Wo are we?

Since the birth of this adventure idea of two friends 7 years have past. Turkey Heliski has become a big family and a team of strong international guides , pilots and a number of passionate people.

The sum of this combined Experience listed here are the backbone of our Company, the strength and the guarantee of your security.

Let us present to you our “Family” and their History:

The “Birth” of this adventure

The Idea of two Friends..

Both mountain guides , Thierry and Danilo have over the years observed the advantages and disadvantages of all the heliski destinations whom they have worked for or worked with. They have collided the comments, the desires as well as the priorities of their clients.

"The idea of starting our own Heliski destination came out of our numerous discussions and experiences we have had during our time skiing or working in other heliski operations around the globe. Therefore we made our mind up to try and open “ Our Base” with clear focus points in mind. Our “Choice” Destination had to fulfill following requirements:

- proximity to Europe to eliminate long travel time and time-zone change.

- a great, vast Mountain Range with high Altitude landings

- if possible be located near the Sea for Snowstability reasons [ more stable snowpack ]

This Ideal “Playground” we finally found in Turkey"

We found the Kaçkar Range on our very first explorations on Maps! After that , upon returning from a heliski trip in Kirkistan our plane flew over the Black Sea offering us an ideal comparison between the Kaukasus Mountain Range which we already knew quite well and the Kaçkar Range. From what we saw resulted in the desire to explore this area the following summer and thus the start of this Great Adventure.

Heliskiing at the “Gates of Europe

Our goal is

Quality , Convenience , Proximity

The Company

The 3 company shareholders and directors are : Nicolas Clerc, Thierry Gasser and Filip Amram

The “Pioneers” of the Big Family of Professionals

The first season following pioneers headed for the great adventure in the Kaçkar range with Thierry and Danilo, Jean Troillet [Guide and Himalayan climber whom worked for many years for CMH in Canada] Gérald Maret [Guide, EMT as well as helicopter pilot] and Markus Koch [Pilot and Mountain Guide]

From left to right: Borge Ousland (traversée du pôle Nord et du pôle sud sans assistance), Jean Troillet (mountain guide), Markus Koch (pilot and mountain guide), Francis Parel (journalist), Franck Cammas (Sailor), Ueli Kestenholz (Olympic medal in snowboard) , Steve Ravussin (sailor), Harald Benselin (entraineur of the snowboard swiss team), Gérald Maret (mountain guide, rescuer and heli pilot) Sitting on the front: Mike Horn (adventurer), Thierry Gasser (mountain guide)

Since then, the team progressively grew more international to form this great family of guides, pilots, helicopter mechanics, physiotherapists , ski technicians, interpreters as well as our administrative staff.

Our Skiable Terrain

Location

The Kasçkar Range is located in the North-East of Turkey. The border of the Black Sea.

We have chosen this Area because it is ideal for heliskiing. Our Terrain is located in the Province of Rize and Artvin. The Authorities have given us the Permission to conduct heliskiing within their Territory.

The Terrain

Our terrain spans over 130km in length 35km in width and measures over 4500km2. The main Peak on this massif is the Kaçkar Daği at 3900m

If we want to put this is relation for you, if we have 43 skiers maximum per week, this would amounts to 104km2 per skier!

Infrastructure

We have established two bases in this “playground” the 1st is based out of Ayder [1100m.a.s.l] in the center of the area. The 2nd base is in the south west in Ikizdere [900m.a.s.l] in the center

A mountain lodge is also available for our use in Yaylalar [1900m.a.s.l.] in the east of the Range. This Village is quite often cut off from the outside world due to snow. We visit this place quite often mainly to have a typical “Local” lunch there. Sometimes we even stay there over night with Groups who wish to experience something special.

8 Sectors - 60 Valleys - Over 440 runs

We have divided our area into 8 sectors. These sectors are are defined by either valley systems,geographical locations or due to snow stability reasons.

At this point we haven't even explored the whole area but already mapped 440 runs. The verticals per run varies from 700 to 1200m vertical. The longest run is 1700m vertical and finishes right by the Hotel in Ayder.

We ski in general between 3600m and 1800m in variable alpine terrain. Some runs finish in the trees however the majority of our runs are in open alpine terrain. The closest runs are within 5 minutes of flying time from the base. You will board the helicopter right by the hotel.