The mountain experience
The Chugach Mountains
Mile-wide glaciers, knife-edge ridgelines, and towering peaks as far as the eye can see - minutes away by helicopter.
An unbelievable magnitude
Enjoy Mother Nature's very best
Geologically smiled upon, the Chugach Mountains jut out of the North Pacific Ocean at improbably steep angles. Between the endless array of peaks, ridges, and glaciers lie countless couloirs, natural halfpipes and frozen waves, wide-open faces, powder-filled bowls, and scenic glacier runs - the terrain that made Valdez, Alaska the heli-skiing capital of the world.
Most descents run around 3,500 vertical feet - and some are twice that. Mount Dimond, the sparkling gem in our backyard, serves up over 5,500 vertical feet of continuous skiing. And even higher peaks wait deeper in the Chugach Range.
- 3,500 ft
- Average vertical
- 500"
- Snow per year
- 10,000
- Sq mi permit area
Champagne powder
An incredible entanglement of weather patterns
The weather patterns of Southcentral Alaska conspire in our favor. Storms roll into the Chugach from the Gulf of Alaska and drop enormous amounts of moisture-rich maritime snow, building a deep snowpack that bonds tightly to the steeps.
Then the skies clear, the Northern Lights come out, and temperatures drop into the single digits. Cold, dry nights pull the moisture from the surface, leaving champagne powder on well-bonded, stable slopes - the reason we can ski some of the steepest terrain in the world with confidence. Thompson Pass and the Tsaina Valley average over 500 inches of snowfall per year.
Located in the Chugach's bullseye
Legendary terrain - for more skiers than you think
Our home zone alone covers 3,600 square miles of world-class heli-ski terrain - enough to mine a couple thousand perfect runs. And when the weather outside the window doesn't cooperate, our permit area spans the whole of the Chugach Range: 10,000 square miles. We simply fly to where it's blue.
The terrain is legendary, but not only for the mega-extreme descents you've seen in ski films. Any skier who is confident in-bounds at a ski resort can have the week of a lifetime with VHSG - we have more blue and black runs than a dozen North American resorts combined, and ours are always covered in fresh snow.
Ready for the Chugach?
Pick your week and come ski the terrain that made Valdez a legend.