Alaska Heliskiing - Haines, Alaska

Scott Daletas

What an awesome experience at Alaska Heli Skiing. The scene here is not a luxury heli skiing operation but rather world class heli skiing terrain, locally Alaskan owned and the best ski vibe you will find in Alaska. If you seek great guides, terrain for all types of riders and affordable options this is the place to be. Being located 35 miles out of Haines, allows for quick easy access to the mountains. One thing to note, Alaska is unpredictable, you can't time the weather do yourself a favor and book 10-14 days of time to give yourself a better opportunity for those blue bird days. If you can only go for a short amount of time, there are other activities on no fly days like ski touring and snowmobiling and other great things Alaska Heli Skiing offers and the town of Haines. Thanks Alaska Heli Skiing!

Martin Vogel

Here’s the short: it’s the most flexible, most affordable, & probably the best Heli ski operation you can find if you want to ski/ride. If I could give more than 5 stars I would.

I’m pretty sure I would have had a great time with any of the Heli Companies, but from my research & the other riders I talked to, the flexibility is so much better than any other company. Also, the owner (Sean) is awesome! His wife is awesome! The guides are awesome! The property is truly magical & Heli skiing with AH is incredible!!

The long. Of course, heli skiing is awesome & heli skiing in Haines is awesome! Maybe I’ll write a review specifically about the heli skiing experience I had with Alaska Heliskiing (AH) too, but most people who know heli skiing know about Haines so this review will be more about AH & my experience with them.

They are very flexible & affordable for a Heli Ski Co. You don’t have to arrive & leave on a specific day. In fact, I was all packed & ready to come out for a week at the end of February & I got a call from Sean’s wife on the way to the airport warning me about the upcoming weeks weather forecast. Had I known how special it was there outside the helicopter I would have just gone anyway, but I rescheduled because I didn’t want to travel all the way there & not get in the helis. Once I did get there my experience with AH was truly epic! I stayed on the property at 35mile Haines Highway. I wanted to ski; & staying there allowed for that every day. Basically the whole property is Disneyland on snow. They made the hill above the helipads a mini ski area that the kids of the locals & the clients can use which is unofficially called PowdAH Mountain. Eventually there will be more cabins on property, but as I’m writing this there are several weatherports that are a stone’s throw away from the helipads which are warm, comfortable, & awesome if u want to heli ski in good weather & bacountry/bootpack/machine if the Helis aren’t running. My rec if you want to ski every day with some of the best riders (including the Seandog himself if your lucky) stay on property & you won’t miss anything. staying on property has amazing perks. Sean, his wife & family, & the guides that are on property welcomed me in. I had some great meals with them & some interesting conversations (ask about the old ski legends like Scott Schmidt, Glenn Plake, & others Sean used to ski with). If you want 5 star dining, then go find some heli ski company that will give you that for twice the price & half the experience. I woke up some mornings to share my morning coffee with pros (I was fortunate to talk with Bode Miller, Ingrid Backstrom, Lexi DuPont, & plenty others... all super nice... while we waited for helis, played Stump, etc). One morning, I awoke to a snow storm with a few feet of fresh pow & only those of us on property had access to it because the road up hadn’t been plowed. Trust me, I skied some pretty sick lines off the Heli for a 40year washed up never-gonna-be-but-always-wanted-to-be extreme skier, but that day ended up being my most memorable (& cheapest) day. Sometimes the Heli days can be pretty crazy, so being able to collectively enjoy the pure joy of skiing without the stress of the helis was truly special.

However, staying on property isn’t for everyone. In fact as of me writing this in 2021, most clients don’t stay on property. If you want access to creature comforts & don’t want to ski every day I’d recommend a cabin a few miles away from the property (or stay on property but make friends with people that have access to hot water).

The property was already amazing in 2021 but the plans for it’s future will make it even more amazing. Eventually there will be cabins instead of weatherports & the big A-Frame will be finished. I know I sound like an advertisement but trust me I’m not. This was my bucket list gift to myself & a lot hard worked money went into this trip... Seandog & everyone & everything there did not disappoint. My experience exceeded everything I could have ever hoped for with this trip.

Josh Daum

This place will change how you think about the mountains and about your own skiing. These guys definitely helped better my entire life. Reading some of the reviews regarding refunds and deposits and flyable days, all I can say is those guys haven't put in the time to understand the incredible amount of nuance and variables that go into flying helicopters in big mountains. I guarantee that if it was safe and sensible to fly and ski when those guys were there, that's exactly what would have happened. No one starts a heliski company if they don't want to go skiing every opportunity possible.

David McLean

I just had my first heli skiing adventure with Alaska Heliskiing, and I was very impressed with the outfit.

Upon our arrival, our accommodations were canceled, which had nothing to do with AH, but they scrambled and got our group of 6 lodging at the last minute.

They worked with us helping to find a guide that was the right fit for our group, and I could tell that safety was their first priority. Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of danger and adventure, but it's nice to know that the people responsible for keeping you safe in a place like the Chilkat take it seriously. Their snow safety expert has a top notch resume, and we could tell talking to him that he takes his job very seriously and he knows what he is doing.

Because of weather concerns, we didn't get as many runs in as we planned, but AH got us on as many runs as possible, which included some of the gnarliest lines I've ever skied in my 1000+ days on skis. When it was time to pay the bill, they were extremely gracious about working with the price to give us a deal that was fair to everybody. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Alaska Heliskiing to anyone who is up for the adventure.

I would not recommend the outfit to people who want to be pampered and people who have unrealistic expectations about skiing in unsafe conditions.

I'd love to go heli skiing again, and AH will definitely be on the top of my list.

Hotel y Hostal Andes pucon

THERE IS NO WORD TO DESCRIBE THE EXPERIENCE WITH THIS TEAM.
PROFESSIONALS AT ALL TIMES AND REAL MOUNTAIN LOVERS. IN THIS COMPANY THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR LITTLE WINDS OR SOME CLOUDS, IF YOU CAN RIDE AND THERE IS POWER HERE YOU WILL TAKE THE HELICOPTER AND GO TO ENJOY ALWAYS. INCREDIBLE ACCOMMODATION WITH ALL THE FACILITIES, SEAN AND HIS FAMILY ARE THE BEST, THEY REALLY ARE A VERY KIND AND LOVING FAMILY. HIS PLACE IS REALLY GOOD I MEAN IT HAS EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR THIS EXPERIENCE TO BE UNIQUE. HAINES AND ITS CHILKAT MOUNTAINS ARE AMAZING AND ALASKA HELISKIING IS THE BEST TO EXPERIENCE IT.
SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT IS YOU FIND REAL RIDERS HERE, WHICH MEANS THAT IN THIS PLACE THEY RIDE REAL LINES

FOR ME THIS WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE AND I WILL COME BACK YEAR AFTER YEAR FOR MY PASSION SNOWBOARDING

I AM VERY GRATEFUL TO SEAN AND ALL HIS TEAM I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SO AMAZING I WOULD NOT WANT TO LEAVE

AH THE BEST COMPANY WHERE WHAT MOST IMPORTANT IS RIDE THE POW

RONALD G.

Dirk Hess

Unfortunately we did have a very mixed experience with AH. In the beginning we had a responsible guide. We had a great day and some really great runs. But things changed when a film crew booked in at AH. We then had to follow their footsteps. Don´t get me wrong, we are good skiers, we like to be challenged. But very steep open faces after days of relevant snowfall and very high winds are seldom a good idea. At least not unless you know every face and it´s snow accumulation of the season extremely well. So no wonder we experienced several little avalanches and then one really big avalanche, probably 3000ft long and 900ft wide. That one did catch my friend and ended our holiday with injury. I am very well aware about the risk of our sport. But the guiding on that day was definately not on the safe side. Some daredevils might say that you don´t go to Haines to be safe, and you may have to go to extremes for a ski movie, but i would have rather skied slopes that fit the conditions and ski the crazy stuff when conditions permit. To add to this, there wasn´t any discussion with us after the accident. It seems the opinion was something like: Nobody died, so we just ignore what happened. Further assistance as medical help or a refund for not used flights was also not offered. Note: This was a while ago and hopefully avalanche awareness and attitude towards customers has changed by now. But when i saw the Google entry all these unfortunately bad memories came up again and i just had to write about this.

BigSkiSale. com

Excellent service across the board! Heli skiing is not an easy thing to pull off... there are so many variables happening simultaneously. But AH is a well-oiled machine, and they pull it off with stunning ease and professionalism. Aggressive yet safe, hospitable and helpful, instructive and value-packed, this is the best heli ski experience SE Alaska has to offer!

Eddie Degitis

What dreams are made of!! Missed a good snow cycle, but for how bad the snow conditions were, the heli and guides got us on some incredible terrain with POW!! Got a taste of spines and can’t wait to go back!! And even during down days we did a lot of fun stuff like surfing, OneWheeling, and a trip to Juneau! A true Alaskan experience!! Everything you want out of skiing and more!!