Whistler’s Helicopter Hole-in-One In Travelgirl

Trust British Columbia to improve golf’s “19th Hole” (what jokers call the bar). But the ice in question is more glacial than cubes in a cocktail. Adventurous players can now finish a round at Big Sky Golf and Country Club with some heli golf at Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort, host of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Texan Suzanne Baker tries some mile-high golf. Image copyright www.amandacastleman.com

Blackcomb Aviation choppers visitors into this dramatic, white-capped range, which often stunt-doubles for the Himalayas in movies. The pilots caddy, unfurling strips of Astroturf onto the snow around an elevation of 8,000 feet on Mount Currie or the Rainbow Glacier. From there, even a novice like me can drive a biodegradable ball thousands of feet — out and down, down, down, possibly even a mile. And it’s hard to miss a hole-in-one when all of Pemberton Valley stretches beneath you. This high-elevation adventure has a price tag to match ($325 for five balls and a 45-minute flight-seeing tour), but certainly one that takes life on the links to a new level.

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