Chamonix Off-Piste & Mountain Skills – Progression Course – Feb 2020

Our second Chamonix off piste & touring course has been designed specifically for those who want to develop their skills after the standard course, or those with a similar level of experience. The aims are to further improve both your technical off-piste skiing, ski touring skills & mountain safety awareness whilst visiting some different venues, interesting new terrain and do some great ski touring journeys in the process.  The course features 2 days off piste coaching with a ski instructor and 2 days touring / ski mountaineering with an IFMGA Guide.

For this Feb course there is an evening meeting on the Sunday and then the opportunity to have a non guided warm up day on Monday (not part of the course) before the coaching starts with the instructor on Tuesday.  Whilst there can be hints of spring arriving already in late Feb, guests should be prepared for winter touring which may require that more mellow terrain is undertaken   than later in the spring.  As with all our courses, the key is to understand what the prevailing snow conditions dictate will be the most enjoyable routes to ski and remain flexible accordingly.  This important element of route choice will be discussed as part of the training during the course.

Course Aims

• Develop competence and confidence skiing in adventurous mountain terrain
• Improve technical ski ability on steeper & more sustained slopes
• Develop ski touring skills with the view to tackling steeper / harder day & hut to hut tours in future
• Complete some excellent high mountain ski touring with at least one long (1000m+) day
• Develop planning skills for selecting your own ski tours & route finding / terrain choice during the tour
• Meet like minded others keen to enjoy 4 excellent days mountain skiing & touring

Progression Course Pre-requirements

Ski Ability

Competent, confident, robust and reliable skills whilst skiing any pisted run and off-piste in all conditions on slopes up to 35 degrees. You will have already completed at least a week of ski touring and be competent performing kick-turns on steep & sometimes exposed terrain. You will have practised regularly with your avalanche transceiver and generally be a competent member of an off piste / ski touring team.

Mountain Fitness

You’ll need to be able to cope with 4 full mountain days and have the fitness & stamina to maintain an ascent rate of at least 300 metres per hour for 3-4 hours and still be able to then make a safe and reasonably stylish ski descent!

Team Approach

These are group courses and you will need to embrace this important element of the week.  If you are keen to maximise your time in terms of individual ski coaching, or completing longer / more physical tours then we recommend Chamonix private ski guiding.

Mountaineering Experience & Ski Warm Up

Basic mountaineering experience with some previous use of crampons & ice axe is useful but not essential. We recommend that you do some warm-up skiing before this course, ideally at altitude and with some skinning and kick turn practice if required. This is a demanding course and you need to be physically and mentally prepared for it. Unless you are a strong ski mountaineer already, this course is most suited to folk who are skiing quite regularly during the season.