On 1 April 2014, ski news site Unofficial Networks announced the "world's first hot air balloon skiing" in New Zealand. A company called South Island Balloon-Skiing would float four skiers and a guide up to the peaks of the Southern Alps, drop them off for a big-mountain descent and, in the words of its chief executive "Roger Edwards", charge "only for the hot air". The date and that line give the game away: it was an April Fools' Day story, and a very good one.
The balloon-skiing announcement of April 2014
The press release had every detail a real launch would need. It named the company (SIBS for short), gave a capacity of up to four skiers plus one guide per balloon, promised trips "this winter" and claimed that a day of balloon skiing would cost far less than heli-skiing. Its chief executive was quoted praising the mix of "the beauty of hot air ballooning with the thrill of big mountain skiing".
Why a balloon can't do a helicopter's job
The joke is funny because the physics is so unforgiving. A hot-air balloon rises because the air in its envelope is hotter, and therefore less dense, than the air around it. To come down, the pilot lets the air cool or opens a vent at the top. What a pilot cannot do is steer: the only control is height, and the balloon goes wherever the wind at that height is blowing.
- No precise landings: setting skiers down on a particular ridge would depend entirely on the wind.
- Thinning lift: a balloon loses about 3% of its lift for every 1,000 metres it climbs, a real problem at alpine altitudes with five passengers and their gear.
- Mountain winds: a pilot who can only change height has little room to work among ridges and peaks.
A helicopter, by contrast, can hover, land on a chosen spot and come back for the group, which is why heli-skiing became a business. Canadian mountain guide Hans Gmoser founded Canadian Mountain Holidays in 1965, and multi-day lodge packages today can cost around $10,000.
The real Southern Alps of New Zealand
The setting, at least, was real. The Southern Alps run for about 500 km along New Zealand's South Island, forming the Main Divide between the West Coast and the Canterbury and Otago side. Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest peak at 3,724 metres, and sixteen other summits top 3,000 metres. A late-1970s inventory counted more than 3,000 glaciers larger than a hectare, the longest being the 23.5-km Tasman Glacier.
That terrain is why New Zealand is a popular southern-hemisphere ski destination, with a season that runs during the northern summer. To reach the high snow, visitors use the ski fields or book with a heli-skiing operator.
Explore more: the Krystall floating-hotel concept; different kinds of real-world ski trip.
Related reading:
- Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta: Dawn Preparations and a Sky of Colour
- Hobbiton near Matamata: Film Design and the Visitor Experience
- Waitomo Caves: Glowworms, Limestone and the People Behind the Tours
- A KiwiRail Train Clears Snow near Arthur’s Pass
- Ten Australian Travel Ideas: Choose a Region, Then Give It Time
- Lake Hillier: The Landscape Behind the Pink-Lake Photograph
No comments