Heli-skiing was banned in France in 1985, on environmental grounds — one of the few European countries to outlaw it. Italy, twenty minutes by air from Courchevel, has no such restriction. The result is a thirty-year-old grey-market itinerary that every serious Courchevel skier eventually tries: take off from the French altiport, land on an Italian glacier, ski back down on the Italian side, and helicopter home in time for dinner.
The day works like this. A B3 helicopter — typically the Écureuil flown by Alpine Hélicoptères or Mont-Blanc Hélicoptères — collects you at the Courchevel Altiport at 8:30 AM. The flight to the Ruitor glacier, just east of Mont Blanc on the Italian side of the Aosta Valley, takes 45 minutes. The aircraft sets down at 3,486 metres on a snow shelf. Three or four guests, two UIAGM guides, a pilot.
The First Descent
The first run drops 1,500 vertical metres down the Ruitor glacier itself — a wide, gently angled snowfield that gives even intermediate skiers a chance to find rhythm at altitude. There are crevasses, all of them mapped, all of them given a 30-metre berth by the guide. The bottom of the run is a pickup point where the helicopter has flown ahead to wait.
The Second
The second flight goes higher — to the summit shelf of the Aiguille du Frêbouze at 3,650 metres — and the descent steepens. This is the run that justifies the cost. Eight hundred metres of north-facing 35-degree powder, in any conditions, in any winter. The exit is a tree-lined gully that drops into the village of La Thuile.
Lunch in Italy
Most operators end the morning at La Thuile and drive guests fifteen minutes to one of three lunch addresses in Aosta. Lo Ratrak is the obvious choice — a converted mountain hut on the edge of the piste, run by a former Olympic ski racer, serving fontina-and-truffle polenta and the local Petit Rouge. Lunch is two hours, wine included, around €120 per head.
The helicopter returns mid-afternoon to bring guests back to Courchevel. The arrival on the Altiport — landing into the prevailing west wind, with the Saulire above and the village 200 metres below — is, by common agreement, the single most spectacular moment of the day.
What It Costs
The full programme runs €4,800–€6,200 per group of four, depending on operator and aircraft. Mont-Blanc Hélicoptères is the established choice; Alpine Hélicoptères is newer, with a slightly larger and warmer Écureuil EC130. Both require booking three to five days in advance — the weather window is short and the slots are competitive.
Two warnings. The flight is legal because the landing happens on Italian soil; if weather forces the helicopter to set down in France, the day is cancelled and the price stands. And the guides will refuse the day below CAA avalanche level 3 or above level 4. Roughly one Courchevel winter in three delivers fewer than six skiable days. The other two-thirds deliver thirty.
