Ski Touring Introduction

Overview

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Saturday to Saturday, 6 full days skiing

Introduction

• Watch Mountain Guide, Andy Owen, give a presentation on Getting into Ski Touring

The Ski Touring Introduction course gives the off piste skier the chance to sample the ski touring experience. This introductory level course will teach you how to travel safely in the mountains on skis. It is an ideal springboard to longer ski touring trips, such as the legendary Haute Route or most of our intermediate ski tours. It will also give the beginner the skills and knowledge to access more challenging off piste skiing terrain.

The first half of the week will focus on developing your off piste skiing skills and your knowledge of avalanche terrain. We will introduce the use of skins and the uphill kick turn. It's also very important that we spend time training you (or improving existing skills) in avalanche self-rescue i.e. use of your transceiver, probe and shovel, as the whole week is spent in an off piste environment, which means avalanche terrain.

On Wednesday you'll head off on a 3-day ski tour, spending Wednesday and Thursday night in huts. During the tour you will further develop the skills introduced early in the week and additionally cover crevasse rescue, survival skiing techniques (for the rare occasion of difficult or unskiable snow) use of ski touring guidebooks, navigation and route finding.

Overall, the course is designed to be a lot of fun and you should come away from the week feeling as though a whole world of skiing possibilities have been opened up.

The 'Outline Programme' below is an example. The day to day venue and program is always going to vary according to your teams ski abilities, ski conditions, weather and prevailing avalanche conditions.

Course base: La Chaumière Mountain Lodge, Chamonix

Outline Programme - Chamonix

Day 1:	Course participants meet at the course base at 7pm. Briefing on the week's activities in the evening. The Course Director will organise any hire equipment or boot fittings for the following morning. Overnight hotel.
Day 2:	The first day will be spent enjoying the world famous off piste skiing that Chamonix has to offer, either at Les Grandes Montets, or in the back bowls of Le Tour. We will start with a few warm up runs and clarification on how to ski safely as a group off piste. Fairly early in the day we will do some training in avalanche rescue techniques (use of transceiver, probe and shovel). Next and usually in pursuit of powder or spring snow, we will head a little further away to look at the use of skins to access or return from skiing unskied slopes. Using the terrain to make a perfect skinning track is one of the 'ninja skills' you will learn. And when it gets too steep... the tricky, but elegant uphill kick turn.
Day 3:	On Monday we will progress to do a short day tour using the amazing lift system in Chamonix or St Gervais (included in lift pass) to reduce the hard work. There are literally hundreds of options. The best choice will depend on the ski and weather conditions at the time. The famous 'Crochue- Berard' in the Aiguille Rouges is a possibility. This involves riding up the lift system at Flegere, then a gradually steepening 400m skin to the Col des Aiguilles Crouches. The kick turns get more and more challenging until it is easier to take your skis off and front point up the last 50-100m. This is good training for more challenging tours. It's a good ski down and a serious traverse that leads to the second short skin (150m) to the Col de Berard. Then there is only the initial powder bowls and the demanding track through the woods leading to the hotel at Le Buet and a well earned beer! The descent is 900m vertical of skiing in a stunning alpine valley.
Day 4:	The progression would be to do a longer ski tour now and perhaps on glaciated terrain. The world famous 'Vallee Blanche', with an additional skin to the Col d'Entreves, is a great day out. This starts with the famous Aiguille du Midi telepherique (3,842m) and then an exposed descent down a snow arête carrying your skis to a skiable point on the glacier. Then it's skis on and a lovely descent on the first part of the Vallee Blanche until we can start the ascent to the Col d'Entreves (3,522m). Here we will be looking at how to travel safely on a glacier, avoiding crevasses, safe change overs and perhaps options for travel if visibility is bad or the glacier is particularly badly crevassed. We can then enjoy our lunch on the col and smell the good coffee wafting up from Italy! All that remains in the afternoon is to enjoy one of the most famous ski descents in the world.
Day 5-7:	The final three days are a chance to consolidate all the new skills you have learnt and to make a 3-day tour taking in an Alpine summit. We will look at some ski touring guide books, maps and take into account the avalanche and weather forecast to make a decision about the best venue. Again the options are too numerous to detail, but it will also depend on the time of year which huts are accessible. One option is to travel through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy and ski in the Gran Paradiso National Park. The first day would be spent traveling and then making the 3 hour skin into the Benevolo Hut. We might look at crevasse rescue at a venue near the hut in the afternoon. The middle day will be spent on a tour up one of the alpine peaks at the head of the valley. For example Punta Galise (3,346m). Here we can combine all the skills we've learnt in the week, but also look at using the map to plan a route, use the subtle skills of reading slope angle and aspect to avoid avalanche hazard and also to find the best snow. The final day will be a shorter tour or perhaps a different descent route from the hut. On completion of the tour, you return to Chamonix for your final hotel night. Another option is to stay in the Mont Blanc area and spend two nights at the Argentiere hut (2,771m). This is a recently renovated hut famous for its friendly guardians. The journey to the hut starts with the famous off piste descent of the Grandes Montets. A short skin up the Argentiere Glacier followed by a bit of 'jiggery pokery' (probably skis on back and crampons on) to get up the final steep section to the hut. Again we can spend the rest of the afternoon looking at crevasse rescue. The next day would be a full day's tour. For example up the Glacier des Amethystes to the Col du Tour Noir (3,535m). This would be a great chance to use all the week's skills and learn some 'ninja guide skills' like 'skiing the dapple'! On the final day, depending on weather and what the team want, we might consolidate skills or skin over the Col du Passon (3,028m) and make the mind blowing descent of 1,500m vertical to Le Tour. We would then take a bus back to our hotel in Chamonix.
Day 8:	Dispersal. Breakfast will be provided on the last morning before leaving the course.

Pre-Course Skiing Ability

Grade: 8B [ Ski Grading ]
This course is designed for those who want an introduction to Ski Touring (or 'Ski Mountaineering'). To enjoy the course and for you to take advantage of the instruction being offered, you should have some previous off piste skiing experience and you should be able to ski linked, short radius turns confidently. When you are not based overnight in the valley, you either do day tours from huts, or a short hut-to-hut tour at the end of the week, allowing you to ski with just a light pack. You should bring along your sense of humour and a desire to learn!

Additional Information

If you wish to discuss any aspect of the ski or your suitability for it, please phone +44 (0)114 276 3322 or contact us.

Dates & Prices

Date	Meeting in		Availability
Sat 31 Jan – Sat 7 Feb 2026	Chamonix		Available Book now »
2 places left with £75 early booking offer	£1,545 £1,470
Sat 7 Feb – Sat 14 Feb 2026	Chamonix		Available Book now »
2 places left with £75 early booking offer	£1,545 £1,470
Sat 14 Mar – Sat 21 Mar 2026	Chamonix		Trip Guaranteed Book now »
Last 3 places Head of Course Andy Owen	£1,545

Our Trip Guarantee

This course is available to book in GBP, USD and EUR.
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Group size: 3 – 6 people.

Single room supplement: £230

For comparison, this course starts from £221 (GBP) per day (price Without Flights).

What the price includes

• 5 nights' hotel accommodation in Chamonix on a twin-sharing (occasionally triple/quad), half-board basis
• 2 nights' mountain hut accommodation in a shared dormitory bunk, half-board basis
• 6 days ski guiding (including all the IFMGA Guide's fees and expenses). Ratio 1:6 maximum
• Loan of Avalanche Safety Gear (digital transceiver, metal shovel, 240cm + avalanche probe)
• Loan of ice axe, crampons and harness

What the price does not include

• Travel from home to Geneva Airport
• Road transfer from Geneva Airport to Chamonix (we would be pleased to arrange this for you on request)
• Lunch
• Ski passes/uplift
• Skis, skins, ski crampons (harscheisen), boots
• Travel Insurance
• Tips

Photos & Videos

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• Andy Owen talks through the Lowe Alpine Descent pack
• Jagged Globe - the importance of flexibility within your...
• Jagged Globe - Ski Touring Techniques film
• Introductory Ski Mountaineering 2011
• Glacier skiing safety video

Reviews

Have you been on this trip? If you'd like to contribute a trip report then we'll post it up on the site.

Team Member Reviews

• ‘A big thank you for organising a great course despite difficult weather conditions. I've only been home a day and already I'd love to be back in the alps!’ JE

Leader Reports

• Photos from 2012 course
  “In March 2012, we had a course of 10 skiers, skiing with IFMGA Guides, Andy Owen and Jim Kerr. The course enjoyed some fresh powder and were joined for a day when they skied the famous Vallee Blanche, by professional photographer...”
  report added 23/May/12
• 2001 Alpine Ski Mountaineering
  “Simon, I owe you a note on this trip. Everyone these days is very quick to complain when things go wrong. On this occasion I want to do the opposite. Everything ran like clockwork. All the paperwork, insurance etc...”
  report added 01/Jul/01

Travel & Venue

Fly to Geneva. A 1-hour return airport transfer to Chamonix can be booked via Jagged Globe (price £40 each way).

Valley accommodation is in La Chaumière Mountain Lodge. The accommodation is provided on a twin-share (or occasionally, triple/quad), half-board basis. A single room supplement is payable should you want to have a room to yourself.