Coming Home
IT WAS NEARING THE END of the heli ski season last April when Ali Meiners finally had a moment to rest. Seated at the small dining table in her cabin at mile marker 45 on Alaska’s Richardson Highway, she was calm, maybe tired, and holding a cup of tea between her hands. The season was her seventh as president and CEO of Alaska Rendezvous Heli Guides, but this was never the plan.
Growing up between Victor, Idaho, and Jackson, Wyoming, Ali didn’t spend time in Alaska. That was her dad’s world. Legendary heli ski pioneer Theo Meiners started Alaska Rendezvous Heli Guides with 27 acres and an abandoned building on Thompson Pass in 2001. He ran the operation as lead guide until his death on September 20, 2012, by which point “the Rendezvous” had grown to 3,500 skiable acres and three buildings.
Theo’s passing left Ali and her half-brother to pick up the pieces of their father’s legacy. In the years since, Ali and the guides have worked tirelessly to keep the operation viable while staying true to the Rendezvous spirit. Yet Ali faces a number of challenges including an aging client base, a shrinking winter season, and her own uncertain future amid a
