I am very grateful my parents introduced me to skiing when I was young and that I was able to practice it extensively growing up. It’s a little-known fact that there are amazing ski resorts less than 90 minutes from my hometown in Nice (France), a town usually associated with beach vacations.

This exposure allowed me to develop a viscerally positive reaction to skiing. Somehow, I am filled with raw happiness when I float on powder. It stems from an odd mix of seemingly contradictory emotions: the adrenaline rush that comes from navigating tight trees on a steep slope, the natural grace and beauty of the surroundings, and the Zen-like serenity and peace of the entire experience.

As adult life started interfering with skiing, I traded off quantity of skiing with quality. I now go heliskiing every year during the last week of January in the Revelstoke area known for the best tree skiing in the world. My last trip two weeks ago was particularly epic as you can see and hear from my screams of delight below.

As an aside, I’ve had amazing experiences with all operators but have been most impressed with Kingfisher. They have a huge tenure. Their lodge is a 7-minute flight from Kelowna airport avoiding the typical 5+ hour bus trips from Calgary or Kelowna. We are only 3 guests per Astar B3 helicopter with a lead and tail guide. They listen to feedback and build out the program to our specifications.

I should also mention how impressed I am with Go Pro Quik video editing software on the iPhone (though not the PC version which I found clunky). It takes content from all sources, not just Go Pro photos and videos, and is a rare combination of powerful yet very easy to use. I made the video above in around 1 hour.