First of all – what is vertical footage?

For experienced heli-skiers, the answer is obvious. If you are a first time heli-skier or someone contemplating a heli-ski trip, this may not be a familiar term.

Vertical feet: is the vertical distance from the top of a run to the bottom. It is the traditional method of tabulating how much you ski in a run, a day, or a week. If you have a run that is 3000 vertical feet and you ski it 10 times in one day, you have skied 30,000 vertical feet that day.

There seems to be two types of packages offered in the heli-ski industry.

• One package offers a set amount of vertical footage. Extra vertical is then charged once the package vertical has been skied and the guest makes the choice to continue skiing.
• The second package offers unlimited vertical. 

At first, one is usually drawn to the “unlimited vertical”, kind of like an “all you can eat” buffet.  It pays, however, to look closely and compare the two types of packages.  Crescent Spur does not offer unlimited vertical packages and would like you to consider the following:

1. If you compare the cost of packages offering set vertical against unlimited vertical, you realize that companies who offer unlimited vertical generally charge significantly more for their package in order to reflect the cost of the anticipated amount of skiing.
2. With all monies paid in advance for the skiing, it becomes of economic benefit for the company to ski less, not more, as this saves the company money (less skiing = less flying = cost savings). This can easily be accomplished as the company has control over the ski program.
3. Bad weather, poor skiing conditions, guest ability or other factors can also limit the amount of skiing which would penalize those who have paid in advance.
4. Guests may begin to question the guide’s decisions, perhaps suspecting that they should be skiing more and that the company is purposely limiting the amount of skiing, shortening the day or slowing the pace for economic reasons.
5. Guests may feel they need to ski more than they want, as in essence they have paid for it.  This may lead to them to continue to ski past their enjoyment, fitness or ability level.

In our opinion, by keeping our base package price lower with a set amount of vertical, we create a situation where the decision to assume more cost rests with the client.

The decision to continue to ski then becomes a joint one of company and client, with no suggestion that decisions to stop skiing will be made to save money.  It is in both parties’ best interest to find the best quality skiing and to continue to ski until the guests are satisfied.