Cancellation & Refund Policy

We have strict payment and refund policies. For this reason we ask all our clients to thoroughly read the information supplied on our website before registering for a heliskiing tour.

The reservation and cancellation policies outlined are more or less standard in the heli-skiing industry.

Cancellation Insurance

We strongly recommend purchasing cancellation insurance. Once a booking is made significant expenses and long term commitments are incurred on your behalf. For this reason we are not prepared to offer refunds if you are later forced to cancel.

In addition, we recommend buying medical evacuation insurance. If you are injured while skiing and need to be flown to the hospital or back to the lodge, the cost of the flight will be billed to your account.

For both your protection and ours, we strongly recommend that you to book cancellation and evacuation insurance online with Lifestyle Financial. Their policy covers both Canadians and Non-Canadians (Note - if you are Non-Canadian, the information pertaining to you in their policy is after the information for Canadians).

Cancellations

Deposits are non-refundable.

If you need to cancel your trip after having paid the deposit, but before the balance payment, you have the following options;

1. You can re-schedule to a later date within the season in which you are booked (plus pay if there's a season pricing difference)
2. You can find someone new to take over your booking and reimburse you privately

If your substitute takes up your seat with Bella Coola Heli Sports, we will credit any money that you have paid to us toward the balance owing on your substitute's seat. We will leave it to you and your substitute to determine how you recoup the payments credited to the substitute's benefit. While we cannot revise our cancellation policy, we hope that our acceptance of your substitute will offset the effects of our policy.

If you need to cancel your trip after the balance has become due, you have the following options;

1. We can try and sell your seat on your behalf. If we are able to sell it, we will credit your account for the amount we sold it for, minus an administration fee, which you can use towards a new trip within the same season
2. You can find someone new to take over your booking and reimburse you privately

• If you cancel your seat after you have paid the deposit, we will not refund the deposit and will open up your space to another person
• We will consider that you have cancelled your seat if we do not receive the balance payment 90 days before your trip start date

Please note that Bella Coola Heli Sports reserves the right to cancel your reservation. However, if Bella Coola Heli Sports does cancel your reservation, you will be refunded in full.

Special note on all flight changes: Once the Pacific Coastal flight has been booked any changes will incur a $300 fee. Most flights we book are on a private charter and changes require that we must purchase a whole new ticket on your behalf on one of the scheduled flights.

Refund Policies

*** IMPORTANT info for those booking Vertical programs

The helicopter costs of operating your heli-skiing week are by far the most expensive part of your package. We cannot afford to fly with an empty seat. This necessitates a strict policy: EACH GUEST IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COSTS OF THEIR SEAT.

If you decide to sit out a run in order to rest, or get injured and are unable to continue skiing/boarding, your vertical account will register the amount skied by the group you were assigned to, not the vertical you actually skied. We sympathize with those that miss out on skiing, but this policy insures that we are able to continue flying and are able to fulfill our obligations to the other guests.

By way of further explanation, imagine that your helicopter is a taxi and you are four friends taking a ride. If one or two people ask to be dropped off half way to the destination, the overall cost of the taxi ride does not change. 

Similarly, if for whatever reason you request to fly back to the lodge or your guide deems it necessary for you to be flown out; you will be billed for the costs of the extra flying time incurred by the company in returning you to the valley before the heliski day is finished. The costs will vary depending on the amount of flight time required. If it does become necessary for you to be flown out because of an injury, we suggest that you submit the costs of the evacuation to your insurance company. 

There is also no refund for down days per se; however, if bad weather or mechanical breakdown prevents us from providing you with the total vertical or the flying time included in the program, we will refund according to the formulas listed below.

Private at Tweedsmuir, Eagle, Mystery Mountain and Bracewell's Lodges - If your private group of four uses less than 6.4 hours of helicopter time during the week we will refund the group $3,480 per hour on every hour of unused time below the 6.4 hour threshold.

Private at Pantheon - If your group uses less than 7.2 hours of helicopter time during the week we will refund the group $4,480 per hour on every hour of unused time below the 7.2 hour threshold. 

Semi Private at Tweedsmuir & Eagle - If your semi-private group uses less than 11.2 hours of helicopter time during the week we will refund the group $3,380 per hour on every hour of unused time below the 11.2 hour threshold (for the two heli loads).

3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 Night Vertical and Classic PLUS Programs

3-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 34,000 vertical feet (10,400 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 34,000 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet. If you purchased the 3 night Classic PLUS package, please note it includes the 2 night vertical amount of 28,000ft, therefore we will refund all un-skied vertical below the 22,400 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000ft.

4-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 45,600 vertical feet (13,920 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 45,600 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet. If you purchased the 4 night Classic PLUS package, please note it includes the 3 night vertical amount. See the above 3-Night section for your refund total.

5-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 56,400 vertical feet (17,200 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 56,400 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet. If you purchased the 5 night Classic PLUS package, please note it includes the 4 night vertical amount. See the above 4-Night section for your refund total.

6-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 68,000 vertical feet (20,725 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 80,000 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet. If you purchased the 6 night Classic PLUS package, please note it includes the 5 night vertical amount. See the above 5-Night section for your refund total.

7-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 80,000 vertical feet (24,400 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 80,000 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet. If you purchased the 7 night Classic PLUS package, please note it includes the 6 night vertical amount. See the above 6-Night section for your refund total.

Steep Skiing program

5-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 44,800 vertical feet (13,655 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 44,800 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet.

7-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 60,000 vertical feet (18,290 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 60,000 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet.

Rod & Ski Club

3-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 20,000 vertical feet (6,096 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 20,000 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet.

4-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 27,000 vertical feet (8,231 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 27,000 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet.

5-Night: If you do not attain a minimum threshold of 33,500 vertical feet (10,213 vertical metres) skied over the course of your package; we will refund all un-skied vertical below this 33,500 vertical foot threshold at a rate of $57 per 1,000 feet.