News

CANCELLATION OF THE NEXT SEASON IN TURKEY

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Unfortunately Turkey Heliski was unable to obtain from the Turkish authorities the necessary guarantees for a proper conduct of the season. Therefore we decided, with great regret, to cancel the upcoming season of 2012-2013.

However we will continue to work with the various authorities in the hope to establish and ensure a quality product in Turkey in the future that meets International recognized Heliski industry standards.

While waiting for the situation to change in Turkey, we will focus on our activities in the Pyrenees.

Kind Regards

Team Turkey Heliski

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".