Heli-Skiing in the Alps

An Off-Piste Ski Safari

Our hidden French chalets sit within reach of seven world-class resorts and next door to a heli-ski operation across the Italian border. Three heli-bases lie just minutes away, and our guides use every one of them to open up terrain most skiers never get near. A short flight puts you onto Italian descents averaging 3,300–7,200 vertical feet, with the run home built straight back to the chalet if you choose. Come evening, our private ski-in, ski-out alpage hosts candlelit après in proper alpine style.

The Terrain, in Brief

• Around 40 heli-accessible descents in the Italian Alps, a short flight from the chalets
• Vertical drops of 1,000–2,200 metres, running from high-alpine peaks down to the valley floor
• Everything from tight, technical couloirs to wide-open alpine bowls
• Lifts, heli-drops, ski touring and chalet-door access all link together into one continuous day

Who It Suits

This is terrain for strong, confident skiers first and foremost. Our guides get to know your ability and goals before anyone clips in.

Advanced and expert skiers get the full range: steep open faces down to tight, technical couloirs. Intermediate skiers still get a genuine heli-skiing day, just on gentler pitches and wider, more forgiving lines.

The Equipment

Every detail is built to the same standard as the terrain: Dynastar skis, Weston snowboards, ARVA Reactor airbags and Reactor NEO beacons as standard safety kit, and an A-Star B3 helicopter flown by pilots trained to the highest level in the business.

Heli-Skiing, Day to Day

There's a particular feeling of clicking into your skis straight off a heli lift, and the Valgrisenche Valley delivers it as well as anywhere. Glaciated runs right on the Italian border, with enough vertical relief that your legs will genuinely feel the first 5,000-foot descent. Then you spot the next line from the chopper, and somehow it tops the last one.

• Roughly 20 minutes of heli time per day
• 1,000–2,200 metres of vertical per run
• IFMGA-certified heli-ski guides throughout
• Full avalanche safety kit included

Expect long, untracked lines and constantly changing terrain. Steep couloirs one run, wide bowls the next. Every day ends the same way: ski straight back to the chalet door for a chef-prepared dinner, fine French wine, and views across France's Tarentaise Valley.

What makes this genuinely rare in Europe is the geography itself: based on the Italian border, we can build a fully customised heli-ski day from the chalet, descending all the way from 3,400 metres to the chalet's own doorstep at 1,250 metres. Conditions decide the plan each morning. Glacier skiing, tree runs, or wide-open powder fields, depending on what the mountain gives us.

Operating from two chalets in Le Miroir, France, this experience ranges across the French-Italian border and beyond, with the terrain never quite repeating. Our IFMGA-certified local guides set the day's route based on conditions and group ability, and lunch swaps between French and Italian cuisine depending on which side of the border you land on. A tradition as old as the skiing itself in these mountains.

Day 1 — Heli-Skiing in La Thuile
A chef-prepared breakfast, then a short flight to Italy from the chalet's own drop zone. First tracks down several 1,000-metre descents through the Aosta Valley, a lunch stop at a classic Italian mountain café, and French-style après to close the day.

Day 2 — Heli-Skiing in Courmayeur
Untracked glaciated runs through open powder fields, a three-course Italian lunch, and a sunset ski back to the chalet — finished with Bordeaux and local cheese.

Day 3 — Heli-Skiing in Valgrisenche
A bird's-eye view of the French-Italian border before dropping into cold-smoke powder and vast open terrain — 3,000 metres of descent through high alpine ground, tree runs, and finally the valley floor, with a stop at a beautifully remodelled farmhouse alpage before the last easy run to the chalet door.

On and Off the Piste

If heli-skiing isn't the plan, the rest of the winter programme still delivers. A genuinely choose-your-own-adventure stay with seven world-class resorts on the doorstep, including Tignes and Val d'Isère, plus cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. For those who want it, IFMGA-certified guides also run legendary off-piste ski-touring lines that finish right at the chalet door.

Set in the small French mountain hamlet of Le Miroir, the chalets double as the perfect place to recover after a powder day. Outdoor hot tub, a rustic fireside living room, and regional specialities like fondue and tartiflette. With trails, lifts and resort connections running throughout the valley, and seven resorts all within 30 minutes, the day's plan gets decided before anyone's even out the door.