Stellar Heliskiing — Attraction in Kaslo

Extremely disappointing customer service, misleading and dishonest tour operator

I had the worst experience with Patti and Jason (the owner) of the company during my Heli skiing trip.

I called several times prior to the trip to ensure the people in my group would be experienced so I would not loose ridding time. After all, the Heli skiing trip is expensive. Patti assured me that they do everything they can to avoid this from happening and convinced me to opt for the unlimited Vert package. I was assured that my money would be refunded to me if we did not do up to 3000 m of vertical run.

Firstly, we were the last group on the mountain due to a battery failure on the shuttle bus and the chopper needed refuelling before leaving the highway. The first run took over an hour because someone in our group was not experienced enough for the terrain and was falling everywhere. We had to send that skier back to the base.

The operator offers last minute standby seat at a 50% discount to fill its helicopters. After coming back from skiing, I quickly told my guide that I would appreciate being offered a standby seat for the following day considering the time we lost because of their mistake of including a non-experienced skier with us. She told me it will most certainly happen and told me to leave my gear in the hangar for the next day.

When I arrived at the office, I tried to discuss the incident with the owner (Jason) and that I was willing to pay for that standby seat for the next day. He ignored my query and did not want to listen to what happened with our group that morning and told me to get out of the office so he could discuss the situation with his team.

They had me wait two hours at the office, then finally told me that they could not offer me the seat at a discounted rate because apparently other people were ready to pay the full price. They knew they had my equipment locked up, they knew I really wanted to go again on the following day and they used all of it against me and tried to make me believe that I had to pay the full price to go again, completely disregarding what happened during that day.

While trying to make me believe they had someone to pay the full price, they told the inexperienced skier in our group that they could not find anyone to pay the full price for the following day so they will not be able to refund him the full $2,400.00 but only $1,200.00 instead. Their conduct was unconscionable, they used their position of strength and leveraged it to the detriment of the costumers.

So far, they have not responded to any of my inquires and are refusing to refund the ridding time I missed in accordance with the unlimited package. I do not recommend skiing with this company. Their lack of customer service and professionalism is appalling. There are plenty more reputable operations...

The name says it all "Stellar"! I'v been dropping crazy terrain, with amazing trees, big massive open bowls, sexy mind blowing shoots, and dropping cliffs with this operation for a few years now consistently and I got to say I can't image anything better! They really take care of their guests, well organized and most importantly highly trained, extremely experienced guides that ensure amazing runs, with the best safety possible. The guides all have learned the terrain extremely well before they where allowed to guide a single guest and the founder himself grew up skiing those mountains and has been guiding there his whole entire life. Prior to Stellar he was known as the star lead guide for one of the best and first snow cat operation in history as well as being the legendary founders protégé and now he's running a next level heli operation getting higher and better terrain then ever in the region. He knows how to treat his guest well and keeps that smile on their faces on and off the mountain! The operation consists of the Ferrari's of helicopters with incredible pilots and state of the art avalanche gear that is constantly tested and updated. Every year I come back the avi packs and gear are brand new thanks to the amazing partnership from one of the top snow sport companies in world providing everything that is needed. I'd like to include besides the beacons, packs, shovel and probes they provide they also every guest with high end motorola two way radios for ease of mind and extra safety. Also a great think unlike many other operations if the weather is bad to the point where the bird can't fly you get you're money back. I have gone heli skiing in many places and many of them have provided amazing experiences and lovely powder face shots but none of them have matched up to the area and operation that consistently . I'v rode that region for 10 years now and never left disappointed with the snow conditions. The region is a freak of mothers nature's ultimate winter wonderland so no praying to the snow g-ds or you might find yourself neck deep. There really isn't a single negative that I can think of concerning this operation and I will ride with them to the end of my days! My deposit goes in immediately every year before I leave Kaslo with out even thinking! See for yourself and if you disagree shot skis on me, as I'll be there at the last week of every...

I went with my father and a friend just for the day and we all have experience cat-skiing and heli-skiing with other places. They do not even compare to the amazing experience we had with Stellar!

Booking was super easy, with tons of communication from Patti in the office. We stayed out of town but will definitely consider the Kaslo Hotel next time as it looked really nice in the dining room where we met in the morning.

The morning orientation was extremely smooth and after we were set up with our gear we split off with our guides to do avalanche training. We had done training like this twice before but felt like our guide Kina offered a very thorough explanation that added much more to detail and solid advice.

Being guided by Kina was an absolute dream. She was very communicative throughout the day, giving clear instruction when needed and offering great advice on what features we could find on the run. Cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed her as a guide. She was extremely fun and very personable and speak multiple languages, an absolute legend!

We were blessed with great conditions, other than some visibility issues in the afternoon. The variety of terrain was keeping things fresh all day and I really appreciated our guide kept us updated on where we were heading and why, what to look out for. I felt she matched the runs we took to our group's skill level perfectly.

When we stopped for lunch I was not expecting such a gourmet spread! Choice of sandwich/wrap, hot broth (still dreaming about that) or tea, a small package of local charcuterie and some small desserts/cookies. Exactly what you need to refuel. Really enjoyed meeting the pilot Ian after lunch, another legend!

We were able to sneak in three more runs after lunch luckily and unfortunately had to turn in after that due to weather/visibility. My only regret is that we only booked one day! We will absolutely be back and I would recommend Stellar to any skier looking for some life-changing experiences up on...