Heliskiing: Difference between revisions

'''Heli-skiing''' is off-trail, downhill [[skiing]] or [[snowboarding]] reached by [[helicopter]], instead of a [[ski lift]]. In the late 1950s, helicopters were used in [[Alaska]] and [[Europe]] to access remote terrain. In 1965 [[Hans Gmoser]] commercialized the activity in Canada by combining [[lodging]], transport and guiding.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Donahue|first1=Topher|title=Bugaboo dreams : a story of skiers, helicopters and mountains|date=2008|publisher=Rocky Mountain Books|isbn=9781771600224|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWMmlUE7ZB0C|access-date=14 July 2015}}</ref> In Switzerland there are an estimated 15,000 heliskiing flights each year, to 42 landing sites. In 2010 Switzerland's major [[environmental groupsgroup]]s, including the [[Worldwide Fund for Nature]], handed a petition with over 15,000 signatures to the [[Swiss government]], demanding a ban on heliskiing.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Foulkes|first1=Imogen|title=Pressure grows on Swiss heliskiing|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8657791.stm|website=BBC|access-date=10 July 2014}}</ref> Heliskiing is banned in Germany and was banned in France in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heliski.co.uk/is-heliskiing-illegal-in-france/|title=Is Heliskiing illegal in France?|website=www.heliski.co.uk|access-date=2019-03-13}} {{Dead link|date=October 2020}}</ref> Austria allows two landing sites.{{cn|date=July 2021}}