Great Canadian Heli-Skiing in British Columbia is now offering a Platinum Heli-Skiing Season Pass for CDN $100,000, or about $80,000 US, making it quite literally the world's most expensive lift ticket. The Platinum Pass from GCH offers unlimited "vertical access" to the world's best deep powder skiing in the heart of British Columbia's Purcell and Selkirk mountain ranges.
The pass absolutely guarantees the holder a seat on one of GCH's A-Star B2 helicopters - forget about ski lifts or gondolas in this extreme terrain - every single day of the heli-skiing season, from December 26 to March 28, overriding all other bookings. The $80,000 also gets you a personal "powder concierge" to keep you up to date on conditions and forecasts and advise you on getting the ultimate heli-skiing experience.
Back in May we quoted Adam Katz, founder of on-demand luxury private jet charter and management service Talon Air, to the effect that despite the sluggish economy the luxury travel sector would continue to grow. That seems to be holding true in Katz's case, anyway; the company just added a $4 million Sikorsky S-76B helicopter to its fleet. The S-76 is a twin-engine craft designed to provide premium comfort and privacy for up to six passengers and two pilots in a "jet-like environment." The interior features first-class leather seats, wood paneling and a 4.5-foot tall cabin with more headroom than a typical helicoptert. In October, Katz plans to branch out even further - to sea, with the launch of a 135-foot, 6-bedroom, 5-bath, Serqué yacht.
Talk about bizarre, Lamborghini recently enlisted the help of the Italian military (don't they have anything better to do?) to fly one of their rare and uber-expensive Lamborghini Reventon cars over the town of Turin and land it on the roof of the Lingotto building, where they were having a conference titled "Lamborghini and speed, a project in record time." And record money too I bet.
The only explanation Lamborghini gave to curious onlookers was "all 20 units (of the Reventon) have been sold worldwide." I guess that since they were each priced at over $1.5 million that is a big deal, but who came up with this idea?
While not as dramatic perhaps as other city skylines, Boston's view from above has its own charms. Experience them with the new Fly Above Boston package from Hilton hotels. The package is available through five different Hilton and Doubletree hotels in the Boston area and includes an overnight stay, transportation to the Aquarium for pick up, then a helicopter ride above Boston and an 11 Lighthouse tour for two followed by dinner for two at a hilltop golf club overlooking Boston. The package starts at $1,600 per couple.
If the black-and-white Versace helicopter wasn't your color scheme check out l'Hélicoptère par Hermès, a Eurocopter EC 135 helicopter designed by the French luxury brand in rich brown with classic Hermes orange accents. The EC135 is a twin engined multimission helicopter which can hold five passengers plus a pilot and luggage. The gorgeous interior has Hermès calf leather seats and leather trimmed controls and the entire cabin is enclosed in Hermès canvas and comes with binoculars so the passengers can view the scenery from above. I particularly love the neat little cubbies for your reading material. Certification is expected by next summer and there are already several interested buyers but they will have to wait until next October for their new toy.
We've seen in the past that 50 Cent has lavish tastes, whether it is his Connecticut mansion, his Manhattan office or his chromed-out Lamborghini. Now the rapper is set to spend a whole lot of money in one night just to honor his commitment to appear at two award shows on the same night. It has been reported that he will spend $2 million on a six-mile journey through London to perform at both the Vodafone Live Music Awards in West London and the MOBO Awards at the O2 Arena in Greenwich. For the events is said to have booked three helicopters, a fleet of SUVs and a team of ex-special forces so that he can get to the MOBO awards in time and have a little room to spare for relaxation.
UPDATE: Looks like 50 Cent has pulled out of the MOBO awards and is canceling a bunch of tour dates in Europe. Is he following through on his promise to retire if Kanye West bested him in the charts or just looking to s save some cash?
Last week was a good news, bad news situation for imperiled hedge funds mogul John Devaney. As I mentioned last month, Devaney, the chief executive of United Capital, had put his 142-foot Trinity yacht "Positive Carry" on the market for $23.5 million as well as his Aspen home, the historic Sardy House, for $16.5 million. Good news first, Devaney has unloaded the Sardy House to as the Apsen Times reports "a Florida concern with ties to the hospitality industry."
The bad news is that Devaney's fire sale isn't over yet. The NY Post reports that Devaney is also his selling his helicopter. The Sikorsky S76C helicopter is listed at $10.995 million in a brochure that states that the reason for the sale is "changing corporate travel requirements." The helicopter seats six in a luxurious leather-padded cabin.
Who you are is largely communicated by your style, whether you like it or not. Whether you try, or don't try, either way says a great deal. And just what does "style" all include? Many major designers believe it's about more than just clothes and fashion, and are hoping to cash in on some of the other "angles" where their respective brand names can help somebody make a statement. After all, designers are all about style, and style is about a lot more than just fashion.
Specifically designers are branching out into technology and transportation -- and they're doing it in a big way. But then we wouldn't expect anything less from names like Prada and Versace, would we?
State-of-the-art touch screen cell-phones,sports cars, private jets, and even helicopters are just the beginning of this trend. So be on the lookout for more than just clothes bearing designer names and, of course, designer prices.
It's one thing to coordinate your belt with your shoes, but your car with your helicopter? Oh yeah.
In every great sports car there's the heart of a flying machine, and the owner of Northwest Helicopters certainly seems to think his Viper and Huey are kindred spirits. While looking for an eye-catching paint color for his helicopter for an upcoming show, he decided the best thing around was the "Viper Racing Yellow" on his new yellow Viper SRT/10 coupe. Throw some silver stripes in the mix and you've got one very pricey matched set, complete with aluminum wheels, satellite radio, and mounted M60-D cannon.
On Thursday, I mentioned that Versace will be designing helicopters with fellow Italian company AgustaWestland. Now we've got a picture and as I thought, it's black and white leather with a Greek key design much like the interior of the Lamborghini they worked on. A full size interior mock-up of the Grand helicopter is currently on display at the AgustaWestland booth at the Heli-Expo show in Orlando, Florida.
We've seen plenty of kit planes but the Hummingbird is a kit helicopter that is designed for
the amateur pilot. The four-place copter from Vertical Aviation Technologies has a 375 mile range and is designed to be
able to be built by the "average person." The kit comes complete with every nut, bolt, washer, switch and
circuit breaker, plenty of detailed manuals and takes at least 800 hours to complete. The helicopter has a maximum
gross weight is 2700 lb.s and the fuel tank holds 57 gallons. The FAA will issue a Repairman Certificate to the builder
so that they can maintain their own helicopter. When you are done with your helicopter Vertical Aviation Technologies
has a test pilot/technician that can assist with the final testing. The kit sells for $123,750.
The celebrity pilot trend continues. The latest person to take to the skies, is Justin Hawkins, the lead singer
of The Darkness. Hawkins
has been learning to fly a helicopter and plans to take himself to concerts on the band's British tour this month.
He has become friends with a London instructor, who will co-pilot the chopper to gigs and he hopes to get his license
pater this year. The singer, who is known for his theatric stage performances hopes to buy a helicopter to make a
dramatic entrance to The Darkness' concerts.
