Heliskiing

He teamed up with Hans Gmoser who was a experienced mountain guide and created a business together.

They charged 20$ for their first day of heliskiing, however, due to unfavorable weather conditions and a small Bell 47G-2 helicopter, Patterson decided the business is too risky and withdrew from the venture.

[1] However, Gmoser continued in the business idea and in 1965 commercialized the activity in Canada by founding CMH, Canadian Mountain Holidays, a heliskiing company which combined lodging, transport and guiding.

[3] It is standard to use different types of safety equipment, such as avalanche transceivers, probes or shovels, that help to locate and free a person buried under snow.

[10] In 2010 Switzerland's major environmental groups, including the Worldwide Fund for Nature, handed a petition with over 15,000 signatures to the Swiss government, demanding a ban on heliskiing.

Another misconception is that skiers jump off cliffs and ski on steep and dangerous slopes.

However, in a typical heli-ski run there are small groups of skiers that have their own guides who know routes that have been chosen in advance and test the snowpack to confirm it is safe.