The hills are alive….and all that. So we’ve just got back from the beautiful Leogang in Austria (a hop, skip and gondola ride away from lake-side Zell-am-See) where we met up with the CMH Heli Skiing management team from Banff and all of their other world-wide agents. Usually we head back to Canada every year for these CMH meetings but this year things took a European twist as we explored the Austrian hills instead. Leogang was hosting the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup with big names such as Steve Peat from the UK competing. We saw the brand new 4x track with huge jumps and lots of muddy competitors!
Some exciting developments that are ready to be rolled out by CMH Heli Skiing for 2012 include:
> Radios for all CMH guests
> A new front deck at the Bobbie Burns
>Four new sparkling single rooms in the Gothics lodge
> New retail stock including Lululemon, Icebreaker, Smith Sport Optics and Hestra!
CMH are also rolling out the K2 Pontoons across the lodges – a pure performance powder ski with more stability and performance than the original Pontoon which have been developed with the help of CMH guests on the K2 test week in 2010.
We were lucky enough to visit the Atomic factory in Altenmarkt. CMH and Atomic are working on some exciting developments together (update to follow) but CMH have also added the Atomic Century skis which are their first powder ski especially for women. Some interesting facts we learnt (cameras were banned so you’ll have to take our word for it):
> It can take between 1-4 weeks to make a pair of Atomic skis
> Your Atomic skis run through 600 pairs of hands before they hit the slopes
> They have 1,000 employees in the factory
> They make 1.2 million pairs of skis per year!
> They also make Salomon and Armada skis from the same factory
Stefan Eder, one of CMH’s fabulous mountain guides, runs the Glocknerblick guesthouse in Maiskogel, in Kaprum. With wonderful views overlooking the Grossglockner, this is a Summer highlight for cyclists and hikers, as well as a popular lunch spot in winter.
In his direct family since 1977, the CMH crew were delighted to see what Stefan gets up to in the Summer months and also meet the local wildlife!
So another year is over and we are looking forward to the 2012 Season hoping the snow and weather is kind to us once again. Contact us for a range of heli skiing trips – from 3 to 10 days – and all types of terrain on offer with the world’s best heli skiing operator!