Flying High with the HeliHackers

Photo by Grant Duncan-Smith Subiaco Photography

Strapped into a climbing harness, I hooked my carabiner through a three-holed metal plate attached to the end of a 30-metre-long rope. So did two guys in neon orange T-shirts carrying chainsaws. Team leader Max Vos warned me that this was going to be a cosy threesome like no other. He checked our gear, looked kindly into my terrified eyes and with a rotation of his outstretched arm indicated to the helicopter pilot that we were ready. The startling upward momentum was unlike any fairground ride I’d ever been on, and through a cloud of dust, the chopper headed skywards, and we went with it.