If you enjoy backcountry skiing and touring and would like improve your confidence, ski ability and backcountry skills in a wider variety of terrain – then our level 3 off piste skiing and skills course is designed specifically for you!  Aimed at off piste skiers and ski tourers who want to ski more fluidly and  confidently in a wider variety of terrain, the course is run by an IFMGA Guide who is also a BASI ski instructor; so you get the benefit of the same guide and instructor all week, to improve your technique and enjoy some great touring and descents.  Free safety equipment rental is included with this course.

Trip Info

The key focus of the week is to improve your ski technique and style in a wider range of terrain and snow conditions, so we’ll be working on this every day.  In order to practice in suitable backcountry terrain, we’ll be using touring kit most days to get further away from the lifts and find the best locations to practice on – this may include coaching jump turns and other skills useful for tricky terrain, as well as technique coaching in different types of snow etc. Coaching and training sessions are always incorporated into quality days out skiing, with a mix of structured coaching, off piste practice and ski tours – so that you’ll get to enjoy a great weeks skiing (ie it’s a fun ‘holiday where you’ll learn’, not a whole week of ‘ski school’!). On this course we aim to ski in the Chamonix valley, using the excellent uplift at the Grand Montets, Aiguille du Midi, Brevent, Flegere and Le Tour which can be reached on foot from your hotel, or via a short ride on one of the regular local ski buses. If conditions or group choice dictates, we may also ski in Italy or Switzerland, which can be reached by a short taxi ride.

Suitability

This is an intermediate level course. To take part you should be at Fitness Level 3 and Tech Level 3 (this is equivalent to Ski Club of GB Purple off piste ski standard – see our Fitness/Experience guidelines). As a minimum standard, you need to have done a number of week long ski touring or off piste ski holidays, including using skins and touring equipment before and be comfortable skiing on typical off piste/ski touring terrain in a range of snow conditions.  In steeper terrain and more difficult snow conditions you can get down safely, but want to improve your style and confidence.

This is the minimum requirement and teams of mixed ability/fitness are quite common, but the pace and scope for each day is determined by teaching objectives rather than a time critical journey – ie we have focused learning objectives each day, but the atmosphere is quite relaxed!

The week includes a mix of off piste days and ski tours.  The touring days may start with some uplift and could involve venturing into more technical and challenging terrain including boot tracks, with typically 500-1000m of ascent a day – so you can expect to be skinning for 2-3 hours on a touring day. The type of ascent we use is 75% uplift and 25% skinning during the week.

Guiding ratio

One IFMGA guide skiing with 6 clients.

Included in price

• 6 days of guiding/instruction
• All guides expenses
• 7 nights hotel accommodation, including breakfast and evening meal
• Free local ski bus for travel within the Chamonix valley (public ski bus)
• **Safety equipment hire: avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe and backpack

**Please select any equipment you require during the booking process

Excluded from price (see factsheet for extra cost estimates)

• Uplift
• Lunches and drinks
• Any public transport or taxis required to ski outside of the Chamonix valley
• Travel to resort
• Insurance
• Ski and boot hire

Hotels

Our base for the week is the Chaumiere Mountain Lodge, in Chamonix. The hotel is well set up for touring, with a comfortable bar, good local food and quick access to the local skiing. Hotel rooms are provided on a twin (or occasionally triple) sharing basis, but if you wish to book a single room please let us know and we will confirm availability.  Hotel details can be found on our Accommodation page.

ABTOT Protected

This trip is protected by ABTOT – Alpine Guides Ltd, Membership Number 5394.  For further information, please visit our Financial Protection page.

Subject to weather and snow conditions, the plan is as follows. Please note that this is a sample itinerary only – on trips like this, itineraries are always subject to change as the current snow, weather and avalanche conditions need to be taken into account. This is an essential part of safety planning for all backcountry skiing, so please be ready for changes as part of your trip.

Saturday

You should arrange outward travel on Saturday, arriving by 6-7pm latest in time for the briefing at your accommodation. Your guide will run through kit checks and safety routines, as well as hand out any rental equipment, before going on to discuss the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our plans. We’ll have maps and guidebooks of the area to show you, so if you’ve any further questions or last minute requests, then this is the ideal time to bring them up.

Sunday

Warm Up Off Piste Day

Day one is planned as a lift served off piste day.  We start with some warm up runs, so you can find your ski legs and we can take a look at your current skiing, then move into coaching and improving on a variety of core ski techniques.

We’ll choose terrain appropriate to the level of the group, so everyone has the time to practice, ask questions and work on their skills.

During the day we’ll pause for the odd coffee break and at lunchtime, we’ll stop at a mountain restaurant for a meal.

Monday to Friday

5 further days of off piste skiing and ski tours, incorporating daily ski technique coaching.  We tailor each week to the group,  making best use of  current weather and snow conditions.

In order to maximise downhill practice time, we’ll be using some uplift on most days, plus skinning to access the best terrain and snow.  Depending on conditions and the group, we are also likely to do a couple of full day long tours during the week.  On touring days you’ll need a packed lunch, as we’ll be out in the backcountry all day, enjoying the skiing and scenery.

The main elements we focus on each day are:

Ski Technique

As well as working on your general ski technique eg rhythm and style in powder etc, we aim to improve your skills and confidence in more challenging terrain and snow conditions.  We may look at skills such as jump turns, tree skiing and dealing with tricky terrain in greater style and control, with more  confidence.  We’ll also teach you strategies to deal with crusts and other difficult snow types more effectively.

Mountain Skills

In addition, at times during the week we will be using ropes and crampons etc to access different runs.  We’ll teach you how to use mountaineering equipment safely in the context of backcountry skiing, tailoring sessions to current skills within the group – this could include crampon skills, ropework, glacier safety etc.  Finally, we will refresh and update your avalanche safety knowledge as appropriate during the week.

Typical tours and runs around the Chamonix valley could include:

• Vallee Blanche and ski tours around Midi/Skyway such as Col d’Entreves.
• Les Contaminés ski tours such as Col Cicle and Fenetre.
• Petit and Grand Croisse Baulet Combloux.
• Aravis Massif ski tours.
• Aiguille Rogues classics such as Crouches-Bernard.

Fri PM – course debrief and advice for the future.

Saturday

Return travel should be arranged on Saturday morning, after your final nights accommodation.

Your course starts and finishes in the Chamonix valley, at our base in Chamonix – La Chaumiere Mountain Lodge. The most common way to reach Chamonix is fly to Geneva, then take a shared minibus taxi transfer to the Chamonix valley (must be booked in advance).

Flights and transfers

• Fly to Geneva with numerous budget airlines, for an overview of the best options check out the excellent Sky Scanner website.
• Airport transfer from Geneva to Chamonix: Mountain Drop-offs offer the best all round service, with regular reliable transfers through the season. They offer a shared minibus taxi service which meets you in the airport and drops you off at the door of your hotel. Book your transfer here and use promo code ALPGUID to receive a discount on your journey.
• Alternatively hire a car at Geneva airport (1.2 hrs drive to Cham).

For flights and other travel options, including train, coach and driving, visit our Travel Planning page.

To enjoy this trip you should be comfortable operating at Fitness Level 3, and Ski Tech Level 3:

Fitness Level 3
You do 3-4 hours cv training/sport per week. At this level you are happy doing a 5-6 hr hillwalk, 40-50ml cycle or 3-4hr mountain bike ride without being totally exhausted. If you are into challenges – then the thought of doing a road sportive, or training to do a 1/2 (or maybe even a full) marathon, wouldn’t seem too ridiculous. On foot: you should be able to do the full Langdale Horseshoe: Langdale – Pike of Stickle – Angle Tarn – Bow Fell – Crinkle Crags – Pike of Blisco – Langdale in a day without finishing up exhausted. On skis: you can skin uphill at 300-400m/hr for 3-4 hrs a day (ie 8-1200m of ascent each day).

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Tech Level 3
Confirmed Off Piste Skier. You can put down a reasonable set of tracks in powder, but difficult snow types – eg heavy wet snow, crusts, poor visibility or 40dg slopes – can all cause problems (though you can cope with them safely, if not elegantly!) *Equivalent to Ski Club of GB Off Piste Level: Purple – Advanced*
Likely to say: ‘I’d like to handle difficult snow/steep slopes more confidently in better style’
Our Advice: Off piste coaching still useful. Intermediate off piste weeks are at your level too. If you want to get into ski touring, try a touring course or intro level ski tour. If you’re an established ski mountaineer, then intermediate level tours are generally suitable.

To view all of our Ski Fitness Levels and Off Piste Technical Levels, please visit our Ski Ability page.

If you need to top up your fitness for this trip, please see our Ski Touring Training Advice page.

Off Piste Ski Ability Levels

To join this trip, you need to be skiing at Tech Level 3 or higher on our 5 point scale. Use the descriptions above and the following video to help work out your current off piste ski ability level.

Ski Training Course Equipment List

Just remember, every extra kilo on your back knocks 10% off your enjoyment on the descents – so try and keep the weight down!

Technical Clothing

• Waterproof Jacket – preferably lightweight and breathable
• Overtrousers/ski pants – preferably with side zips
• Fleece mid layer or equivalent
• Spare fleece or lightweight insulated duvet jacket
• Socks – specialist ski socks or a warm loop lined pair of mountain socks
• Wicking thermal top – not cotton please…
• Thermal leggings or ski pants
• Thin inner gloves
• Warm ski gloves or mittens, if you suffer from cold hands
• Warm hat

Personal Items

• Water container – at least 1 litre
• Personal medications and blister kit – regular meds, zinc oxide tape, compeed and painkillers etc
• Ski goggles
• Sun glasses – CE rated 3 or 4 with side protection
• Sun and lip cream – factor 30+
• Wallet, passport and insurance docs

Technical Equipment

• Rucsac 25/35l – try and avoid ones covered in too many features, just ski and ice axe attachments required
• Freeride boots or ski mountaineering boots – check detailed factsheet kit list for preferred boots
• Skis with touring bindings – if you are joining a teaching course and your ski level is still developing (ie you are currently at level 1 or 2), then we require you to hire skis mounted with hybrid freeride bindings (eg Salomon Shift binding), rather than lightweight touring pin bindings.
• Ski strap – to keep skis together on your rucksack if we need to carry them
• Ski poles – with good size 5cm+ baskets (telescopic poles are not needed)
• Climbing skins – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Harscheisen (ski crampons) – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Metal snow shovel – must be a full metal shovel (plastic blades don’t work in real avalanche debris!)
• Avalanche probe
• Avalanche transceiver – must be a modern digital model (older analogue models are now obsolete)
• Harness, with 120cm sling and locking karabiner
• Crampons – bring them if you have them
• Ice Axe – bring if you have one
• Ski Helmet – lightweight ski touring or backcountry model preferred.  Wearing a helmet is compulsory on descents and may be needed on other parts of the route depending on conditions

Your guide will have all other safety kit, first aid and survival equipment.

Recommendations and Advice
Visit the Knowledge Base section of our website, where we publish an annual review of the years best new skis, boots and touring equipment, plus a range of other interesting tips and recommendations. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch!

Purchasing Equipment
Backcountry UK in Otley offer an excellent ski touring boot fitting service, one of the best ranges of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK and top notch advice.

Hiring Equipment
Please visit our Equipment Hire page for recommended hire shops in your resort, and Alpine Guides hire equipment price list.

For this trip you must have specialist travel insurance providing medical, emergency search/rescue and repatriation cover for off piste skiing and ski touring, as outlined in the trip itinerary. We also strongly recommend that you purchase cancellation cover, in case you’re unable to attend your trip due to personal circumstances or injury. Please arrange your insurance as soon as your trip is confirmed to run.

Further details can be found on our insurance info page.