Pacific Crest Heli-Guides in partnership with HeliTahoe will offer helicopter skiing and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe for the 2010-11 winter season. The operation will be based out of the Truckee Airport and access more than 100,000 acres of privately owned land located along the spine of the Pacific Crest.

By comparison, the combined total skiable acreage at all 14 ski resorts surrounding Lake Tahoe is less than 25,000 acres.

Besides a few small heliskiing enterprises in the early 1970s, this will be the first full-fledged helicopter skiing operation launched in the Lake Tahoe region or in the entire Sierra Nevada.

The operation will be limited to a maximum of 16 guests per day with a ratio of one guide per four guests. The cost structure will be based upon flight time rather than vertical feet, allowing like-minded guests to customize their experience based on their budget, their desire to ski/ride as much vertical as possible and/or their desire to explore a variety of different zones. Full day trips will start at $899 per person.

The terrain accessed via helicopter will be a variety of open bowls, spaced trees, steep chutes and technical couloirs geared toward the advanced to expert skier or snowboarder.

In addition to founding Pacific Crest Heli-Guides, Dave “Happy” Rintala has been operating Pacific Crest Snowcats for close to a decade and is also one of the owner/operators of Alaska Backcountry Adventures, the original heliskiing operation located atop Thompson Pass near Valdez.

“The addition of a helicopter skiing operation to the region allows Lake Tahoe to position itself as a complete winter destination on par with locations such as Whistler, Jackson Hole, Utah and Colorado,” said Rintala. “Pacific Crest Heli-Guides looks forward to being part of the ultimate Lake Tahoe skiing or snowboarding experience.”

For more information, click here, email info@tahoegravityguides.com or call 888.792.9222.