Once the weather was favorable, we loaded the helicopters with all we need for 2 days and nights and flew on 2 machines towards a town of Severo-Kurilsk.

Only 2 hours of flight and we reached Paramushir, the second largest island of the archipelago. The island was gloomy but the Sun did go out and we rushed into the mountains at once.

Our first landing was on Ebeko, the most active volcano of the Kurils. Its puffing crater with the ocean in the background impressed us so much that we almost forgot what we landed there for. We started our way down enjoying the view of Alaid volcano that rose up just from the water. But after several meters we realized that the clouds climbed up from the ocean too fast. Our experienced pilots rescued the group from the middle of the route when we could hardly see each other. The guides and the pilots acted as real pros.

During the second landing our team was challenged by a great wind. Hardly keeping the boards in hands with a lot of strains we managed to get to a quiet side of the mountain and rushed to the ocean.

In the evening we had a party: ‘We don’t matter where, we matter who with!’ Behind mysterious green walls we found a dance floor and the fun began.

The morning weather did not make us happy and we went to the port in search of adventures.

It’s a home of nice animals that seem to feel good in that surrounding.

The ships function as fishing factories. One may say that it smells not the best in the town. ‘Hope’ had just returned from a long journey and it became a real festival – Korean sweets and alcohol.

Once the weather became good, we flew to the highest volcano Fussa – 1772 meters above the sea level.

The landing was planned to be on the very top and we could see its magic crater with 700m in diameter and 300m in depth.

We all were excited but Masha was the most nervous as it was her first heliskiing trip!

There was quite a steep part at the top but everyone managed the difficult slope and rode out onto the sunny side with a view to the ocean and the Island of Antsiferova.

The Fussa turned out to be a peaceful and friendly volcano. Its energy reflected by a wide smile and sparkling eyes on all faces of our team. We conquerred the Fussa and a feeling of another victory overfilled and united our team even more.

On the way back to the Snow Valley lodge the pilots gifted us a unique sunset.

A final couple of days we spent on the ‘home’ spots and in the hot springs.

It was Maria Solovyeva who deserved a real praise! Her first heliskiing experience was on the Kuril Islands – in the unusual beauty and absolutely extreme conditions. We congratulate Maria Solovyeva with her baptism of fire! ‘First heliskiing on the Kurils’ sounds proudly! It’s our mutual victory!

Misha Moroz and Roman Heikkinen as always filmed our fairy tale.

Helipro Studio proved once again that it can work in the most unforeseen conditions. 

Photo & video quality by Sony.

Photographer Maxim Balakhovskii