Ski Touring Skills

2009 DATES Click Dates To Book.... Week 10: 1 Mar - 7 Mar Full Skiing Programme Click Here COURSE DURATION 5 days, 6 nights ALL INCLUSIVE PRICE £845 Your course price covers: • Guiding + guides expenses • Full board + accommodation • All picnic lunches/snack food • All course transportation • All mechanical uplift • Loan of technical equipment Click here for Full Details RATIO Introductory

This course is designed to give a thoroughly enjoyable introduction to the world of Ski-Touring, which takes competent downhill skiers into a more adventurous form of skiing in the inspiring terrain of the high mountains - far above the crowded pistes and lift queues.

The course offers comprehensive instruction in all the techniques of ski-touring as well as focussing on off-piste skiing skills. It will suit people who plan to ski-tour on their own in the future, those who want to prepare for more demanding tours (such as ISM Haute Routes), as well as those who simply to try ski-touring for the first time. Specific instruction in off-piste skiing technique is given as part of the course, using video analysis where this is helpful.

Sample Programme

Day 1 Skills training and a ski short tour around Leysin. We teach the use of touring bindings and all aspects of using skins for ski touring - including general care and carrying of theskins, most effective methods for fitting skins on to skis, and of course skiing with skins both in ascent and descent. Other ski touring skills are also covered including assessment of avalanche risk by examining the snow pack, the use of avalanche transceivers, off-piste ski technique for different snow conditions, and how to ski most effectively carrying a rucksack. We also use the new 'state of the art' Leysin Avalanche Rescue Training Centre, where we learn essentials skills on how to rescue an avalanched victim.

Day 2 Ski traverse of Pic Chaussy. The 900m ascent of this elegant peak begins from the Col des Mosses. We use the skinning skills acquired on day one and cover aspects such as choosing the best line of ascent and avalanche avoidance. During the superb descent of this peak we look at snow conditions on different aspects of slope and how this affects our choice of route. Evening session on Avalanche awareness.

Days 3, 4, & 5 Multi-day day tour in the high Alps, staying two nights in high mountain huts. To give you the best possible tour in the prevailing conditions we keep the venue flexible - always choosing the best destination for the expected weather, conditions in different mountain areas and of course the needs of the group. Past tours have run in the Western Oberland, Grand Combin area and the Mont Blanc Massif.

Some of the touring will be on high alpine glaciers, which give another aspect to ski touring and bring in such skills as glacier travel with skis through crevassed areas, crevasse rescue in a ski touring situation and use of the rope in ski touring.

During the tour we make ascents of suitable summits, some of which may be climbed entirely on ski and some of which may require the use of ice axe, crampons and rope for the final few metres. Instruction in these skills is given as required. We overnight in comfortable and well-equipped mountain huts then return to our hotel in Leysin for the Friday evening.

Maps: Rochers de Naye 262 s 1:50 000, St Maurice 272s 1:50 000, Wildstrubel 263s 1:50 000. Possibly Arolla 283s 1:50 000)

Ski ability required: Strong parallel turns on piste (confidence on black runs) and ability to make effective turns off-piste. A good level of fitness is required (e.g. ability to comfortably sustain a climb at a rate of 250m-300m per hour). A typical day might involve up to 1000m of ascent on ski.

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