Back country, Cat, and Heli Skiing newbie. Suggestions?

Try a snow cat trip first. Less expensive than a heli and more likely to have a smaller group with some experienced people to help you. True powder is skied like it's not there. Not all fresh snow is powder. Ask if the tour supplies powder skis, if not get powder cords for your own skis. Expect some falls the first run. Ski with more flexion and extension than usual and use turn shape to control your speed.

Like Jim said, the powder in the backcountry is not always drool-inducing. But every few times out it's nicer than anything you'll ever ski at a resort.

I wasn't much of a hiker either but I joined my university's backcountry skiing club and I LOVE it. But it does require some money: new bindings, new boots, climbing skins, avalanche transiever, avalanche shovel... but at least it's free after that. It does take about 10 trips before you're not exhausted afterwards, though.

If you have the money, I suggest heli skiing at least once in your life. I did in New Zealand and WOW I'll never forget it.

But I think a cat trip sounds like a good start for you

Heli snowboarding is whilst a helicopter flies you to the ideal of a mountain, flies away and leaves you there to ski down on (ideally) clean, untracked snow. You ski to a staging area the place the chopper collects you to fly up and do all of it lower back. With cat snowboarding, as a substitute of a helicopter a snow cat collects you on the backside and takes you to the ideal. Heli is a buzz, because of the fact going up is as thrilling as coming down (exceedingly much). Cat has the same snowboarding journey, yet not as plenty exciting up. You get extra vertical with heli because of the fact getting up is swifter.