One definition of the helix indicates that the angle to the plane of the cyclinder or cone in a helix is constant. I immediately imagined a group of angles that were quite inconstant--a mental image of stairs that rose in a herky-jerky fashion at all kinds of jerry-rigged angles.

Since those stairs rising upward wouldn't be considered to be a helix due to the abrupt change in angles, I wonder what the rising shape would be called. An anti-helix?

Edit: OK. One more thing and I'm out of here. It's my birthday, so please indulge me today in a bit of going overboard on the board. I checked out the adjective forms, helical and voluted--helical has a very nice sound when you use the soft 'e' rather than the alternate long one. Here's a soft phrase:

A pelted pelican fell helically.