Heli skiing in BC Canada

Pierre-Etienne Gagnon

It was after graduating from the HEC Montreal business school that Pierre-Etienne started his backcountry career. Working as a ski instructor in Chamonix, he opened a Pandora’s box to a new world of skiing. While he has been on skis since the age of 3 and has alpine ski raced competitively for 15 years, it was only upon arrival in this ski-mountaineering Mecca that he truly saw the potential for the sport and consequently dedicated himself to exploring this new world.
In the following years, he completed a two-year Adventure Guide Diploma from the Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia. Throughout this time and to this day, he spends much of his time in the mountains perfecting this art while pursuing his guide career. He is now a certified assistant guide with the ACMG and works as a heli and ski-touring guide in British Columbia during the North American winter months.
He discovered skiing on the southern side of the equator in 2005 on a ski trip where he was part of the first Canadian team to cross the southern icecap and in doing so ski from the top of the highest Patagonian peak on their way by! This is only one of the many expeditions Pierre-Etienne has now tucked under his belt!

Certifications:

• Association of Canadian Mountain Guides – Assistant ski guide
• Canadian Ski Guide Association – Level 1
• Canadian Avalanche Association – Operations level 1
• Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance – Level 3
• Wilderness Medical Associates – Wilderness First Responder
  
• Justice Institute of British Columbia – Search and Rescue Manager
• Justice Institute of British Columbia – Rope Rescue Team Member
• Languages: French, English, Spanish

For questions or comments, you can reach Pierre-Etienne at:

pegagnon@nevexp.com
1-866-559-9715

Philippe Gautier

Ski racing on the hardest snow on the planet on the Icy Coast of Quebec somehow became the start of Philippe’s ski addiction. It has now been seven years of continuous winters for him as he follows the snow on its’ migrations between hemispheres. His powderquest started in the humble resort of Fernie, British Columbia (BC) where he worked as a racing coach and ski patroller. Sustainability issues took him back to pursue more scholarly interests at the University of Montreal. That following summer working as a tree planter in northern BC, in the middle of a really bad day the plan hatched to go skiing. This quest quickly turned into a hunt for the place in the world with the most snow at that precise moment in time. A week later he was in Termas de Chillan at a place he has called home for the last six summer ski seasons. Philippe works the winter season as an avalanche forecaster and educator at the Haute-Gaspésie Avalanche Center (try to find that on a map!) and as a mechanized skiing tail guide in BC. He has also worked as a tourism development consultant, a job that has taken him to places as far and remote as a military camp on the isle of Tierra del Fuego; the mission: to explore, define, catalogue and mostly enjoy the vast and untracked terrain of the Cordillera Darwin.

Certifications:

• Canadian Avalanche Association Level 2
• Professional Member of Canadian Avalanche Association
• Canadian Ski Coaches Federation level 1
• Canadian Ski Patrol System operational member
• Advanced Medic First Aid interprovincial level 3
• Wilderness First Responder
• Justice Institute of British Columbia Search and Rescue Manager
• Backcountry Experience: 12 years
• Languages: Spanish, English, French

For questions or comments, you can reach Philippe at:

pgautier@nevexp.com
1-866-559-9649