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Ruby Mountain Heli

Lamoille, NV, United States

Ruby Mountain Heli is a family-owned heliskiing and heliboarding Operator based in Lamoille, Nevada, flying the Ruby Mountains of northeastern Nevada since 1977. Founder Joe Royer was a ski patroller at Snowbird in the early 1970s when he started eyeing the range from I-80 on drives home to San Francisco, and in the winter of 1977 he began exploring it — becoming the first person to set foot in much of the terrain the operation skis today. Joe, his wife Francy, and their son Mike still run the business together. The Rubies are a remote range, 90 miles long and 10 to 12 miles wide, with more than 200,000 acres of skiable terrain and over 400 named runs on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, where Ruby Mountain Heli operates as a U.S. Forest Service partner. Fifteen peaks top 11,000 feet, including 11,387-foot Ruby Dome, the highest in the range, and runs deliver up to 3,500 vertical feet through open alpine bowls, aspen forests, and whitebark and limber pine. It's a high-desert snowpack, averaging around 300 inches a season, and the snow tends to be very dry. There's no ski town or ski area nearby and very few other backcountry users, so it's rare for guests to see anyone outside the operation. Ruby Mountain Heli keeps things small: a maximum of 16 guests per tour, skiing in groups at a 4:1 guest-to-guide ratio, and flying an A-Star 350 B3. When storms or high winds ground the helicopter, guests ski from Pisten Bully snowcats in Conrad Creek instead, starting at 10,000 feet and leaving straight from the lodge's ski room door. Ruby describes itself as the only lower-48 member of Heli-Ski U.S. to offer snowcat skiing as a daily weather backup. Every guide holds a Level 3/Pro 1 or Pro 2 avalanche certification through AIARE or the American Avalanche Institute, plus Wilderness First Responder, EMT, or Outdoor Emergency Care medical training. Trips are based at Ruby 360 Lodge, the Royers' own 10-room lodge at 7,000 feet at the base of the range, where Francy Royer and her team run a food and beverage program built on more than 40 years of culinary experience. The core Adventures are an all-inclusive 3-day heli package and a single-day heli package, with heli-assist touring and a 3-day, 2-night backcountry yurt trip for skiers who'd rather earn some of their turns. The season runs from mid-January into early April. It's also an easy one to reach: the lodge is 3.5 hours from Salt Lake City and 5 hours from Reno, and guests flying into nearby Elko are picked up at the airport.