Heli-Bike Trips Across the Globe

May 31, 2018 at 12:44
by Matt Yaki  
Shelley Peachell Photo
Elladee Brown, Christian Schuchert, and Ryan Stuart descending off a 4700m peak in the Himalayan backcountry, Kham Tibet, China. Shelley Peachell photo.

PRESS RELEASE: Wandering Wheels

Wandering Wheels is an established professional tour company offering guided MTB and heli-bike trips and tours in British Columbia, Canada. We are excited to announce our expansion to worldwide operations with a brand new line of adventurous, all-inclusive MTB vacations to some of the most spectacular destinations on Earth!

We're running trips in BC, Nepal, Tibet, Moab & Fruita USA, Yukon Canada, and Tanzania Africa, with more locations coming soon! We love sharing our knowledge and passion for riding and traveling, and we work tirelessly to create exceptional MTB experiences for all of our guests!

Ryan Creary Photo
Ryan Creary Photo
Left: Om Adhikari and Matt Yaki bikepacking the Annapurna Circuit. Right: Mark Matthews and Matt Yaki beginning a 20km singletrack descent down valley in Eastern Tibet. Ryan Creary photos.

We're also offering up some incredible new heli-biking trips and tours in Revelstoke BC, and throughout the Kootenay Region!

William Eaton Photo
The best shuttle around, and some big mountains in Revelstoke, BC! William Eaton photo.


Our Trips:

Big Mountain Supreme
photo
Our most popular trip! 5 days of enduro style riding by pedal power, truck shuttle, and helicopter! Big mountains and big adventure - this is the best of Revelstoke! August 19-24, 2018.

Ultimate Kootenay Enduro
Steve Shannon Photo
World-class big mountain enduro riding in the Kootenays, accessed by truck shuttle, chairlift, gondola, and helicopter! Descend more than 65,000 vertical feet of sweet singletrack on this trip featuring the best rides in BC’s interior mountain ranges. July 10-19, 2018.

3 Day - Heli Hangover
William Eaton Photo
An incredible weekend of guided enduro riding by pedal power, truck shuttle and helicopter! Introducing the Heli Hangover - All of our best enduro rides crammed into one unforgettable weekend! August 3-5, August 24-26, September 7-9.

MTB Backcountry Tibet
Ryan Creary Photo
A high-altitude backcountry mountain biking adventure through Eastern Tibet featuring challenging climbs, massive descents, and breathtaking scenery! October 11-21, 2018. Hurry, this one's almost sold out!

Annapurna Bikepacking
Ryan Creary Photo
A monumental bikepacking adventure around the Annapurna Circuit featuring all the best singletrack and side trips along the way. Climb over the highest mountain pass on earth and shred down the longest continuous mtb descent on the planet! This is the ride to end all other rides! Includes bikepacking bags and in-line water bladder filtration system! Oct 24-Nov 8, 2018.

Mystic Mustang Singletrack
Ryan Creary Photo
An incredible mountain biking adventure in search of the most amazing singletracks in Nepal! This trip features the best rides in the Himalayas, accessed by gondola, small aircraft, truck shuttles, and just a bit of pedal power! Nov 13-23, 2018.

Best of Moab and Fruita
photo
Ride the best trails in Moab Utah and Fruita Colorado on this singletrack mtb trip featuring incredible slickrock riding, challenging technical climbing, fast flowing descents, and exposed rocky ledges! April 28-May 4, 2019.

Yukon Gold Rush
photo
Endless sunshine and singletrack in Canada’s Yukon Territory during the Summer Solstice. Ride all the best trails in Whitehorse and Carcross by truck shuttle and pedal power! June 2019.

Kilimanjaro Bike Trek
photo
The ultimate hike-a-bike summit mission to the roof of Africa! Two days of biking and cultural tours in Moshi Town and Marangu Village, five days riding and trekking on the mountain, one big celebration, and a day on safari to top it all off! January 2020.

Check out all of our tours on our website.

Thanks to our sponsors, and thanks to Ryan Creary, Steve Shannon, William Eaton, and Shelley Peachell for the photos!

photo


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20 Comments
  • 36 7
 Ecologically unsustainable. Bring on the down votes.
  • 22 6
 Ridiculous. Pinkbike should not be a platform to promote such crap.
  • 4 9
flag jayacheess FL (Jun 4, 2018 at 7:26) (Below Threshold)
 @mario1a: Why not? Our sport relies on the outdoors/nature. We should be the number one stewards if we want to continue to have awesome places to ride.
  • 3 1
 As if most people could afford this more often than once in a few years. You could as well say that people should stop flying abroad for exotic vacations and only travel by bus or train.
  • 3 1
 @mario1a: Fill us in here. Is it the option to take a heli to the top of the mountain that's offensive or something else? I don't know if riders sometimes shuttle to the top of mountains in pickup trucks in Switzerland like those in Canada, United States and Mexico, but I know first hand the impressive train, funicular and trams that you have in your amazing country. What's the main issue?

And no offense intended, just don't understand.
  • 4 2
 I'm not sure 'ecologically unsustainable' is the beef here (unless we want to be hypocrites). I always feel that it's a bit neurotic, to travel so far for a bike ride. Biking itself is ecologically unsustainable - look at the materials used to make your bike, and all the mining (aluminum, titanium, steel) and transport involved, and the paint. Next, consider the shipping from (mostly Taiwan). Lots of oil and gas. So, if you are at a bike park in Whistler or Vale, are you any less being ecologically unsustainable than a guy taking a heli flight in Tibit? Those chairlifts probably burn in a day, what a small village in China consumes. Percentage wise, it's incredibly small, the amount of people (and fuel being used) that do a heli shuttle somewhere exotic. There's some truth to all of this, but before we drop our hammer of truth and righteousness, why not look at what we are doing? How about just eating bananas. The fruit is from Ecuador, and we ship these up to North America and gulp them down without thinking twice. People 'shuttle' our local rides all day long - and that means you support GM, Toyota, Shell and Exxon Mobil. Maybe we should all me monks, and just sit still? Finally, there's a great book out called, Abundance, by Peter Diamandis - talking about all the 'abundance' of energy and natural resources (including water) that humanity will have within the next 50 years. We'll have an 'abundance' of energy on the grid, and tons coming from renewable. We'll have so much energy, we can just leave lights on for fun (joking but true). So then, fire up the chopper and let's go ride in Egypt or something - get Danny Macaskill to bunny hop on those pyramids.
  • 2 0
 What @boxxerace said. Same question to @mario1a as to @m1dg3t
  • 2 2
 @ryanm189: You do have a point in terms of human use of earth materials available on this planet, good or bad, implied the latter. What is your alternative suggestion that's less (likely) negatively impactfull? I assume you ride a human powered bicycle and you do so from below the guilt of its creator. Again, you state and assume correctly that we cyclists do consume energy and materials of this earth. However, you do so under the guise that we are the enemy of ecology and planet earth itself.

So what do you ride that rids yourself of such guilt? Props if it's something renewable like a sustainable grown bamboo frame, I know they exist. And I'm very familiar with renewable and recycled materials in the building industry in North America and Europe.

In your eyes, where is the line drawn?
  • 2 1
 AS350B3 = about 160 kg/h of jet fuel in cruise at MTOW, sea level and ISA 0. So a 15min ride in one of these puppies uses about 50L of fuel. That's approx 125kg of CO2 right here. Just for one lift. Seems a bit excessive to me, and unnecessary.
  • 2 0
 @leelau: it's easy. Either you go in a bike park/ski resort, either you pedal up/skin up. I guess thing that irritates some people is helibiking/skiiing is only for rich people and for the pros that gets it for free/cheap because they advertise the helicopter company. All these things are definitely possible without helicopters (Sam anthamaten could climb up corrugated without an heli so..), but when you're rich and lazy why bother with preparing an expedition when you can just pay to skip the complicated stuff ?


And to answer to you question, no, this North American truck/Heli shuttling trend is definitely not comparable to gondolas and trains in Europe. These trains and gondolas are there for dozens of years (and nothing new is built), they are not exclusive to pros and Kardashians, and these are fixed transportation. Also yurp doesn't have hardly accessible real backcountry (like you have), as we have roads and cities everywhere; so it might sound a bit more nonsense to euros than to North Americans
  • 1 0
 @zede: @Minikeum thanks for the responses.
  • 1 0
 @leelau: anyways, if we think about environmental impact, the problem is less with the few helicopters flying rich clients than the thousands of people driving their trucks/car to the trail head/bikepark/ski resort.
  • 1 0
 @zede: yah its food for thought. I like the Swiss and Sudtirol way of uplifts via lifts and PostAuto (not been to AUT but imagine its the same). I know of only one helidrop advertised in the region and it was Livigno.

The heli-bike trip in this ad was just the one trip so the headline is misleading but for sure I can see the reactions and the reasons. Good solid discussion all-around. Quite unique for PB comments
  • 6 0
 "highest mountain path on earth" - I don't think so
  • 3 1
 Did a Heli Trip with Matt some years ago and it was awesome, I think if it is a once in a lifetime thing which is on your bucket list you should do it without a doubt. In the US and Canada there is so many guys riding around in the nature with dirt bikes, sleds, and offroad vehicles all year, emitting a huge amount of dirt into the atmosphere, Mountainbiking is a very clean sport and one or two heli trips in your life will not change that.
  • 2 0
 @leelau: misleading indeed. Not sure why the Pinkbike crew came up with that title?! The Heli is only incorporated into the BC trips and only here in Revelstoke. All of the worldwide trips are called adventures for a reason... you have to work for it!
  • 4 1
 Tell me you wouldn't go if you could...
  • 3 1
 Ecologically unsustainable like the computer or smart phone you are using now.
  • 1 0
 So 51T is not enough? 52 in development!
  • 1 0
 Retallack?







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