CBC Interviews Mike Weigele

[Trukker]

If Mike Wiegle had is way he would eliminate sledders in all of BC for his own personal gain . You have no idea of this guys mandate and greed !

 

[T-team]

Remember that time... you owned a bunch of helicopters and couldn't find a mountain without a sled track on it? what the $%^% over....... I dont know how big he thinks sled gas tanks are but god damn....... You could fly in about 2 minutes the distance it would talk a sled to go in 5 hours.... unless its a wedge.

 

[OOC ZigZag]

Mikes motivation is GREED plain and simple. Hes an ahole.

 

[frock]

There is a couple things about the whole heli-skiing scene that really pisses me off:

1) One person (Weigele) and a few of his employees make money taking people (most of these people are not even from this country) skiing in the mountains of this province while thousands of people who live in this province and country and pay taxes here are legally forced to stay out of these areas so a foreigner can enjoy it

2) Sledders lost thousands of square miles of sledding area to a totally bogus program, Mountain Caribou, while the heli-ski operations were allowed to keep operating in these areas. I've rode in areas up here where there are caribou and had a few encounters with them and as long as you don't chase them and leave them alone they look to be unaffected by sleds. I don't know for sure, but would suspect a chopper buzzing back and forth hauling skiers would scare the heck outta them.

 

[maxwell]

Remember that time... you owned a bunch of helicopters and couldn't find a mountain without a sled track on it? what the $%^% over....... I dont know how big he thinks sled gas tanks are but god damn....... You could fly in about 2 minutes the distance it would talk a sled to go in 5 hours.... unless its a wedge.

Like I said earlier it doesn't make business sense to fly a helicopter 10 minutes away from his lodge to where sledders can't get. What does make sense is to utilize the areas that are close to home base and close to the highway ( sled areas). We may think that because you have a helicopter you can fly where ever whenever you want but in reality he is burning hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra fuel every year by doing so and losing vertical feet for his clients by wasting that travel time. Again I dispise the guy but he's a smart business man. Gaining those sled areas close to home base makes business sense for him.


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[T-team]

Like I said earlier it doesn't make business sense to fly a helicopter 10 minutes away from his lodge to where sledders can't get. What does make sense is to utilize the areas that are close to home base and close to the highway ( sled areas). We may think that because you have a helicopter you can fly where ever whenever you want but in reality he is burning hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra fuel every year by doing so and losing vertical feet for his clients by wasting that travel time. Again I dispise the guy but he's a smart business man. Gaining those sled areas close to home base makes business sense for him.


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Shut up pussy.

 

[neilsleder]

Fight!


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[LBZ]

Like I said earlier it doesn't make business sense to fly a helicopter 10 minutes away from his lodge to where sledders can't get. What does make sense is to utilize the areas that are close to home base and close to the highway ( sled areas). We may think that because you have a helicopter you can fly where ever whenever you want but in reality he is burning hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra fuel every year by doing so and losing vertical feet for his clients by wasting that travel time. Again I dispise the guy but he's a smart business man. Gaining those sled areas close to home base makes business sense for him.


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At $12 000 a week per person, he can afford the GD fuel!!!

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[snopro]

Unfortunitely i agree with the guy, seen it my self.
Give a guy a motorized toy and he thinks he has the right and can do anything, like ride all over the mountians, inclueding out of boundry areas. Seen this with ATV's, dumbasses running in sensitive meadows...for the cheap thrill of getting muddy. Meadows that will take YEARS to repair after dumbass tore it up.
I've sledded Blue river and Valmount for year's and now avoid these area's because of all the moron's that seem to collect there, the signs are well marked and there is plenty of info. that indicate the riding area's yet there are those that think it doesn't apply to them or maybe they are to stupid to read.....only takes a few to ruin it for every one else.
Blue river is not the only place with these issues, Revelstoke is another big area that has the same problem. Morons insist in riding in closed or out of bound area's.
I love sledding and been at it since the 70's, but i certainly don't like the attitude some have about there RIGHT's when it effects others in a negative way. The mountian's are big enough for all so learn to respect other's and other will respect you.

There is an answer to the problem of non compliance. Charge and fine the hell out of them. Give back part of the fine to the snow patrol or charge another $5-10 for trail fees so enforcement can watch those sensitive area's more closely? Bounty Hunter programs for sledders to rat other sledders out? Whatever it takes. We need to protect our riding area's before we have no more area's to ride. We look stupid as a motorized group to other recreational users. Time to take out the trash!

 

[tranquillicer]

Seems like more of us should take up heli ski....be one less sled for every week of paying for that.....problem solved for Mike..!!!!!!! WOW...and that's after you get to his lodge. Hard to imagine he can't access enough area without getting in the face of sledders. He gets tenure on crown land because he pays the gov more than sledders do I suspect....

 

[pipes]

I would like to know how much his Heli-skiing operation put back into the town of Blue River. From what I've heard and I can only say that this is unconfirmed but I've heard that his operation contributes absolutely nothing to the community and that all the revenue from his operation leave the country.

Can anyone out there can validate this statement. If it is true then why is it fair that a foreigner can exploit our resources and give nothing back in return.

 

[tex78]

I would like to know how much his Heli-skiing operation put back into the town of Blue River. From what I've heard and I can only say that this is unconfirmed but I've heard that his operation contributes absolutely nothing to the community and that all the revenue from his operation leave the country.

Can anyone out there can validate this statement. If it is true then why is it fair that a foreigner can exploit our resources and give nothing back in return.

Cause he buys a whopper with cheese once a month in town...

I have also heard many things that nothing goes to the town as far as bought and sold stuff

What do granola eaters spend anyways...

Not like us, where it's a good steak, drinks ect

sent while I should be drinking tea's

 

[KatMan]

Unfortunitely i agree with the guy, seen it my self.
Give a guy a motorized toy and he thinks he has the right and can do anything, like ride all over the mountians, inclueding out of boundry areas. Seen this with ATV's, dumbasses running in sensitive meadows...for the cheap thrill of getting muddy. Meadows that will take YEARS to repair after dumbass tore it up.
I've sledded Blue river and Valmount for year's and now avoid these area's because of all the moron's that seem to collect there, the signs are well marked and there is plenty of info. that indicate the riding area's yet there are those that think it doesn't apply to them or maybe they are to stupid to read.....only takes a few to ruin it for every one else.
Blue river is not the only place with these issues, Revelstoke is another big area that has the same problem. Morons insist in riding in closed or out of bound area's.
I love sledding and been at it since the 70's, but i certainly don't like the attitude some have about there RIGHT's when it effects others in a negative way. The mountian's are big enough for all so learn to respect other's and other will respect you.

you miss-spelt unfortunately, mountain, including and boundary.

and i'm pretty sure, according to the tense, "dumbasses" should be "dumb-asses"

 

[rknight111]

Several years ago a bunch of buddies and myself were riding in clemina, by valemount. We were in a sledding area but there was fresh powder and a good nice run for skiers. We we're strangely dusted several times by choppers from a said heli ski operation that was nearby. I later inquired if we were out of bounds in any way and we were not. I have another experience dealing with them 5 years ago that i cannot discuss in the eyes of the public

 

[jjack]

ok vary simple solution.ALL SLEDDERS get together buy chopper start heli sking bis and just under cut him,when he cant make money he goes away,then raise prices company makes money every one gets to ride new sleds.We now have chopper to hall sleds out that are broken and you can do rescues so now your getting gov money,Buy all the land shoot the caribue and have a good barbeque.But bring beef caribue taste like sh-t

 

[maxwell]

ok vary simple solution.ALL SLEDDERS get together buy chopper start heli sking bis and just under cut him,when he cant make money he goes away,then raise prices company makes money every one gets to ride new sleds.We now have chopper to hall sleds out that are broken and you can do rescues so now your getting gov money,Buy all the land shoot the caribue and have a good barbeque.But bring beef caribue taste like sh-t

Lol I like it. However it's hard enough getting a sledder to cough up 20$ for a membership. Mikes operation brings in more in one weekend from one group of skiers than our entire snowmobile club generates in a season


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[snopro]

Lol I like it. However it's hard enough getting a sledder to cough up 20$ for a membership. Mikes operation brings in more in one weekend from one group of skiers than our entire snowmobile club generates in a season


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Mikes? You guys cozying up there little bud?

 

[maxwell]

Mikes? You guys cozying up there little bud?

Lol!!! I guess I shouldn't talk like were Buds. At least I didn't call him Mikey


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[Thunderr]

ok vary simple solution.ALL SLEDDERS get together buy chopper start heli sking bis and just under cut him,when he cant make money he goes away,then raise prices company makes money every one gets to ride new sleds.We now have chopper to hall sleds out that are broken and you can do rescues so now your getting gov money,Buy all the land shoot the caribue and have a good barbeque.But bring beef caribue taste like sh-t

I have my license, you get the helicopter and we're in business.

 

[Roy Maxwell]

Lund. With all due respect not sure how you can agree with him given that his radio interview was very short on specifics and long on anecdotal evidence, conjecture, heresay, all those things that someone trying to push an agenda that has no legs likes to use and Mike Wiegle is a master at that. One cannot blame him entirely as he is not a sledder and even one snowmobile track is a slap in the face to a wealthy heli skier paying top dollar to ski pristine powder. It is our job as sledders to hold his feet to the fire when he starts spreading unsupported bs on public radio. In the Valemount, Blue River SRMP there are a number of things that determine where one can and cannot snowmobile. Firstly there are the managed areas such as Chappel Creek, Allen Creek and the like where snowmobiling is allowed and the area is managed with groomed trails, trail fees and the like. There are also the designated areas that are not managed such as Oasis. The areas where one cannot snowmobile are the certain specific areas designated for other uses such as heli-sking, ski touring, cat skiing, etc. and of course there are the caribou closure areas. Some of these areas closed for other uses are seasonal and some are year round but that still leaves a considerable area where one can snowmobile without restriction but is not within a managed area. Howard Creek below the headwaters, Canoe Mountain and Manateau come to mind but there are certainly many more such as the popular areas around Blue River which are not managed but do allow snowmobiling because there are no other use restrictions and no caribou closures. One must remember that none of these areas are restricted to the Mike Wiegle Operation as they can basically heli-ski everywhere without restriction, within managed and non managed designated snowmobile areas such as Chappel Creek, Clemina Creek, Oasis, etc., within caribou closure areas and of course within the specific zones that are set aside for them that sledders cannot use. If one overlaid all the areas where you are not prohibited from snowmobiling onto the map of the Mike Wiegle Heli-skiing runs you would see a considerable area where there is overlap. His runs overlap all of Oasis, parts of Clemina Creek all of Chappel Creek and certainly overlap a lot of the non designated areas that are not restricted. Mike did not get into any specifics on the radio but I would bet that a considerable number of the snowmobile tracks he complained about had as much right to be there as his ski tracks did. I am not stupid enough to believe that no one is dropping off the west side of Chappel into the caribou closure area or no one is dropping into Dixon between December and the end of April but from what I have seen it is not common and is certainly not large groups tracking out entire restricted areas so his spiel about hillsides with so many snowmobile tracks back and forth that they were creating a danger to heli skiers indicates to me he is either full of s**t or he was skiing in an area where snowmobiles are allowed. I would further suspect the number of snowmobile tracks he crosses that are in areas where absolutely no snowmobiles are allowed are few and far between and are certainly sparse enough they can be avoided. The fact that he is not giving specifics (i.e. In ?? days of skiing solely in areas where no snowmobiles are allowed we encountered snowmobile tracks on ?? of those days and on ?? days there were injuries to ?? of the skiers who were injured as a result of hitting set up illegal snowmobile tracks). Given where his interests lie and given the generalities in his interview I am prone to disagree with him.