We know you’re not booking heli trips every year. Your budget and the environment simply wouldn’t allow it. But maybe once or twice in a lifetime, there’s a spot you want to get to—a remote river canyon, a faraway glaciated peak, or that perfect surf break off the shore of an isolated island—and the only way to get there is with help from a helicopter. We’re talking about bucket-list adventures in some of the most stunning, hard-to-reach places on earth. Turns out, there’s a lot you can do besides ski if you have a helicopter as transportation.
Paddle Remote River Canyons
Golden, British Columbia–based has exclusive access to raft the Kicking Horse River’s legendary lower canyon, a 2.5-mile stretch of Class IV rapids with massively steep rock walls on either side. The only way to access this part of the river is by helicopter. The chopper will drop you, your guide, and the raft at the put-in (from $231).
Hike Remote Peaks
In Alaska, you can hop a ride with Talkeetna Air Taxi, taking off from the flatlands of Talkeetna’s boreal forest for a ride deep into the Talkeetna Mountains. You’ll be dropped into rugged, trailless wilderness, an alpine tundra with views of Denali and not another soul in sight. A guide from will lead the way (from $433). Or, in Wanaka, New Zealand, take a heli over a World Heritage conservation area bordering Mount Aspiring National Park into the country’s Southern Alps for a two-hour guided hike past unspoiled alpine lakes with (from $572).
Surf Legendary Waves
You can access the epic left-hand tubes of Grajagan, also known as G-Land, off the island of Java via a half-day ferryboat ride. But it’s a lot easier to get there by helicopter. In 2016, the Four Seasons started offering Asia’s first heli-accessed surfing. Yes, it’s over-the-top indulgent and pricey, but we’re talking bucket-list adventures here, right? You’ll hop aboard a 45-minute heli ride with Air Bali across the strait from Bali to a beach landing zone on the border of Alas Purwo National Park in East Java. Costs are on the high side, though: They start at $10,000 per day for up to four people, and that includes a surf guide from .
Bomb Down Empty Bike Trails
Charter a helicopter with British Columbia’s (rates vary) and you can be whisked to a ten-mile, 6,000-vertical-foot descent on a new downhill trail off the summit of Mount Barbour, outside Pemberton in the Coast Mountains, which was finished in 2016. The company was the first to install bike racks on its helicopters, in 2016, and it’s still one of just a handful of operators in North America offering heli-biking. , out of Valais, Switzerland, plans to offer Switzerland’s first heli-biking trips starting this summer.
Fish Empty Rivers
You’ll take off via helicopter from the airport in Eagle, Colorado, and fly to a remote private ranch, where you’ll fish streams for rainbow and brown trout in spots hand-selected by your guide from (from $3,995 for up to three people). Welcome to some of the finest fishing in Colorado.
Soak in Private Hot Springs
Picture the world’s most spectacular hot springs—a piping-hot pool of geothermal-heated water, set against a snowy mountain background. Now imagine you have the place entirely to yourself. That’s the idea behind ’ so-called wilderness spa. You’ll depart from Whistler or Vancouver, British Columbia, in an A-star helicopter, soar over Canada’s largest ice cap, set down for a guided hike through a glaciated ice cave, then enjoy a soak in a natural hot springs, followed by a chef-prepared barbecue (from $8,523 for groups of four).