Snowbird is tucked away up a canyon access road above Salt Lake City. It's a compact resort with a handful of chair-lifts and a centre-piece “aerial tram” (cable-car to us imperialists). The base area is a narrow canyon subject to obvious avalanche danger; for this reason the resort buildings are substantial concrete beasts with internal design which wouldn't be out of place in a nuclear bunker. That said, the architecture has stood the test of time quite well. For a 1970s structure it's efficient without being ugly. Leaflets available in the lodge explain that when the avalanche danger is high visitors may be confined to the buildings on pain of arrest. Although you can stay at the Cliff and a few other low-rise structures in the valley, Snowbird isn't really a destination resort. Most visitors stay in or live in Salt Lake City, which is half an hour down the road for those with a 4wd or snow tyres.

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That's snowboarding but using helicopters instead of ski lifts to get up the hill. Of course "the hill" tends to be tucked away in the back country so there's no one else there. Fresh tracks every time, all the time. Accept no substitutes.

You can heliboard in any number of places. Those I'm aware of include: Canada, Alaska, New Zealand, Italy, Nepal, Greenland, and the USA. Where you go depends on how you like to balance the riding, your creature comforts, and your safety.

ability

You need to be good.

I'm not sure how helicopter-competence translates into resort skiing/ boarding competence, but I guess it's obvious that you need to be able to safely and quickly ski/ board all terrain in all snow conditions, all day. It's no place for sideslipping jibbers or arm-flailing pipe riders.

CMH recommend:

Heli-Boarders need to be accomplished, experienced riders with at least 80 days of experience who are able to handle any backcountry conditions including treed terrain.

If you're in any doubt about your competence then I'd buy a daily heli ticket before comitting to a full week, or go Cat boarding. That way you avoid having to sit on your bum for a week in a backcountry lodge if it turns out you can't hack it. My experience is that blokes are more likely to turn up with insufficient ability than ladies: something to do with bullshit-to-action ratios.

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down days

This is a phrase you learn to hate. Sometimes the weather prevents the helicopters from flying. If you've been in a helicopter with icing blades, or flown at tree top level in zero visibility, you'll know why this is so. Fortunately the Canadian government has made heroics illegal: if it isn't safe, you won't fly.

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