HAINES IS KNOWN FOR ITS STEEP and complex terrain—par-ticularly spines. There are a few big ramps, and open bowls, and some playful pockets, but relatively short and technical pitches are the main draw. It’s home to classic media-friendly lines a short flight from the val-ley that have made it a film-crew staple for more than two decades. Sean-Dog played, and continues to play, a big role in that. Hailing from Sitka on the west coast of nearby Baranof Island, Sean first heliskied out of Juneau in 1985. Although he went to college for engineering, Sean dropped out to pursue a “ski-bum” lifestyle supported by commercial fishing during the off season, and cowboy-style heli bumps in the winter. In 1991, he and three friends went to Valdez for the World Extreme Skiing Championships. “We got there three weeks early and were the only people [at Thompson Pass],” Sean says. “No one had ever heliskied there yet, so we were the first ones, and that was pretty awesome because we got to name all the runs around the road.” That led to Sean and Bruce Griggs starting a commercial heliski op-eration out of Valdez, from 1991-93. “There was no guide service there,” Sean says. “It was kind of a free for all and we would be on slope and people would get dropped off on the mountains above us and be skiing down on top of us. It totally freaked us out. We’re like, ‘OK, we’re out here,’ went back to Juneau, and we drug the Hatchett [brothers] with Standard Films down there and started heliskiing with them.” It wasn’t until 1995 that Sean first heliskied in Haines, as a guide for RAP Films. “In ’93 or ’94, we were guiding, but we weren’t a legitimate guide service with insurance or anything,” Sean says. “Then in ’95, we went ahead and got the permits and made ourselves legit with insurance. At that point, we were the only [heliski] company in Alaska, the first one and the only company guiding.” Initially they were based out of Ju-neau and known as Out of Bounds Ad-ventures. By the late ’90s, they were based in Skagway and guiding for Stan-“To be long-tm sustain le, you’ve got to be o d people at relate to people at you love, right?” dard as well as Absinthe Films. “We flew all the way from Skagway to Haines in an airplane with Noah Salasnek,” Sean says. “We stayed away from town, got out there in the mountains. We went straight to Toma-hawk 1 and we got out of the heli. It was about 42 degrees at 6,000 feet on Tomahawk, so we skied down the shoulder and it was the worst upside-down snow, completely unskiable…. We went to a zone that was about 8,000 feet high, and it was 32 degrees at 8,000 feet. We sat on that peak and we watched the entire place just come apart before our very eyes. A 20-foot crown over here—an avalanche, then another one, and another one. We soaked it in, flew back to Skagway with our sights set on the next year [2000], set up in Haines, and we’ve been here ever since.” Despite the adverse conditions, the terrain was eye-opening. And these days, Sean’s longevity in the Alaska heli game is on display. He’s now the sole owner of Alaska Heliskiing and co-manages it with his wife Rhianna—Sean describes her as “an extraordinary ski bum from Canada that flies helicopters,” who guides as well. They live at 35 Mile Lodge year-round with their 9-year-old daughter, Juniper Snow. There are a few other ops in town now, but their clientele is generally seeking a more upscale experience than those who choose Alaska Heliskiing. SeanDog’s operation promotes a level of accessibility that is rare in such a high-dollar industry. It’s certainly by design. His business philosophy is still focused on enabling the most dedicated riders to stand atop Alaskan dream lines and making a very expensive pursuit a bit more affordable. “Maybe that’s a mistake sometimes because I end up carrying the bur-den of risk by catering to this crowd,” Sean says, “but it’s my favorite crowd and I’d rather have the kind of people around that I feel the most com-fortable around, people like me that are a bit more core. I’m fully Alaskan and a total dirtbag myself. To be long-term sustainable, you’ve got to be around people that you relate to and people that you love, right?” you d 1 A steep, 5,000-vertical-foot line. — SeDog Brownell BACKGROUND What does an alpine eagle mean? We’re not totally sure, but this one was headed toward the Canadian border, presum-ably from the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near town. Maybe it knew a windstorm was coming and wanted to chill on the east side of the range. Photo: Colin Wiseman CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Let me show you to your room. Shawn Freyer and Austin Smith moving luggage from the lot to the A-frame. Photo: Colin Wiseman SeanDog Brownell himself, still smiling near the end of his 2022 heli season. Photo: Colin Wiseman Blake Paul can do a switch backside 540 damn near anywhere. Photo: Alex Pashley HAINES 063
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 20.3: Page 63
