UncleRoss Blog Articles

Peaceful Shot of the Skagit River

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:11:21 -0700

It was a beautiful day on our rafting trip on the Skagit River. Pacific NW Float Trips gave us a great tour. It really is as peaceful as it looks and it’s only an hour away from Seattle!

On the Skagit River with Pacific NW Float Trips

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:25:54 -0700

On Friday, March 19th, I spent the day with Dave Button of Pacific NW Float Trips. Dave offers many great outdoor river adventures including a float trip where you try to see the elusive Sasquatch.

If you are a birder, the Skagit River is a great place for you and Dave offers a lot. Although we were between seasons, we saw a lot of great wild life including bald eagles, mallard ducks, and red tailed hawks. The Skagit River is home to a lot of animals and Pacific NW Float Trips really brings it to life!

Pacific NW Float trips offer traditional white water rafting but they also offer trips geared more toward families and those that want to learn about the river. It really is a unique experience!

Four beautiful lodges in Golden

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:27:40 -0700

Seeing the video below and the pictures at Golden Alpine Holidays makes me excited for winter!

Epic heli skiing videos

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:47:15 -0700

Now that we’ve covered "when to go", "where to go" and "what equipment you need", it's time to take a look at what you'll experience when you employ an awesome air machine to transport you to the remote, pristine, snow covered mountains.

There are tons of great videos, pictures and diaries out there that depict people's experiences heli skiing. Here are a few that I personally thought were pretty cool:

If you’re ready to sign up for a trip, check out the heliskiing company profiles on UncleRoss

Snow is here...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:55:33 -0700

Think it is still a little early to start thinking about ski season? Think again! Silverton got 50cm of snow and Mountain Goat Ski Guides put up a video of the first turns of the season. While not heli skiing per se, you’ll find a lot of similarities with licensed backcountry skiing… but without the sometimes prohibitive price tag.

I also found some additional guides/reviews on 2010 ski models, so if you’re in the mood to spend your weekend getting prepped and outfitted for the upcoming (or already begun) ski season, check out reviews from Epic Ski Bill’s independent reviews, or, On The Snow which does a great job triaging the type of ski that will suit your skill/style best.

Getting excited for the slopes — let us know when you get up for your first turns!

Your brand is your promise

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:15:00 -0700

A while ago, I blogged that brand is more than a logo. People often get caught up in a logo or a quality seal but brand is so much more than marketing mumbo-jumbo: your brand is your promise to your customers and other key members of your community. Key members of your community include (but are not limited to) suppliers, competitors, and community associations.

Your brand is not a legal contract but it is a social contract, which is why I prefer using the word promise. Without offending too many lawyers, social contracts are generally stronger than legal contracts. Lawyers make their money negotiating around legal contracts but it is much harder to "negotiate" around a social contract: try telling your wife that you don't have to say "Happy Anniversary" to her until the exact hour, minute, and second you were married. If you find yourself saying "Technically, we don't have to do X" chances are you're breaking your brand promise.

While the external nature of your brand is obvious, it's also an internal promise. How you treat your employees and how they treat each other is a reflection of your brand. If you commit to helping your town recycle, but you don't commit to it internally, your hypocricy will leak out through your employees. Your brand helps align your team with your values.

You may be asking, "I understand how brand applies to someone that can afford to pay a brand manager that spends his time waving his arms talking about synergy but how does this apply to me, a local activity-based tourism provider? I live in the real world." In my experience, most small businesses are excellent at managing their brand because they are their business. However, one area where it pays to write out your brand's promise is if you want to grow from a small activity based tourism company to a slightly larger activity based tourism company. I'll talk about that in the next post.

Heli skiing equipment

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:52:41 -0700

Alright — time to get back on track. After a few week hiatus, we're going to pick up where we left off and talk a bit about equipment options/preferences for heli skiing.

The question of "should I buy new gear" before my heli ski trip seems to come up often. The folks at Valdez Heli Camps wrote an informative post about the topic so have a look here for their detailed response. Basically, the answer is that it depends. How new is your gear? Fat or narrow skis/board? How does your skill level match your gear? Etc.

One great option that a lot of outfits offer is to demo new skis when you arrive. It costs a few bucks, but at the end of the day, you're skiing on the newest boards with the best technology available — and you're not replacing your skis (or board) year in and year out.
Powder Magainze also put out a great guide to this year's gear, so take a look and see what makes the most sense for you.

Heli Skiing in Canadian Rockies

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:26:55 -0700

We talked a bit last week about “when to go” heli skiing, so we’re going to put up a few posts about “where to go” this week. As promised, we’re starting North and then moving south… so off to British Columbia we go.

Valemount, British Columbia is a top destination for heli skiing. Located w/in 15 miles of Mt. Robson which is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies (standing 12,972’) the combination of snow and terrain is unparalleled.

There are a number of heli ski trip options offered through Robson Helimagic which is one of the most well-respected operators in the area.

If you haven’t gone heli skiing before and are nervous about your skill level, a consistent decription for qualification is “strong intermediate”. You don’t have to be an expert to enjoy the beauty of skiing on untouched terrain.

Finally, if you are bringing a non-skier along with you, or want to check out Valemount during the summer, here are are few ideas of things to do.

North Cascade Heli Skiing -- Jan 8 to March 21

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:03:23 -0700

We’ve talked a bit about “when to go” heli skiing in places like Colorado, Utah, Idaho and BC. Well — if you’re planning on going heli skiing in Washington this year, you might want to think about booking sooner rather than later.

The folks at North Cascade Heli are projecting that their season will run from Jan 8th to March 21… which is just over 75 days to choose from. While the season is short, the runs are not. Epic conditions, great guides and awsome terrain make for a heck of an adventure.

So, if you haven’t made your reservation for you 2010 trip, take a look at the info and registration forms on NCH’s site.

Enjoy the sun this weekend!

Uncle Ross series on heli skiing

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:10:39 -0700

As the first in a series of activity specific discussions on Uncle Ross, this month we’re going to take a more in-depth look at heli skiing.

The topics we’re going to cover are:

Week 1 : When to go. Is December better than February?
Week 2 : Where to go. Our focus for this series will be the Rockies… starting north in Canada and moving south from there.
Week 3 : What you need — newest equipment and ideas to make your trip more comfortable.
Week 4 : Photos and video — we’ll look at some awesome pics and video from some of Uncle Ross’ heli skiing tour operators.

If you have ideas or content to contribute for any of the topics above, shoot ‘em over to us — we’d love to hear from you!