Anchorage Daily News

Come spring in America, when many are thinking about putting their skis away for the season, a narrow window of opportunity opens in Alaska for skiing so good it's sometimes almost other worldly.

Skilled skiers with a little coin to throw around find nirvana here from late February all the way into June on smooth, long, wilderness slopes devoid of other skiers. From the Chugach Mountains around Cordova and Valdez, to the Kenai Mountains south of Anchorage, to miles-long runs in the fabled Alaska Range, helicopter skiing operations open the door to powder and corn-snow opportunities everyone should experience at least once.

All it takes is thousands of dollars in cash.

Two of the main operators are Chugach Adventure Guides in Girdwood, about a 40-minute drive south of Anchorage, and Points North, based in Cordova.

Nearly all of their clients are skiers from the Lower 48 or overseas, said Chris Owens, an ownership partner and general manager at Chugach.

"Probably 85 percent, even 90 percent of the business is from out of state," said Owens, "and most of them are destination travelers. Locals ski on weekends or when their job allows. It works out great for us."

Skiers willing to spend money chasing virgin Alaska powder or ultra-forgiving, wilderness corn often find themselves treated to the opportunity to shred with skiing royalty as well.

Head to Cordova to heli-ski at Points North and your guide may be Kevin Quinn, 39, the Anchorage-raised professional skier who owns the company. He and his wife Jessica Sobolowski-Quinn, another Points North guide, are featured in this year's Warren Miller adrenaline skiing flick, "Children of Winter." It's Kevin's seventh appearance in the famous series of films by the legendary ski-film director.

Head to Girdwood for Chugach Adventure Guide trips in June and you can arrange a "Kings and Corn" trip with Tommy Moe, winner of gold and silver medals at the 1994 Winter Games in Norway.

Kings and corn? That's heli-skiing on corn snow in the morning, fishing for king salmon later in the day. Moe, a king salmon fishing fanatic, also partners with Chugach Adventure Guides in the company's Tordrillo Mountains Lodge across Cook Inlet from Anchorage. The lodge is one of a handful now pioneering the almost untapped spring skiing opportunities in the Alaska Range.

For wilderness, adventure and skiing -- both extreme and not-so-extreme -- the Alaska Range is shaping up as the dream ski destination of the future. Owens' gang of ski guides have found intermediate-grade slopes that run for miles on the smooth corn between towering peaks overlooking glaciers and snowy, drop-your-jaw wilderness scenery.

For several years now, Chugach Adventure Guides has been expanding beyond snow, merging with Class V Whitewater of Girdwood in 2003 and adding the Tordrillo Mountains Lodge, which offers fishing, floating and hiking from July to October.

Five months ago, Chugach merged with a leading Lower 48 heli-ski operator, Sun Valley Heli-Ski Guides of Sun Valley, Idaho. Together, they are launching an international adventure travel company called Epic, based in Jackson, Wyo.

Owens described it as a "major merger" and said he hopes it will expand the company's customer base, allowing it to offer such new experiences as:

• International fishing expeditions.

• Exclusive private lodges in Africa, with safaris, mountain biking, fishing and equestrian activities.

• A water-sports program in Hawaii, developed jointly with surfing legend Laird Hamilton.

• Biking excursions, domestically and internationally.

In the future, Chugach Adventure Guides intends to offer different Alaska adventure activities, such as paddle boarding through the icebergs on Strandline Lake and glacier trekking in areas inaccessible to the average hiker except by helicopter.

"We've been growing 60 percent a year the last five years," Owens said.

Whether an Alaska heli-skiing operator offers a smorgasbord of activities or just skiing, all rave about the terrain in which they operate.

"The experience that helicopter skiing in Alaska provides is an experience unparalleled anywhere on the planet," Quinn says on his company's home page. "The mountains grow from the ocean to 10,000 feet and we can receive over 50 feet of snow annually. We are confident that you will leave ... with new friends, the best ski runs and days of your life as well as Alaska embedded in your heart and soul forever."

But it will cost you. A heliskiing vacation can cost several thousand dollars -- helicopter time doesn't come cheap. And there's some risk involved beyond the steepness of the untracked terrain.

Because Alaska's mountains sit so close to the ocean, they are prone to rapid weather changes -- sunny one day, lost in snowstorms that limit visibility the next. That is both a blessing and a curse.

Blessing: There is a lot of fresh snow. Waist-deep powder is common.

Curse: There is a lot of fresh snow.

Helicopters sometimes cannot fly because of limited visibility, avalanche dangers soar, and skiers inexperienced in powder flounder around like Alaska salmon on a beach. Tip: If you're planning a trip to Alaska when you're likely to find in lots of fresh powder -- February to May -- invest in fat skis. The fatter the better.

And Chugach Powder Guides is one of the companies that aims to operate even when weather grounds helicopters by hauling skiers uphill in snowcats.

"That's been our one big advantage in this market," Owens said. Instead of waiting out a storm, skiers can get in some skiing, often pretty darn good skiing. And if the snow gets so deep the snowcats even have troubling running or the avalanche danger skyrockets, the slopes of the Alyeska Resort are right there above the hotel.

Find reporter Mike Campbell online at adn/com/contact/mcampbell or call 257-4329.

Some heli-ski operations

• POINTS NORTH: www.alaskaheliski.com; 1-877-787-6784

• VALDEZ HELI-SKI GUIDES: www.valdezheliskiguides.com; 1-907-835-4528.

• VALDEZ HELI-CAMPS INC.: www.valdez helicamps.com; 1-907-783-3243

• DEAN CUMMINGS' H20 GUIDES: www. alaskahelicopterskiing.com; 1-800-578-HELI

• JERRY'S HELI-SKI ALASKA: www.jerrys heliskialaska.com; contact through Web site

• ALASKA RENDEZVOUS LODGE INC., Heli-Ski Guides: www.arlinc.com; 1-888-634-0721

• ALASKA BACKCOUNTRY ADVENTURES: www.alaskabackcountry.com; 1-530-581-1767

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