companies entering the market, combined
with a limited amount of skiiable land, has
made for some intense competition. The
industry is also struggling to move beyond
its middle-aged-male base and ind new
high-spending clients. And then there's the
elephant in the room (or rather, on the hill):
climate change, which has many in winter
tourism gazing forward with trepidation.
"This is a mature industry with not a lot
of viable terrain left in the province," says
Ian Tomm, a veteran heli-skiing guide and execu-
tive director of HeliCat Canada, a Revelstoke-based
organization created in 1978 to represent the inter-
ests of heli- and cat-skiing businesses. "The focus is
now really on growing the client base."
Heli-skiing operators in B.C. have area-based
tenures that are granted by the province and are
renewable for 20-year terms; tenures can be found
as far north as the B.C.–Alaska border and as far south
as the southern Kootenays. Until recently, one of
the key problems had been that government was
granting overlapping tenures to neighbouring, and
(CloCkwiSe from top left) CHm Heli-SkiiNg; eriC berger/bella Coola Heli SportS; tammy HaNratty, CmH Heli-SkiiNg November 2015 BCBusiness 55
Heli-skiing operators in B.C. have area-based
tenures that are granted by the province and
are renewable for 20-year terms; tenures can
be found as far north as the B.C.–Alaska border
and as far south as the southern Kootenays
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