The Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil "Squirrel" is a single engined intermediate helicopter originally manufactured by Aérospatiale (now part of Eurocopter Group). The AS350 is marketed in North America as the AStar. The AS355 Ecureuil 2 is a twin engined variant, while the Eurocopter EC130 is a derivative of the AS350 airframe. Development began in the early 1970s to replace the Alouette II, and the first flight took place on 27 June 1974. Despite the introduction of the EC130, production of the Eurocopter AS350 remains strong.

On May 14, 2005 an AS350 B3 piloted by Eurocopter test pilot Didier Delsalle touched down on the top of Mt. Everest, at 8,850 meters  .This record has been confirmed by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

On April 29, 2010 a stripped-down AS350 B3 succeeded in rescuing three alpinists from Annapurna at 7100 m, one at a time, the highest such rescue ever.General characteristics

•          Crew: 1

•          Capacity: 6

•          Length: 10.93 m

•          Rotor diameter: 10.69 m

•          Height: 3.14 m

•          Disc area: 89.75 m²

•          Empty weight: 1,174 kg

•          Max takeoff weight: 2,250 kg

Performance

•          Never exceed speed: 287 km/h

•          Cruise speed: 245 km/h

•          Range: 662 km

•          Endurance: 4.1 hrs

•          Service ceiling: 4,600 m

•          Rate of climb: 8.5 m/s

Private Package

You bought, (or will do it) a standard package with POWDERCIRCUS.

Thank you for choosing us.

To help you to understand what is included in this package, and make clear the contract that we    (or will) subscribed, we would like to inform you about the rules that will govern our relationship.

For a PRIVATE STAY, you bought (or will do) some flying hours that you will use at your convenience, with yours guide team. We will operate to give you the best ski as possible.

You will be housed in our base in single room, full pension including all the service of a heliski stay.

During your Stay , you organize your day at your convenience ( according to the usual safety rules of an heliski operations ). You decide your week schedule and you can either visit all the places of our range or prefer to stay on some part of it. One, two or three groups, you organize the order of each as you want.

No matter how many skiers are include in your private charter, for safety reasons, you will always ski with a minimum of 2 guides.

For your week you will have:

 -          Group of 1 to 3 peoples (1 rotation) 6 helicopter hours

-          Group of 4 to 8 peoples (2 rotations) 9 helicopter hours

-           Group of 9 to 12 people (3 rotations) 9 helicopter hours

Flying time :

The flying time that the company will count are the flying hours.

The engine time when the trooper is on the ground is not recorded.

Extra flying hours :

Every evening  the flying time of the day will be re-capitulate to you . Once you have used up the helicopter flying time included in your package you are free to choose to continue skiing or return to base.

 Every day the extra flying minutes will be indicated to you . Any additional time will be charged at the end of your stay.

 Additional helicopter hours: 2650 € per hour which is equivalent to 45 € per minute.

 Refunds for helicopter time :

The first 6 helicopter flying hours of your package are non-refundable .The next 3 hours of your package are refundable if they are not used

Refunds for helicopter time not flown: 2400 € per hour

Paiement, booking, cancellation

Booking, registration, and all the different payments will be done for the all group.

An estimate is sent to you by POWDERCIRCUS at your registration including the cost of your stay and the payment schedule.

In the case of a cancellation within your group, you may replace the group member. Should you be unable to do so, the final payment (balance) will be adjusted accordingly between the remainder of the group.

Package, Warranty, Standard package

You bought, ( or will  do it ) a standard package with POWDERCIRCUS.

Thank you for choosing us.

To help you to understand what is included in this package, and  make clear the contract that we (or will) subscribed, we would like to inform you about the rules that will govern our relationship.

The standard package that you bought (or will buy) includes a various number of vertical meters, with a guarantee under which one we will refund you the meters you haven’t done.
We will do our best for you to get the best ski as possible during your stay.

During a standard stay, we will gather people coming from different places. Our guide team will organize the groups with friendless and technical ability.

A maximum of 4 groups of 4 persons will use the same trooper during our ski program.
The guide team will bring you every day on the best terrain regarding the snow and weather conditions.

Vertical meters count

Just the group’s vertical meters are counted.
If you decide to stop skiing earlier in the day, the group’s vertical number will be charged.

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If a whole group decides to stop skiing earlier than the others, then only the actual vertical meters skied are charged. However, if at the end of the week the members of this group have not reached their vertical guaranted meters, any refund will be calculated according to the actual vertical meters skied by the other groups.

Extra vertical meters

 Once you have reached your guaranteed amount of vertical meters, you can either continue to ski or return to the base.

The evening prior to you reaching your package maximum, your guide will ask you if you would like to stop and return to the base or continue to ski and pay for the additional vertical meters skied.

If necessary, groups can be changed to accommodate members who would wish to continue their journey.

A minimum of 3000 additional vertical meters are counted for every day the helicopter takes off for rotations above those covered by your initial package. This does not apply to the day when you reach the limit of your package vertical meters.

Cost of additional vertical meters: 130 € per 1000 m

Refund for vertical meters not skied

Refund on vertical meters is given back if you do not reach your package vertical guarantee , owing to bad weather or technical problems.

                                              130 € per 1000 m

No Refunds back if:

     -You decide to stop skiing in the middle of the day and you haven’t attain the amount of vertical meters outlined in your package during the week. .

     -You were not here all the days of your package (owing to late arrival or early departure)

GEORGIA is a country in the Caucasus region of eurasia. Situed at the juncture of eastern europe and western asia it is bounded to the west by the black sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan.Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² anr it's populationis 4,3 millions.

The history of Georgia can be traced back to the ancient kingdoms of colchis and Iberia,and it was one of the first countries to adopt christianity in the 4th century.Georgia reached the peak of it's political and economic strength during the reign of king david and queen Tamar in the11th and 12 th century .At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independance following the russian revolution of 1917, Georgia was invasted by bolshevick Army in1921 and incorporated in the soviet union in 1922.

The independance of Georgia was restored in 1991.Like many post communist countries, Georgia suffered from the economic crisis and civil unrest during the 1990's. After the rose revolution the new political leadership introduced democratic reforms but the foreign investment and economic growth wich followed initially have slackened substantially since.

Georgia is a representative democraty , organised as a unitary , semi presidential republic.It is currently a menber of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organisation, the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the Community of Democratic choice and GUAM ,Organisation for Democracy and Economic Devlopement.The country aspires to join NATO and the European Union.

Mark Buscail

Un instant de détente dans le Caucase

" Before the 2012 Winter and for three seasons , the team who is now in charge of heliski in Turkey , opened the heliski base of Gudauri in Georgia , this blog relate this story and as it's a part of our history we keep the article about this place where we spent good time."

Mark la photo ou le voyage ?

La photo est un voyage ! La photo le miroir du voyage ! Qui en appelle d’autres ! L’important étant de passer de l’autre côté du miroir. Le voyage n’est qu’un déplacement corporel, et n’a d’intérêt que si l’on promène tous ses sens, comme un violoniste surfe sur son instrument! Sinon on ne fait que regarder et se déplacer d’un lieu a un autre, la distance ne crée pas le voyage. Les voyages résonnent sur l’individu qui veut bien réfléchir, et le confrontent à sa propre réalité! S’il accepte d’observer la différence qui le regarde. Le seul bagage d’un voyageur n’est que lui même. Le voyageur qui arrive chargé d’a prioris et de certitudes n’est qu’un passant égaré.

Une belle image c’est quoi ?

Si elle est faite pour être vue… ce sera celle qui touche celui qui la regarde! Une photo comme beaucoup d’autres choses n’a pas nécessairement besoin d’être intellectualisée, ni de beaucoup de commentaires, une légende devrait suffire, arrêtons de répondre à des critères de mode et de standards, respectons ceux qui les regardent, il n’y a aucune obligation à apprécier tout ce que l’on vous suggère ! Après, celles qui me plaisent répondent à ma sensibilité, à l’état d’esprit du moment, souvenirs, affectif, tout cela… comme chacun le sait, est appelé à se transformer, à évoluer.

Ton plus beau shoot ?

C’est le prochain, je ne vis pas sur des acquis, l’acquis sert au niveau des expériences futures, en photo c’est demain qui m’intéresse, car aujourd’hui c’est déjà hier. Celui que tu veux faire ? Celui qui me surprendra encore et encore, j’ai encore du monde et des situations à rencontrer et à vivre. (Je l’espère……)

Mark Buscail