Backcountry Ski Skills Course

5 days Intermediate 6:1 Dates: 23 - 27 Jan '12 Price: £575 Ski Ability: 2-4 Fitness: 2 Experience: A reasonable level of off piste skiing experience is required. Included: Guiding Fees and Expenses. Other Costs: Accommodation, food, travel and uplift ~ £450 Book Online Here

Using uplift and ski touring kit, we teach the essential skills for backcountry freeriding - including important areas such as route planning, avalanche avoidance, tranceiver training and glacier travel. Tips and coaching to improve your off piste skiing are also an important part of the week.

Teaching and training sessions are incorporated into 'real' days out backcountry skiiing, in order to give a maximum range of experiences.

We base ourselves at the legendary off piste mecca of La Grave in the southern French Alps. It is an unspoilt, traditional mountain village and about as far removed as you can get from a big resort. The skiing however, is second to none.

Subject to weather and snow conditions, we follow the general format below:

We run all of our ski tours on a guiding & instruction only basis. Food and accommodation must be paid for seperately. Our recommended hotel in La Grave is the friendly and comfortable Hotel Edelweiss** run by British/Dutch couple, Robin and Marlon - who we will happily put you in touch with if you'd like to reserve a room (or the hotel can help arrange a twin room with a fellow course member if you like). You are however free to make other accomodation arrangements if you choose (La Grave also has a number of other hotels, gites and rental appartments available at reasonable prices - see the La Grave website for more details).

Full travel details are provided with your joining instructions.  La Grave is most easily reached by a low cost flight to Grenoble, then via bus to La Grave. If you choose to hire a car, then driving times to La Grave are about 1.5hrs from Grenoble, 2.5hrs from Lyon, Chambery or Turin and up to 4hrs from Geneva.

You need to be a competent off piste skier (see ski ability level 2-4) able to ski off piste all day long with a rucsac on (ie the better your skiing and the lighter your sac, the more you will enjoy it!)  Backcountry skiing requires good levels of fitness and stamina (see fitness level 2) - so we advise you to prepare well in advance with regular cardiovascular training and ideally some skiing.

We will supply you with a full kit list. You are responsible for bringing personal clothing, a rucsac and ski mountaineering skis, boots and kit (local hire is available). We are delighted to be working on this tour with Backcountry UK, who provide excellent service and advice as a leading retailer of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK.