With Practically ZERO Down Days, Silverton Mountain Guides heli skis nearly every day of the season. This is unrivaled by any other Alaska operator and only possible because of our uniquely crafted boutique style of operating. We have quick and easy access to the Northern Chugach, Seward, Girdwood, Tordrillo, Neacola and Valdez each with their own weather patterns. We have low-light heli tree skiing and Alyeska Ski Resort in the backyard. All you need is a flight to Alaska and Silverton Mountain Guides will take it from there. Time is irreplaceable. Silverton Mountain Guides values your time and with multiple areas of operations within reach we provide maximum flexibility and the best odds for creating the trip of a lifetime.
We Go Where it’s Best on any given day and have the best permitted terrain access on the planet. Mobility is extremely important to your Alaska Heli skiing and heli snowboarding experience. If you want to ride the very best of Alaska and avoid weather days, SMG is the place. SMG strategically chooses to operate only one helicopter which allows our entire team to focus entirely on your guest week. As a result SMG is able to be nimble and get you out skiing when a larger more cumbersome operation may not.
The Northern Chugach Mountains and Tordrillo and Neacoloa zones generally have more favorable weather than Alaska’s coastal towns of Valdez, Cordova, or Haines where most Alaska heli skiing is based. Due to our boutique nature of operations which allows you to avoid being locked into a single ski zone, SMG trips are very popular as a result and sell out rapidly every season.
Your location makes a difference when it comes to the weather. The further you are from the ocean, the more sunshine you will typically find. This normally allows opportunities to get into the air and be heli skiing / heli snowboarding while someone located elsewhere may be grounded with weather. The coast provides some unique terrain features however, and we are fully able to access the coastal terrain from our locations. There are many times however when the sun may only be shining at the far south coast in Seward, or in the Tordrillos but it may be cloudy everywhere else in the Chugach. Silverton Mountain Guides is famous for being the only Alaskan operator with multiple bases of operations for access to the best weather and snow conditions at all times.
Our Seward Alaska zone is located directly on the coast, however, there are several key ingredients that make Seward different and such a special place. Those include fantastic tree skiing, and great runs adjacent to town. With heli runs that feed down to the edge of town, you can usually ski even when it may be fully socked in up in the alpine. One of the primary concerns heli operators have is making sure they can get everyone back out of the zone if weather moves in. With runs that you can ski right to the edge of town, you can reduce the weather effects of being located on the coast. Old mature forests, combined with areas that have been cut for logging provide great tree skiing options when the alpine is on lockdown. These factors make Seward unique, and when the alpine clears the terrain is worth it!
In our fourth base of operations 600 miles to the south in Petersburg, there are huge runs, massive glaciers, and runs 9,000′ high. This is substantially higher than most Alaska heli skiing which allows for light snow and long runs, but the weather is challenging in Petersburg so trips here require precision timing that can be unbelievably rewarding.