News

Newsletter october 2011

Monday 10 October 2011

Cancellation of next season in Turkey

It is with sadness that we must unfortunately cancel next season in Turkey.Since this summer, Turkish Civil Aviation decided to put a disproportionately tax on foreigner's  helicopter imported for heliski activity. We understood that they put a so high tax to favor Turkish helicopters companies. The aberration of this measure is that currently we don't find in Turkey the resources needed to organize heliskiing in order to respect the safety and quality standards that we had practiced these past 7 years. Presently, in Turkey, there is only one single Turkish helicopter fully equipped for heliskiing. We want to have 2 helicopters to ensure the safety of our clients and our staff. For the same safety reasons, it's imperative that the helicopters are flying with experienced pilots for this activity. Presently, the Turkish pilots don't have the adequate training for these flights. Therefore, we must be able to use  foreign pilots to ensure the safety and economic viability of our activity.As it is out of the question to change our standards about safety and quality, we must unfortunately cancel next season in Turkey.Now, it's the competence of the Turkish authorities to establish an appropriate regulation for this activity. It's also essential that the Turkish Civil Aviation understands that it is still too early to impose the Turkish pilots for this activity. It's imperative to organize an adequate training so that the Turkish pilots would have, one day, the abilities for this job.We hope that we will succeed to convince the Turkish Authorities to follow us in our struggle to preserve the quality of heliskiing in Turkey.  If Turkey and Civil Aviation don't wish to follow this way, we will not have any other choice that to let them do their own experiments.The recovery of our activities in Turkey can be made only if Turkish Civil Aviation changes their decision and if the Turkish Authorities support us and decide to regulate this new activity.We remain optimistic about our future in Turkey. As soon as we will solve this problem with the authorities, we will be able to open again the new bookings for the winter 2012-2013.In this expectancy, our activities will focus on our Spanish destination, Pyrenees Heliski. We will also propose you more destinations that will join the Heliski.pro brand.

PYRENEES HELISKI: Heli-snowshoes. A new product for this winter

In order to make possible the access to the Val D'Aran mountains also for no-skiers, we propose rides with snowshoes that don't require any physical requirement. The rides will be organized in flat terrain or downhill, with a helicopter access flight. This half-day or full-day activity is specially addressed to all no-skiers who follow the family in a ski holidays and to all enterprises that spend some time in the valley for a seminar. This ride can be completed by a brunch in the mountain.

Newsletters September 2011

Thursday 01 September 2011

LATEST NEWS FROM TURKEY HELISKI

Since  this Spring we are negotiating with the Turkish helicopter company, in the aim to work with them and solve part of the problems we had with the Civil Aviation. Our plan? To rent the Turkish helicopter, take one in wet lease from abroad and, for both, have our pilots flying.

We were ready to sign the contract when the civil aviation introduced, this summer, a new law concerning foreign helicopters. They decided to put heavy taxes on foreign helicopters to protect the local helicopters companies.

Due to this heavy tax is now financially unsustainable to import a foreign helicopter for heliski and in Turkey there is only one helicopter available for Heliski.

As , for safety reasons, we want to have minimum 2 helicopters on site, as well as our pilots, like during our 7 years of operation, we have to find a solution to import a foreign helicopter at the same conditions as last years.

We have a meeting mid-September in Ankara with the civil aviation, and hopefully we will convince the authorities.

We are sorry for this delay but because of  the elections first, then the holidays and finally the Ramadan we couldn't set the meeting earlier.

We stay confident and we hope we will be able to welcome you in Turkey.

If the problem, for any reason, cannot be solved we will take care of your reservation and propose you alternative destinations, where the safety standards correspond to ours.

PYREENES HELISKI

Only three months of waiting and some snowflakes before next winter start!

If the snow will be on time like during the last winters, we will be ready to welcome you from the 26th of November, for a week end, a few days or an entire week!

See you soon!

Absinthe Crew!

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Absinthe Crew !

This week our Ikizdere Base was home for an "Absinthe Films" crew. The riders Nicolas Müller and Artem Teymurov, as well as Patrick Armbuster, filmer and producer, enjoyed the vast choice of terrain on offered in the Kaçkar range and took some great shots!

Here an appetizer for you!

Dani Aufdenblatten, pilot of Air Zermatt and also chief pilot of Turkey Heliski, piloted the highest ever helicopter mission in Mount Annapurna

Saturday 07 August 2010

Last april, three seck and exhausted spanish climbers tried to reach the Annapurna, at the altitud of almost 7.000 meters, they were bloqued at the 4th base camp in really dangerous conditions.

By chance, an Air Zermatt Team was in the area. They were in the Himalaya since april to pass on, to a local helicopter company, their experience and knowledge about mountain flights.

Dani and his team reach the 4^th base camp the 29^th of April and saved the climbers' lifes. The dramatic rescue of one of the world's tallest and dangerous mountains, need to be plucked from even the most treacherous slopes, and the rescuer had to be harnessed to a cable and flown to the schene of the accident. The helicopter was flying stable at 7000 meters and Dani needed to breath with an oxygen mask in the power limits of the helicopter, an Ecureuil B3. Finally they could evacuate the victims to the valley, 300 meters lower.

During the stay in Nepal, Dani an the swiss team have done more than 15 rescues in the Himaya, even the rescue of a chinese expedition in the Dhaulagiri and the rescue of four climbers of Corea and three sherpas in the Manaslu.

Abele's Thanks

Friday 25 June 2010

Abele at the top of the Everest, 8848 m. 24 May - 13 h.

Abele on the top of Everest

Tuesday 01 June 2010

Abele Blanc, who you certainly already met in Turkey, climbed, on the  24th of May, the highest mountain of the world.

After 50 long days, waiting for a window of good weather, Abele and  his 3 mates have been able to  reach the top.

They started from the C3 (8'300 m) at 2am, and after 11 hours of efforts, at 1pm, they were on the top at  8'848 m.

But this adventure didn't finished so soon. Because of a strong and constant wind they had to spend one more night at 7'600m before being able to go down to the base camp (6'400m) and feel safe.

Abele climbed already thirteen 8'000 without oxygen and now only one is left: the Annapurna.

Our compliments, Abele, for this new success and it's a honour  to have you as a part of the family every winter in Turkey.

April Newsletter

Friday 02 April 2010

We have just reached the end of our sixth winter in the Kaçkar mountains. This is a brief report into the 2010 season and some information about next winter.

SKIING & WEATHER CONDITIONS

We started the season with less snow than we had in the first few years of operation; nevertheless the snowpack was extremely stable throughout the season. Frequent snowfall ensured that there were some superb skiing days to be had for every trip except one, when we had no fresh snow.     

THE 2010 SEASON IN FIGURES

•  9 weeks of operation 
• An average of 6,716 vertical metres of descent per person per skiing day 
• An average of 4 1/2 skiing days per week 
• 21,000m of skiing on the biggest day 
• A record 100 runs with over 77,000 vertical metres of descent during the best week

IKIZDERE BASE 

This was the second season for the Ikizdere base and we welcomed more groups than the first season. As well as high levels of comfort and spacious facilities, this site also experienced better snow conditions than the previous year. This, together with our enhanced experience of the terrain, meant we could make much better use of the area.  The riders here had the privilege of exploring and naming a multitude of new runs.    

2011 SEASON

Prices for the 2011 season remain unchanged.(See prices Prestige package, Private package). We are already taking bookings for next winter. Our winter season starts on 15 January and finishes on 3 April. You can check the dates of our trips and availabilities online at http://www.turkeyheliski.com/en/disponibilites.php

Don't forget that you can get a reduction of 5% if you book and pay for your trip before 31 May.

END OF THE 2010 SEASON 

Pyrenees: For those of you who love spring skiing, our base in the Pyrenees is open until the end of April. Currently the conditions there are excellent.  

Booking and weather info: http://www.pyreneesheliski.com

Kamchatka: For lovers of exotic destinations, we will be in Kamchatka from 27 April to 7 May. If you would like to join us, drop us a line at info@turkeyheliski.com

Happy Easter!

Pictures from the day

Saturday 20 March 2010

Winter is back in Ayder

Wednesday 17 March 2010

New snow !

Monday 22 February 2010

New snow for the beginning of the week.

Some pictures of today in Ayder

Week 10/08

Saturday 20 February 2010

WEATHER AND SNOW CONDITIONS

In spite of week with minor snow falls and unusual high temperatures for the season, the Prestige group in Ayder skied 3 days out 7.

Their patience were nicely compensated today! 30 cm of fresh powder, blue sky and a total of 17 runs per skier!

In Ikizdere, the private group had a good week with 5 days skiing ou of 7. Finishing of today with a fantastic day!

Next week forecast:  colder temperatures and new snow for the beginning of the week

Last two weeks in Turkey

Tuesday 16 February 2010

WEATHER FORECAST

Storm Dani brought us 120cm of "super light & dry" snow. after being grounded thursday & friday we awoke to a bluebird day on Saturday (6th february)!

Pre-operations the guides went up to do the Snow & Stability check. Getting out of the chopper we sunk in to our hips! Making it a bit of a challenge getting the LZ [landing zones] ready for operations.

The skiing was awesome, face shots on every turn! making the simple task of breathing a challenge.

For most clients probably the best snow they ever skied! I would imagine that the 6th of February 2010 will be remembered for years to come by those lucky enough to ski that day here with Turkey Heliski. With so much snow we needed to get into somewhat steeper terrain, therefore we were restricted to tree runs for the day. We were able to ski until the afternoon, doing some incredible runs in the tree's before the clients left for home. 

The clients of the past week enjoyed the snow of storm Dani throughout the week. with good settlement of the new snow over night we had an incredible day on sunday, actually seeing were we skied. The snow remained top throughout the week. needles to say a happy group of clients left here at the end of the week. 

Yesterday we started our 5th week of operation in Turkey!

FIRST WEEK IN IKIZDERE

Opening week in Ikizdere with 7 out of 7 days of great skiing. The private group in Ikizdere enjoyed fantastic snow conditions and discovered once again numerous new runs.

2nd week in Ayder

Wednesday 03 February 2010

'Club House' Inauguration

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Yesterday night, all the team celebrated the opening of the 'Club Out' in Ayder. Near the fire place, everybody enjoyes a typical turkish apero and a swiss fondue.

Fresh snow in Ayder

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Storm " Bullent" is still producing  snow. 

André our mechanic  took these pictures when he arrived at the hangar this morning at 6.30. [note : the helicopters were cleaned of snow last night at 6pm] = Snow <12hrs 40cm   and still falling.  The storm is forecasted to end this afternoon. hopefully we will get out to do some Snowsafety work today , then a BLUEBIRD day is forecasted tomorrow. 

we will keep you updated  how it was . My guess ... it will be awesome!! 

Weather & Snow Report

Sunday 24 January 2010

It is snowing since early this morning, expecting 40cm+ until Monday night  well covering the nice tracks of the clients from last week.

Detailed Information: Weather News  

Last week on January 23rd storm "André" [the first "storm"/weather system with precipitation since arrival in Ayder this season] bought us 30-40cm of fresh powder followed by a couple of bluebird days with great skiing. Today sunday the 24th "Bullent" [a typical N-Westerly storm] started at about 3 am with warm temperatures  as rain until 7 am then the freezing level started to drop rapidly and now it is snowing steadily here at the Ayder base! Already depositing 10cm of fresh snow @ base , at  the junction of Avusor & Kavron Valley 15cm. We estimate that this storm has already deposited 20cm + at our top landings [3000m]. Storm Bullent is forecasted to bring heavy snow until Monday night with FL[freezing level] dropping to sea level by mid monday morning. 

FYI: every "Storm/Weather system" with precipitation is named in alphabetical order by us for our Snowsafety program. With this information we are able to keep accurate tracks of our snowfalls and are able to refer to the individual storms when talking Snow during our Snow Stability Evaluation.  A weather system needs to be associated with precipitation to be named, the start being easily defined by the onset of precipitation, the end is defined by the end of precipitation [no interruption of precipitation of no more than 6hrs]. i.e as long as the interruptions last less than 6hrs it is counted as the same "Storm".