worth a read .........  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8657791.stm

The last review was in 2007 as you can see in this article

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/0610-unrestricted-heliskiing-switzerland/

nothing changed but maybe there is some more momemtum to toss the environmentalists a bone. Did you see this picture from the Petit Combin?

http://pistehors.com/news/forums/viewthread/603/

The photos in the BBC article are from Mountain Wilderness. I’m a long term member of MW France FWIW. They advance a couple of arguments: the amount of noise / nuisance generated for the benefit of a few people and that they believe that the mountains should have the minimum of mechanical intrusion. The Eco-Talibans of the Alps my Swiss friends claim, the French seem more receptive of this message, given that Switzerland markets the pristine nature of their mountains that may seem odd.

Mountain Wilderness do not advance fuel consumption, climate change or CO2 emissions as arguments, all three of those quesitons are outside their brief.

A lot of the pro-Heliski arguments are poor. It is often claimed that it helps train pilots for rescue missions. Speak to any rescue pilots in France and they will tell you that is nonsense. There is a lot of helicopter activity generated by tourist flights, helicopter pickups (a grey area in France) etc and the closer you get to Switzerland the noisier the whole mountain environment gets. In the Mont Blanc massif there is almost constant helicopter noise (admittedly only partially heliski linked). The more this traffic can be reduced the better. It would be great to make the Mont Blanc a national park.

Thankfully air traffic in the Belledonne and Ecrins is so little that pilots may still get a wave from ski tourers!

the Petit Combin photo was a great picture.....rush hour on the summit!

One thing I will point out is that Switzerland has the possibility of referenda at local and federal level, so if the question so the environmental groups could launch a vote if they could get enough initial signatures. (100,000 for federal votes I think). They already have 14,000 signatures for their campaign which might be enough for a cantonal vote.

I have just been reading the coverage in les Temps where the pro heliski lobby make the case that the rescue services are private companies in Switzerland and need heliskiing to supplement their income. It is not so clear cut even in France. In the Savoie the SAF run a big part of the mountain rescue from Courchevel.