LP, the skiing was not that difficult. Things you eliminate completely in heli skiing are bumps, chop and crud. We did ski some reasonably steep lines and to go there and have fun you have to be able to ski fresh pow reasonably well. IMO, it does not take that long to get to that level. Pretty easy if you live near Squaw or Bachelor or someplace where they get tons of snow. A little bit harder living on the east coast.
The snow quality was pretty good. All of it was thicker than what I normally ski in Montana. In the mornings when it was still real cold it was pretty light and fluffy, lighter than Tahoe on their best days of snow quality. On sunny days when it warmed up the snow got heavier. All of it was pretty easy to ski. The only times we hit funky conditions were at the bottoms on south facing slopes when we had gotten some sun baking causing a shrink wrap effect. Some of this was tough to turn in, but you just dialed it back and got through it. It never lasted for very long as it was always at the bottom.
The skis I am holding up are the Icelantic Shamans and they were perfect for the trip and the conditions. I started them on the line but the second day I moved them back 1.5cm and that was the perfect place to ski them. I also brought my K2 Hardsides which have duke bindings on them for says when we toured on skins
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