NETJETS US VOLUME 12 2020

ON THE EDGE
WITH BIG MOUNTAINS, BIG LINES, steep slopes, and deep snow, it’s
no wonder Alaska is the backdrop for so many extreme ski movies.
Award-winning adrenaline filmmaker Teton Gravity Research
(TGR) shot its acclaimed 2019 ski documentary “Winterland” in
seven different international locations. While the powder scenes
filmed in Norway, Austria, and Canada were epic, it was the
segment deep in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains that underscored
why heli-skiing in the state is on a whole other playing field.
The scene begins with pro skier and 2008 Freeride World
Champion Elyse Saugstad exiting the chopper onto a heartstopping
peak and proclaiming, “I’m stepping into the steepest,
biggest, gnarliest terrain I’ve ever stepped into in my life.” She
describes Alaska as both her favorite place in the world to ski
and the place that terrifies her the most. Minutes later, her ski
partner, free skier Angel Collinson, clips a rock at the top of a line
and tumbles down a 1,000-foot mountain face, miraculously
escaping with nothing more serious than a knee injury.
Tucker Patton, owner of Triple Point Expeditions, the Palmer,
Alaska-based heli-outfitter that flew the athletes, admits he
sometimes regrets shooting “Winterland” because it portrays the
extreme reputation that has become synonymous with Alaska heliskiing.
To think all of Alaska is what you see in TGR and Warren
Miller movies is to believe all of New York state is as intense as New
York City. Alaska’s Chugach range is vast—about 14,691 square
miles. Only its most gravity-defying lines get showcased in the
media. “It’s a disservice no one ever films the endless cruiser runs,”
says Chris Davenport, a two-time world champion skier. “People
think Alaska only offers spines and steeps. The reality is that there’s
as much introductory heli-ski terrain as there is crazy terrain.”
DAVENPORT BUILT HIS BIG mountain career in Alaska in the 1990s.
Back then, the Chugach range was truly a wild west for powderobsessed
adrenaline junkies. But 30 years later, those neon-clad
HEAD FOR THE HEIGHTS
Triple Point Expeditions
transports intrepid skiers to
some of the most exhilarating
runs in the Chugach range.
TUCKER PATTON/TRIPLE POINT EXPEDITIONS
50 NetJets