Video: Remy Metailler Rides Whistler's New Heli Biking Specific Trail
Since the weather has been so dry and warm this season, I was able to check out the all new AlpX Heli Drop with a few friends this fall. A short scenic heli ride to 9km of epic single track!
Check out the AlpX Heli Biking trail here: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/alpx-heli-biking/
Follow Dylan Wolsky and I on social media: @dylanwolsky and @remymetailler
316 Comments
Have you ever seen how much electricity is consumed by the lights at even one night game of a professional sporting arena?
There is no led in jet fuel. Every helicopter in Blackcomb’s fleet is turbine powered. No need to spread misinformation.
Now this is a very rough calculation but considering that helicopter takes 3 riders and is turbine powered you are looking at more than 15l of fuel per run/person. This is just for one run for one person. I am not saying you need to live like an Amish but yes I advocate for reasonable choices and basically picking the lesser evil. If I can carpool to go the the Park I will. If I can use an EV even better. If I can go to the park rather than somewhere with shuttles I will also do that as our lifts in France run on electricity which is CO2 free since we use nuclear power. It has many many drawbacks but it is definitely less impacting climate wise than a diesel truck or coal plants.
Not an easy topic but I feel that stuff like Heli anything isn't really something that should be push today, feels very 80's or 90's mindset, very "murica fu*k yeah !". But to everyone their own, for the moment we still have some freedom, when the shit hit the fan because nobody gave a flying F we will all have to deal with the consequences, whether regulation and law wise or climate wise.
you are pushing a propaganda !!!
Now go play with unicorns and elves.
Sure there is ways to fly without burning coil or bateries... hidden by the sameones who tell you about climate change and stay home triple boosted...
Lobbies? Any bigger than the oil industry lobby? Come on...
The earth has been coming out of an ice age since before man had any impact on global warming.
And now we are affecting global warming.
Now the real fight is over which affect global warming more, the natural earth cycle of warming or man.
thnx
With that out of the way, it would be interesting to monitor the evolution of the fauna up there. It is a different ecosystem at such an altitude so ideally people make sure their bike is spotless before they get it on the helicopter (similar to getting your gear to New Zealand). Otherwise they'd introduce invasive species up there. Hopefully not but this may the right moment to do the zero measurement before the damage is inflicted.
Of course private jets flying to cop26 is not good at all, and I think it was well covered.
1. Yes there is climate change
2. It's not directly induced for us
3. It's all over the solar system the increase
4. There is cience that supports my claiming
5. There is facts that believing in media/government puts you at risk...
Do you think we should all wait until there is a 100% harm-free puritan lifestyle, which requires zero sacrifices, but is just one step away from us, before we do anything? That kind of sounds like the only thing you're suggesting, and I'm not sure how that makes the issues easier to solve
We have a decent understanding of how gasses interact with certain wavelengths of light. We also have a good understanding of the volume of greenhouse gasses we have emitted into the atmosphere. Modeling the atmospheric heating effects of greenhouse gasses is relatively simple.
These comments are not directed at you personally but I do have an issue with the cancel culture mentality on this comment section. Anyone who has the means to participate in this sport has a massive carbon footprint. I guess a lot of people think that there is a line that gets crossed when you use a heli, but it seems arbitrary. How many people own a carbon bike, drive to the trailhead and ride lift accessed terrain? Are those so much better than riding a heli to the point where Remi needs to be cancelled? I don't think so. Remi is a good guy and he is being bullied by a lot of people with this "holier than thou" mindset.
Unless you don't participate in society and grow all your food and drink from the rivers, you are just as much of the "problem" as anyone else.
Now go live your life. The global elite is living theirs.
I don't think that the majority of PB commenters are that guy/girl though; I'd certainly like to believe they aren't. Most of us are aware that our choices all have impacts, and we are torn between wanting to continue doing what we love (slash, continue doing what retains our will to live alongside working the majority of our daylight hours) and not wanting to be a part of f**king up the planet.
Heli riding may not be a big impact in the grand scheme of things, but personally, I think it's OK to call it out as something going in completely the wrong direction. And to call out Remy (politely) for giving this kind of thing a leg-up.
I also think our sport can be done at a relatively small carbon footprint. The one thing I got from all the carbon-footprint-of-bikes articles recently, is that actually, how we get to the trails is at least as important as what we buy. I could buy 10 new Trek Fuel Deore's, and that'd still only be the same order of emissions as flying to Whistler and back from the miserable UK (assuming Trek's data can be trusted).
www.ipcc.ch
Helicoptor shuttles are currently part of the latter, obviously. Internet is fine though, we just need more clean energy online, but that's already happening. And we need to make our tech last, which we also know how to do
The only people claiming we have to return to a pre-technological society are some really fringe environmentalists, and people like you
It's just so simple saying "bwah helicopter bad". You won't fix climate by shiting on influencers. This issue is just waaaaaay too global. If you really want to change anything do it with your right to vote and even then it won't amount to much.
If you mention heli skiing, people smile and drool a bit. Heli skiing is a feature among just about every single ski move ever. But bring up heli biking and everyone is up in arms? What a world.
Here (@zabala) solar warming from a foundation that doesn't have the dirty interested from those who owns/run the world: www.resonancescience.org/blog/Is-Our-Solar-System-Heating-Up
Also BEFORE talking about climate change we should talk about CLIMATE MANIPULATION which has been recognized already by many governments and media... Chemtrails and Harp are a reality nowadays for the ones who steel see ...
There's a lot of greenwashing around this topic. They can't deny the evidence so they pretend they're doing something. They're actually slowing the agenda, not pushing it.
Not very reliable. Not peer-reviewed.
I think we can now safely say modern bikes are so good, the top of the range are all good. Its actually more fun to ride the old ones..
Another thing worth mentioning Is many of my holidays have been more local because they are bike/outdoors orientated which must have led to less C02 usage. I'm would think bikers as a whole are more conscious nature lovers.
Here's to many more years riding my SB66 and the old ones
I think we can now safely say modern bikes are so good, the top of the range are all good. It's actually more fun to ride the old ones..
Another thing worth mentioning Is many of my holidays have been more local because they are bike/outdoors orientated which must have led to less C02 usage. I'm would think bikers as a whole are more conscious nature lovers.
Here's to many more years riding my SB66 and the old ones !! (I still have them, except for the Klein that was stolen back in the 90s)
Google says under 57 liters/litres. Not quite “100s.”
So the question is, how much fuel did you burn last time you went on a car trip ?
'100s of litres of fuel per run seems insane' is what I am replying to. So I would assume you agree that is not a fair statement ?
If you’re going to get into the argument of embedded carbon you need to factor in the embedded carbon in making that trail.
Regardless of the exact number, I think we can both agree this is a stupid way to spend money and use gas. There are dozens of great bike parts and lift assisted trails on the west coast at a fraction of the price.
That's about the same amount of fuel that will get a medium size SUV about 100km, or less than a round trip between Squamish and Whistler (about 110km), or one way from North Vancouver to Whistler. I think nobody would raise an eyebrow at anybody driving Squamish to Whistler on their own just to ride bikes.
If anyone cares, BC Ferries put out about 250kg of CO2 for every nautical mile they cover, for example. Horseshoe Bay (West Van) to Departure bay (Van Island) is 36nm each way, so they create about 18 tonnes of CO2 on that round trip. Max passenger capacity is 462, meaning about 39kg CO2 per person assuming the ferry is at capacity. The heli trip is about 30kg CO2 per person, so it's actually worse to go to Vancouver Island (even as a foot passenger on what is basically public transport - not counting what you burned to get to/from the ferry), than to go heli biking.
Yeah heli-biking is indulgent and I'm sympathetic to that attitude, but compared to other mundane things we all do, it's not really a significant addition to most people's CO2 emissions, and few people are going to do it more than once in a blue moon.
I actually didn't do it this year because I thought the fuel consumption was more than I could justify to myself, but the more I look at it, the more I think that's not actually the case.
"And where your local electricity comes from factors in heavily too. For instance, my roof is covered by solar panels. So how much would my Model S produce? However, many LCAs have been done, even just in the past year, which factor in every detail, from manufacture to end of life. And even charged from the dirtiest old coal plant, a comparable EV emits far less CO2 over it's average lifespan. That's simple numbers and science, check the emotion at the door."
"Checkout Redwood Materials. No worries about those batteries at end of life, they're like gold. Nobody will be tossing them in the landfill. And that's after their second life as stationary storage, which is usually another 10 years after they're no good for a car anymore."
As a pro rider you want to get people stoked on riding, which includes doing stuff that's not too common, but also to be conscious of their impact on the planet and other people. It is such a fine line to negociate and at the end of the day our sport is not good for the planet we love. Just like the ski industry is not either. Helicopter are used on every ski movie we love to watch, to build, maintain ski resort, avalanche safety etc.
So that heli trip created that same, if not less C02 as a SUV from Vancouver to whistler and back (that wasn't carbon offset for whatever that is worth) Ergo...you are hitler.
This ride looks epic and if I make it up to Whistler next summer I would hope to be able to ride it. While I enjoy the grind of "earn your turns" the heli-ride to me is something like a luxury that one can partake in every now and again. Cheers mate.
"No worries I buy this financial instrument that magically removes co2 so it's fine"
After a few years the number will be in the ten-thousands.
Look, helli not withstanding, I loved the actual trail video, and totally wish I was there. But while I can afford it, I wouldn't do it. Couldn't look at my young nephews in the face if I did. Now maybe the large scale human carrying electric drones will make this a reasonable activity. Charge on electricity from a field of solar panels, or hydro, or geo-thermal, and all of a sudden you've gone from super energy intensive to basically energy neutral. Then I'd be all over this!
And full disclosure, a I did a week of helli-boarding in Valdez back in 2000. It was insane. And soon after I decided I could never do that again with all the lesser impact methods being available. So that's my personal choice, no virtue signaling involved.
I have a beef with this cancel culture mentality on this message board. I don't appreciate all these melodramatic bleeding hearts ignoring the fact that they are massive carbon emitters as well, and I don't appreciate them telling us that it is ok for them to buy a carbon bike and drive to the trailhead, but OMG, heli biking crosses a line somehow. What a joke. That is not fair to Remi. He has done a lot to promote our sport and he exudes a healthy social vibe that is good for MTB culture, as is clear from his videos. This rant is not directed at you personally... there is just so much idiocy around this topic.
Anyway, I'm rambling now. Just hope my nephews get to enjoy life to the same extent I have, heck, maybe even better if at all possible. Ride on!
This comment section is embarrassing.
Pretty much everywhere, trails are difficult to legally build when faced with environmental concerns. I, personally, wouldn't want my local illegal trails being blown up on social media.
So I think the apparent issue is more to do with his social media reach and less to do with him, as an individual rider, riding an illegal spot.
What you can't do, is somehow tie that line he rode in with actual environmental concerns. Especially about the climate, as the original guy I responded to said. That is just absolute bullshit.
The actual environmental concerns are the damage he caused after the line was completed and as he was riding out. That’s what’s also very fragile in the area and a major concern too.
The climate part? Yeah. I ain’t trying to argue that in any way or even try to tie climate to it haha
That's too bad! What are the regulations like to build sanctioned trails in your area?
Anyway, I mostly ride XC nowadays, precisely so I can ride from my doorstep. I can do a 50km mostly offroad loop from home (with a few jumps on the way out of town to remind myself how to do it), so I'm relatively lucky too.
Which means that anyone else can access the land. Maybe I'll apply for a Section 57 to build a climb trail
At the point of application, you might suggest an annual trail capacity on a specific trail though and have to report rider useage back to the crown. If that's the case here then alpx would want to keep non paying clients off the trail to not burn up it's capacity.
I'd be surprised if there's even an mtb specific tenure in place anyway. The crown isn't moving quickly on these applications.
goo.gl/maps/bpMq8y8iXrKCJi847
The upper one they dont go to in this video looks almost at the peak of Ipsoot.
A license of occupation allows them to make minor improvements, incl things like the landing pads. iirc it allows maintenance of existing trails, but not building of a new trail
"A License of Occupation conveys fewer rights than a lease. A License of Occupation conveys non-exclusive use, is not a registerable interest, and does not require a survey. Although this tenure is non-exclusive, Improvements such as cabins and fuel caches may be locked." -front counter bc
That heli run looks fun as sh*t.
Basically just greenwashing to buy a guilt-free conscience.
Lots of really good economic and ecological literature on it, but here's a highly consumable vid that summarizes the mechanisms and its problems nicely:
www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0LDEryE4qKSwyYPSSzMrPyFPIz8ksSy1SSE4sSsoH8tLSilNLACp-Dq0&q=john+oliver+carbon+offset&oq=jon+oliver+carbo&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j46i10i512j0i10i512l7.4400j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Disclaimer: not shaming those that have kids, just putting things in perspective.
You want to demand change? So you do that by complaining on a PB message board about a guy who went on a heli to go biking. Calm down Rosa Parks.
Look, I understand the conflict. It’s not a great contribution to the overall problem and there are other ways to have a better impact. I also understand that this finances partly the rescue efforts done there. On the other hand, I also understand the growing frustration among people who want to see serious change, because the status quo is not sustainable and it seems that it is not taken serious enough.
Oh, driving to bikepark and buy some bikes made from every part of the world is a good excuse for helibiking ? Well in that case why not just not make any effort at all ? Lets just finsish consuming every part of this planet t'ill the end, because everyone does it you know !
www.pinkbike.com/news/the-pinkbike-crew-visits-retallack-video-and-photo-epic.html
www.pinkbike.com/news/photo-epic-pinkbike-vip-heli-drop-crankworx-whistler-2019.html
:Alberta.
: Oh, its a shame what you guys are doing to the environment.
: You from here?
:Yah I work for Blackcomb Helicopters.
:LMAO!
The worst part is that I think this guy truly believes Blackcomb Helicopters has little to no environmental footprint. I think hypocrisy must be leaching into the Whistler valley water supply, because it so prevalent.
I have been wanting to be able to do cross country trips so I just bought a motorcycle. Riding at highway speed it gets about 70 mpg. Now I'm trying to figure out how to strap my mountain bike on the back.
I'm not down on Remy personally about this, he has to do things like this to keep him alive professionally. That doesn't make it any more acceptable.
Sneaky f*ckers have hidden the location on Trailforks.
here is where the helipad is. goo.gl/maps/bpMq8y8iXrKCJi847
The trail ends on and parallels the road to the south of the ridge. So drive on up there and let us know how the ride up is!
And I don't think people who condemn this Heli trail are people who'll fly transatlantic to do just a dozen laps and fly back...
I don't do either, I haven't calculated the environmental impact.
It's the responsibility of people who do this/consider doing this, to calculate their impact and take that into consideration on their destination choices.
“ but also to be conscious of their impact on the planet”
I can see that a human life causes wear and tear to the planet. But when I hear this question it makes me wonder why someone might consider the current (or previous) state of the planet to be more more valuable than future humans experiencing life, with its joys (many of which are found in nature itself), trials, and triumphs...
It seems to me that the logical end sadly devalues one's own existence. Or am I way out to lunch?
There will be a future generation whether or not you have kids. But YOUR choice to have a child is equivalent to roughly 600 heli laps per year. I am in no way shaming someone that has kids, but if this is all about accountability and the actual consequences of our actions on the planet, having a child eclipses any other choice you make, and a heli trip is so far down that list its ridiculous.
So it's not an existential thing then - just hard numbers, cool.
There aren't many people that would like to disappear just to benefit the rainforests - there had to be some nuance I was missing.
www.pinkbike.com/news/the-fro-riders-in-disneyland-2015.html
Noisy helicopters overhead are not conducive to coexistence and should be banned IMHO
Further more the heli uses at a very rough estimate 10-20 gallons per trip...about what a SUV uses to go from van to whistler and back. I am all for being environmentally conscious, I think a lot of you are simply jealous and are finding a way to justify your anger.
The fundamental IDEA of it is good, but implimentation is everything, and sadly it's just one more system where loopholes get exploited by rich companies with good lawyers.
www.hdf.fr/public/PDF/B3_PDF.pdf
I am by no means saying Remy is terrible or this company is terrible or you shouldn't ride this trail or whatever. And I know more cars make more Whistler trips than this heli makes. I was just making light of how the same complaints come up every time Heli Company X gets mentioned, and it's every riding season. I think there's a lot of ignorance and lost perspective when people get bent out of shape about the environment.
Google says under 57 liters/litres'
Another commenter listed the specific heli which has a hourly fuel usage of 157kg per hour. Jet fuel is .8 litres per kg. so 125 litres per hour. I don't think this heli would be flying for as much as 20 minutes per lap but lets be generous. Thats 41 litres per lap, or 10.8 gallons.
Is that much? It's probably a lot less than what Remi used when he traveled to Moab. It's a lot more than he would have used if he had chosen to ride his bike up (to another trail obviously).
The IFHT crew didn't receive any criticism when they drove an RV around BC, creating more C02 than this heli trip, they have plenty of good riding in the North shore they would have ridden.
I hope no one criticizing him has children...the C02 from that personal choice eclipses thousands of Heli trips.
Also, why do people keep comparing the heli to an SUV and not to a regular car? My car (regular Renault Clio Estate running on petrol) averages at 4.7l per 100km. Obviously more if you attach bikes to the outside (roof or towball) but then again if you'd only do that if you've got more people on board.
Similarly, the helicopter isn't going to fly for a single passenger, is it? So for the comparison, why not compare the heli consumption divided by the average number of riders to that of a car divided by the average number of passengers.
Would also be nice to compare it to the energy consumption of someone climbing to the top with the aid of pedal assist.
Is your child not planning on eating? or wearing clothes? or ever taking transport? There isn't a single person on the planet that doesn't add C02 to the planet, what are you talking about?
'Similarly, the helicopter isn't going to fly for a single passenger, is it? So for the comparison, why not compare the heli consumption divided by the average number of riders to that of a car divided by the average number of passengers.'
Sure - the heli is 4 people....most cars would have less than that, so it's even worse.
Is it moving between whistler heli port as well as the Pemberton heli port? Do rainbow and tenquille/barbour still get chartered?
I've only skid rack dropped once and can't remember if its an engine shutdown for unloading at landing or not. I've sling hot dropped many times so at least Blackcomb helis efforts towards getting the skid racks approved reduces heli run time significantly.
When rainbow got popular, it lost its charm. The selling point was a once in a lifetime experience "away from the bike park crowds" so when the heli is lining up drop after drop and you've multiple groups up top, its no longer that experience anymore - at least for me it wasn't anyway.
commercializing it normalizes it, and unless the trail is impeccably maintained or the network grown (at great expense) it may loose its appeal
More on topic, I think you're right that many commenters are overestimating the CO2 cost of a heli ride compared to a car ride towards a biking destination. That can be a reason to be less critical of heli-biking or a reason to be more critical of car travel, depending on your viewpoint.
As I mentioned, everyone seems to have their take on the environment but there's way too much going on for any one factor to be the lynch pin in the whole mess. Piles of cars, regulated and unregulated pollution by nations who care/don't care, people who don't compost, people who ride 30-year old rigid steel mtbs as commuters vs the heathens who ride last months carbon tree-killer, Exxon this, BP rig that...
It's a mess and who knows how bad it's going to shake out in another 10-20 years. Heli bike/ski or not. Long weekend from Van to Whistler or not. If you think it's bad, don't get on the choppah. If you think life is short (which it is), get back to the choppah.
The price alone is proof of how this can't be "low impact" on the environment... To make enough money to be able to pay that for a day of fun, can only go hand in hand with high standard of living. That's high wages, high consumption, and high pollution... The correlation is hardly evitable.
Anybody who has a minimalistic life style cannot afford this, and is the biker profile that rather keeps their 10yo bike running and pedal from home to the trailhead.
Also, you can make a lot of money and not spend it. Someone I know well is like this: partner at one of the country's most prestigious law firms, doesn't own a car. Or for that matter, a dishwasher to clean their second-hand tableware. It's all about the choices we make from the alternatives that we have at hand.
Private Group: $1795 CAD self-guided ($1995 CAD guided) on 9km advanced run. $1975 CAD self-guided ($2195 guided) 13km expert run.
Yes you can earn a lot and not spend it all, but those are exceptions, and for those who act like this : what do they do with the extra money? I doubt that it will stand idle... forever. And using it right now or later can arguably be better or worse, but how can we tell?
About "more expensive, but less ressource-costly to produce", if we manage to take the whole life cycles into account, only in exceptional cases this can be true. What I mean is that only lowtech stuff can actually have a good negative impact/positive outcome ratio. Example with energy : solar panels are not "green" and nuclears power plants are good about CO2 during operation, but what about construction and getting the 1000's of people to work to get the plants built and maintained? They dont ride bikes to go on the construction site.
The only thing which for SURE has less impact, is living in a smaller space, with less stuff, less volume to heat, less rent/mortgage to pay and thus doesn't force us to work 50h/week.
Dont worry tho, sooner than not the powers that be will make sure its illegal to have fun and the Earth will be saved
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8zAbFKpW0
Helicopter Model Fuel Consumption (Gallons per Hour)
Bell 206 JetRanger 30
Airbus EC135P2 75
Hughes OH-6 Cayuse 22
Eurocopter AS350 45
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