How to Book An Helicopter Tour in Whistler for Your Adventure Photos

February 21, 2022 Candice Anderson

Looking for a unique experience in Whistler and don’t know where to start? What is more adventurous than a helicopter tour for your engagement photos? Adventure sessions have become some of my all time favourite to shoot. And this particular engagement session sold me on just how much fun a helicopter can add to your day. Elopements, proposals, portraits – they're perfect for all of the above! So I’m here to share some of their epic photos plus some useful tips for how to add a helicopter tour to your day.

Before I get into details about this helicopter session, how to book a helicopter tour for your photo session is super easy and only has 3 simple steps:

Contact me and share your details of when & what you’re thinking.
Book a free phone consultation where I’ll answer all your questions
I’ll book it for you through Blackcomb Helicopters!

It’s as simple as that! Keep reading for tips on how to make the best of your flight!

What a day adventuring in Whistler looks like:

What is more adventurous than a helicopter tour for your engagement photos? Adventure sessions have become some of my all-time favourite to shoot. And this particular engagement session sold me on just how much fun a helicopter can add to your day. Elopements, proposals, portraits – they're perfect for all of the above! So I’m here to share some of their epic photos plus some useful tips for how to add a helicopter tour to your day.

Before we get into all of the helicopter tour tips and tricks for you, I have to share a bit about Christine and Jackie’s day. This wasn’t just an engagement session, this was an adventure engagement DAY! An entire day spent exploring Whistler and all of its beauty while capturing their love for each other with some pretty epic photos.

These two first reached out to me in early 2020 wanting an adventure engagement session with snow-capped mountains and big sweeping views, somewhere like Banff or Canmore. What better way to see those mountain views than a helicopter? Blackcomb Helicopters is incredible to work with and I knew they would make this day amazing!

Looking back on our messages now is a bit eerie, as we were discussing “that virus” and talking about how we couldn’t imagine it affecting our plans. Boy were we wrong! You already know what happened after that. We spent our time waiting and planning for a reschedule. Finally, we were able to schedule for October!

Christine and Jackie opted for a little waterfall adventure the morning of their helicopter engagement session. We headed down to a cavern near Brandywine Falls and were lucky enough that the sun peeped into the area so perfectly for photos.

After our adventure on the ground, we headed to the second adventure of the day. The helicopter took us to Rainbow Glacier on one of the last sunny days of the season. The cracks in the glacier were exposed as there was little fresh snow and the light was just about as good as it gets during that part of the day on a mountaintop. Christine and Jackie were dressed in gorgeous formal attire, a beautiful strapless gown and grey suit, which created incredible juxtaposition with the views. It was epic.

As promised, I have so many useful tips for how to incorporate a helicopter tour into your photos. Whether you are planning an adventure elopement, a surprise proposal, or a couples photoshoot, you’ll want to read this before you start to plan.

Tips for booking a helicopter tour:

Choose your season.
It really just depends on what you are envisioning for your day. If you want..
- sunny warm days, aim for the months of July and August.
- all of the snow, you’ll want to go during the months of December to March.
- snowy peaks and frozen, but a bit warmer days, the spring months of May, June, and early July.
- the turquoise waters of mountaintop lakes, mid July to early October are your best chances.

But it’s important to keep in mind that certain times of year are more difficult logistically because of our impressively gloomy weather in British Columbia. Helicopters cannot fly in heavy fog, rain, or clouds. The winter months, between October and May, will bring the most precipitation and with that, the most reschedules. July and August are your best chance at great weather. After that, aim for May, June, or September if you want to avoid a reschedule.

And we can’t forget about the rise in unpredictable wildfires in the area that produce so much smoke that skies are dark and hazy for your photos and, you guessed it, sometimes helicopters can’t fly. May to October is generally when smoky skies are a possibility historically, but it’s hard to guess when they’ll come about.

Be flexible.
Just because flights can be cancelled due to weather, doesn’t mean you can’t book an adventure session stress-free. You just need to be prepared! My best tip would be to plan a day as a backup option if your original date has a chance of bad weather. Better yet, block off a week where you could fly! I do understand that this is not possible for everyone, so having an idea of a non-weather dependent adventure is recommended too!

Canadian Wilderness offers fun jeep excursions in the area. From late May to September, Whistler has a gondola to the mountaintop! As well as the fan favourite Sea-to-Sky Gondola. To be honest, gloomy skies are always lingering in BC and Whistler, it’s just a reality! Fortunately, Blackcomb Helicopters are the absolute best at rescheduling flights due to weather. With their flexibility, you can rest assured knowing they’ll make it happen as best as they can.

Pick a time of day.

It’s all about the light! With most helicopter companies, you can fly for sunset photos which is the usual favourite. The last time you can fly is around 3-4pm. Depending on the season, these times might change with the sunset times.

Speaking generally, I’d always recommend booking the very last flight if possible. The lower the sun is in the sky, the better chance we have of dreamy images. So my second choice would be the very first flight of the day! You might not be a morning person and it’s definitely a colder option, but it beats midday direct sunlight overhead I promise (especially in the summer).

Just a note: The photos from Christine and Jackie’s engagement session had literally the best case scenario for light I could have ever imagined on Rainbow Glacier. The soft warm light came from it being late in the year (they went in October) and an earlier sunset. Not all photos will get this type of light! Mother Nature loves to mix it up as much as she can.

Keep it small.
If this is an engagement, proposal, or couples session, you probably won’t have to worry about this one. But for elopements or intimate weddings, sometimes this is tricky! For logistical reasons, it’s always easier with just you and your partner. With both the pilot and me as witnesses, it’s 100% possible.

But I know that sometimes you want close family or friends along for the adventure. If extra seats are available, it’s an easy fix. It’s also a possibility to do two helicopters or take turns bringing you up, but in all honesty, sometimes it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare. Just keep that in mind when planning! The smaller the better.

For more specific details for planning an elopement in British Columbia, check out this blog!

Schedule extra time with the photographer outside of the flight!

As magical as those mountain tops are for your adventure experience, the photos are not always exactly what you might imagine. The lighting is a tricky game to play with the times of day. So just to make sure you get dreamy sunset images, plan another after-flight adventure with your photographer. Christine and Jackie opted for this on a lake at sunset and it was perfect!!