiing. It may not get that inventive but the next big thing in skiing is just around the corner. If anyone was to ask someone 20 years ago if they would have thought heliskiing would be possible they probably would have said it wasn’t possible, but here it is. The inventiveness of people with a passion for the extreme can never be underestimated or overlooked. We will just have to wait and see if they can come up with something cooler and more extreme than heliskiing.
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