PeaceLoveSnowflakes : Sheep Mountain Heli Trip!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sheep Mountain Heli Trip!

Sorry for the late post for this, but it's been a busy busy few days. Last Friday, Dustin and I had the opportunity to go heli boarding! Did we pass it up? Hell no! It was the most epic thing I've done since I've been in AK... well, one of the most epic things. There have been so many awesome moments up here it's hard to put one on the top compared to other events. But it was so amazing. Seeing that helicopter land and knowing I was going to climb in and it take me to the top of a peak was super exciting. The stoke level was almost too much.

We loaded our boards and packs, then all climbed in. I think there were 18 total for the trip, which broke down to 3 loads in the heli. We were in the last load, and there were 6 of us in the heli for that trip. We didn't load at Coastal, but instead the heli landed on a beach out Thane Rd and we loaded up there since it was a straighter shot to the mountain. Up up and away the little yellow birdie went. The view was awesome. We saw some black bears and mountain goats from the air. It was so cool to see Juneau from the air, then once we got more into the mountains the town faded away and it was just peaks and peaks everywhere.

I still couldn't believe it was really happening! Happy late birthday to me, and early birthday to Dustin. This trip was definitely meant to be.

We landed on the peak of Sheep Mountain. Everyone climbed out, we got our gear out, the heli lifted off, and there we were... on an awesome snowy peak in late MAY with 3000 ft of vertical ahead of us to slash around and play on.

The ride was fun. The snow was soft and not too sticky. The terrain was pretty mellow. I was kinda hoping for some steep stuff to play on, but it was great regardless! We followed Bill Glude through the snow fields and gulleys and eventually ended up on the Perseverance trail, which was still covered in snow. We hiked the flats in the snow with our boots still on, then eventually changed to shorts, t-shirts, and my Chacos once we were out of the snow. It was pretty toasty on the trail.

We hiked and hiked until we finally made it to the Perseverance trailhead, where some of the people had left cars to shuttle others back to Thane.

Wow what a trip. Now I'm a heli addict, and I am saving up a heli fund for next spring! Thanks to Bill Glude for the invite and dropping some awesome knowledge on us.

Here are a few pics from the trip. I am working on a video, but have a ton of footage so it's taking me a bit longer than planned, but I promise I'll drop a video on here soon! :)