Introduction to ski touring course in Aosta Valley

Learn everything you need to be comfortable ski touring during this complete 5-day ski touring course in the Aosta Valley, with Edy, IFMGA certified guide.

Alpes

5 Days

Jan - Mar

Description

Join me in this intro ski touring course in the Aosta Valley. Indeed, more and more skiers and mountaineers realize that ski journeys far from the crowded pistes can give fantastic experiences. Be one of them!

Ski mountaineers manage to combine the fun that off-piste skiing provides with the rewarding environment. We learn to ascend aesthetically and efficiently ascend, also to descend swiftly and in style.

My goal during this 5-day introductory course is improving your skills to perform ski tours in an alpine environment. In the process, you will also become a member of a backcountry ski team.

Some of the highlights of the course are the following:
– Very good quality training to develop your ski touring skills.
– Understanding your bindings in ski touring.
– Skinning: how to put the skins on and off, how to break trail and choose a line, kick turns.
– Route planning, avalanche awareness and techniques for traveling safely.
– Learning how to use the avalanche equipment, probe, shovel and transceiver.
– Managing transitions (to transfer from skiing to skinning mode).
– Being comfortable using the mountaineering equipment (harness, crampons, ice axe), and introduction to ski glacier and using the rope.

And of course, it will be a a fun and sociable week!

Dates 2017:
– January: 08-14, 22-28
– February: 12-18, 19-25
– March: 05-11, 12-18.

Did you find this course in Aosta Valley interesting? Then please contact me and let's plan your trip!

I also offer a complete Ski mountaineering course in the area.

Price includes

- Guiding fee

- Transport during the trip

- Lifts tickets

Itinerary

Day 0: Arrival in Courmayeur

Travel to Courmayeur, to arrive in time for the Evening Briefing. We will learn safety routines and check the equipment. I will give you the rental equipment. We will also discuss everyone’s ambitions for the week, together with the weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our plans. We will have a look at the maps and guidebooks and sort out all of your doubts. PM Overnight in the valley.

Day 1: La Thuile

Introduction to the course and equipment check. Off-piste skiing, touring skills training, and training with avalanche transceivers. E.g. La Thuile ski area. Overnight in the valley.

Day 2: Off-piste and ski touring

A day combining further training in an off-piste environment with ski touring using lifts to access, e.g Courmayeur. We can complete several short tours giving a few hours of skinning uphill and lots of practice managing ski ‘transitions’ without a big time pressure on the day. Overnight in the valley.

Day 3: Punta Corce

A classic alpine ski touring day climbing to a steeper pass or summit, e.g Punta Croce. An opportunity to put together all the skills learnt so far in to practice and take the lead route finding and general decision making. Overnight in the valley.

Day 4: Testa dei Frà

Second day a classic alpine ski touring day climbing to a steeper pass or summit, e.g Testa dei Frà. Overnight in the valley.

Day 5: Intro to ski mountaineering on glaciers

An introduction to the important principles of ski mountaineering on glaciers. This is a fantastic and extremely scenic aspect of ski touring and we will spend some valuable time discussing and practicing the skills and strategies for skiing safely on glaciers. We have three high lifts by which the high glaciers of the massif can be accessed. The Hellbronner from Courmayeur. End of program.

Details

More info

Technical level: improving Off Piste Skier. Enjoy black runs and the kind of tracked out off piste terrain found around many big resorts, but you haven’t skied too much in properly deep snow without a base to it yet.

Fitness level: you run/cycle ( or equivalent ) 2- 3 sessions per week. I.e. you climb/bike/walk or run regularly at the weekends, plus once or twice during the week. At this level you should be happy doing either a 4-5 hours hill walk, cycling 30 miles or mountain biking 2-3 hours without being exhausted.

Meeting point

About the guide

Edy

Mountain Leader

I was born in 1966. I was an aspirant Mountain Guide from 1986 and a Mountain Guide (IFMGA) as from 1989. In 1988, I joined the Mountain Guides company of Courmayeur, which was the 1st Italian guiding company and the 2nd in the world in 1850. From 1995 to 2001, I had the role of leading guide with as main function the coordination of the work and the promotion of the guiding programs we were organising.
From 1986, I worked in the Mountain Rescue Team of the Aosta Valley. I became a Mountain Rescue Instructor in 2000. As a mountain guide, I practice a lot mountaineering, rock climbing, off-piste skiing, ski touring, snowshoeing, etc.
The past 22 years, I have climbed with my clients many classic routes in the Alps, of mixed, ice and rock; I have climbed the mountains of South America (Aconcagua in Argentina, Cordillera Blanca in Peru, trekking in Torres del Paine in Chile and Fitz Roy in Argentina, the slopes of Alpamayo Pequeno, Sajama, Huayna Potosi, in Illimani Bolivia, Cayambe, Cotopaxi, Chimborazo in Ecuador). Each year, I keep on travelling the Andes with clients and friends to discover new mountains to satisfy the desire of mountaineering.

Languages

Italian | French | English

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