Off-Piste and Ski Touring Skills Ste Foy

Made your first tracks away from the piste poles but dreaming of venturing further than the lifts will take you? This is the trip for you!

A combination of both off-piste instruction and ski touring skills, this course is aimed at intermediate level off-piste skiers who want to learn the essential ski touring skills for traveling safely and confidently in the backcountry, whilst also having an instruction to improve off-piste skills and technique. This course is perfect for the aspiring off-piste skier, your ambitions can range from just trying the backcountry to completing the legendary Haute Route ski tour or another multi-day hut-to-hut ski touring trip. 

The touring possibilities in the Tarentaise (French Alps) are huge and we’ll make the most of it all by heading into the wilderness between Sainte Foy and the Italian border, completing several climbs to the frontier and getting off the beaten track around Val d’Isère. 

This course is based in Chalet Auberge sur la Montagne

The price includes:

• 6 full days off-piste guide fees and expenses,
• 7 nights Chalet accommodation (twin rooms),
• daily transfers,
• return transfer Geneva

The price does not include:

• lift pass,
• lunches,
• beverages,
• 1 evening meal and equipment hire

The supplement for a room on single occupancy is £295 and is subject to availability. Contact us for details.

Here at the Mountain Tracks, we give you our word that we will fully refund every part of your package holiday if it is not able to run due to COVID-19.

Our Mountain Tracks and holiday teams are monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak guidance and advice while communicating closely with our suppliers to make sure everything is in place to keep you safe.
Read more: Frequently Asked Questions.

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Ski Club Winter Arrangements limited (trading as Mountain Tracks)
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This is an extensive list of the recommended clothing and equipment you will need if you are coming on one of our Off-Piste Coaching courses.  On these courses you’ll be staying in a comfortable catered chalet or hotels. When skiing you need to carry just a small day pack, which contains your safety equipment and any personal items you may need.

• Ski Touring Skills - Clothing

  When choosing clothing for backcountry skiing and ski touring you want to think light, warm and versatile. During the trip weather conditions will change and you’re likely to go from icy-cold mornings when you’re wearing everything to keep out the chill to warm afternoons where you’ll be carrying most of your gear in your rucksack. Getting hold of the best and lightest kit available is always worth it and most of the major brands have suitable clothing for backcountry skiing.

  This season, we’ve partnered with Ortovox to provide us with the very best safety kit and clothing. Our guides will all be decked out in the latest Ortovox jackets and trousers and will keep warm, dry and comfortable thanks to their technical wool base- and mid-layers. Our guides couldn’t recommend their kit more highly.

   

  • Roll neck rather than a scarf. We use and recommend the ‘Buff¹ ¬ a light, stretchable tube. Excellent despite the name! They do both a fleece/cotton version for warmth or just a cotton one (to keep the sun off).
  • Headwear to include warm hat and sun-cap or wide-brim hat for extra protection from the sun. Mountain Tracks fully supports the wearing of helmets for skiing, although not mandatory for any of our trips we do recommend them.
  • An outer shell jacket made of waterproof and breathable material like Gore-Tex or similar with a built-in hood. The lighter the better and so a shell is recommended rather than an insulated jacket.
  • 1-2 thin fleeces - rather than a thick layer between your skin and the outer shell - an approach which gives better heat retention and good flexibility. These tops are known as ‘mid layers’. The principle of ‘layering’ e.g. allowing you to easily add/remove layers depending on the temperature and the activity is recommended to ensure comfort on the mountain.
  • Insulation layer like a down or Primaloft jacket is a good item to have ready to wear in the event of cold weather, it can live in your rucksack as a spare layer and can come in very handy for sudden changes in the weather.
  • For the lower half, it’s essential that you have a pair of thermal base layer pants (long johns).
  • These can then be combined with either:
  • (a) a good pair of ‘technical shell’ pants in a waterproof and breathable fabric like Gore-Tex
  • (b) a pair of mountain or alpine pants in a softshell material together with a pair of lightweight, breathable over trousers with long side zips.
  • Top and bottom underwear made of a synthetic, wicking material. Very popular at the moment are the wool based layers from companies such as Ortovox. They are comfy, breathable and warm when needed and can be worn for days without your friends catching a whiff!
  • Good quality Gore-Tex gloves or mitts and a thin pair of softshell or fleece gloves for when it is hot and for ski touring in. Silk inner gloves can be useful if the weather is cold and you suffer from cold hands.
  • Technical Socks - Investing in good quality ski socks will improve fit, warmth and feel when skiing for long periods. Bring along a few pairs.
• Ski Touring Skills - Ski Equipment

  For these trips it is essential that you ski with an all-mountain/freeride type skis, ski touring boots and ski touring bindings.  If you have your own skis but they do not have ski touring bindings then you will need to rent skis. The same applies if you have downhill ski boots, you will need to rent ski touring boots.

  Skis

  This winter our lead guides are using Salomon Explore MTN and Salomon QST touring skis. The MTN 95 is an award-winning ski with great stability at high speeds whilst the MTN 88 is a best-selling lightweight touring ski. The QST’s are slightly heavier and therefore suited to charging; perfect for day-touring. ~
  Lockwoods Ski and Outdoor are supporting our guides and we suggest that if you’re interested in any of the MTN or QST skis, you should make Lockwoods your first point of call. 

  
  For alpine ski touring we recommend an all-mountain/freeride touring ski that isn’t too heavy, a really lightweight ski comes at a cost to performance on the descents so are only recommended for really good off-piste skiers with a strong interest in ski touring.

  There are plenty of great skis to choose from and we highly recommend skis from the following manufacturers:
  Dynastar Skis: www.dynastar.com 
  Movement Skis: www.movementskis.com  
  Black Crows Skis: www.blackcrows-skis.com  
  Trab Skis: www.skitrab.com/en-us 
  Scott Skis: http://www.scott-sports.com
  Volkl Skis: http://www.voelkl.com

  There are plenty of other great skis to choose from so if you’re planning on buying skis for ski touring or general skiing and have any questions do not hesitate to call us, or Lockwoods, to discuss the options available.

  
  Boots
  It is essential that you have ski touring boots for all touring trips as walking up hill is much more comfortable in these types of boots with a walk mode and great flex. A dedicated touring boot or a hybrid freeride boot is best. 

  Scarpa have lead the way in touring boots for many years but they have been joined by other manufactures like Dynafit, Salomon, Scott, Black Diamond, Dalbello and K2; all producing their own versions of a ski touring boot.
  • Scarpa’s Freedom boots are their Hybrid offerings, great ski performance, a walk mode and vibram sole. Their Maestrale (men’s) and Gea (women’s) boots are also highly recommended.
  • The Scott Celeste and Cosmo boots have stood the test of time and are good all-round choices.
  • Salomon’s Quest Max series offer boots with a walk mode in various flex’s with good downhill performance.
  • Dynafit offers the Mercury or Vulcan boots plus a range of lightweight options like the TLT6.
  
  The best of the rest are:
  Fischer - Transalp
  Black Diamond – Quadrant and Factor
  K2 – Pinnacle boot
  Dalbello – Lupo or Sherpa
  Langue – XT series offer a ski boot with a walk mode in various flex options
  
  Boot Liners
  These days many manufacturers offer ‘thermo-fit¹ liners as standard equipment. You may also want to consider a custom liner as these are heated and moulded to your foot and boot for a perfect fit. They can make all the difference especially if you have trouble finding really comfortable ‘off-the-shelf’ boots. Zipfit liners are a great option for anyone seeking total customisation in fit and comfort. They will replace the original liner.
  
  Custom Footbeds
  Essential kit – to provide additional comfort and ski control. If you want to get footbeds made or a pair of new boots fitted then we suggest you visit somewhere like Profeet for a professional fitting. Don’t forget if you have footbeds in your downhill boots but need to rent touring boots then you can bring the footbeds with you and put them in the hire boots.
  
  Bindings
  For all ski touring trips ski touring bindings are essential. Fritschi and Marker both make excellent ski touring bindings and you have a few different options to choose from. Many more people are seeing the advantage of the “pin” binding system now offered by a number of manufacturers as these are light and offer ever improving security despite their minimalist looks!
  
  Although Pin bindings have been around since the Dynafit Low Tech bindings over 30 years ago, since their patent expired the technology has advanced substantially. Salomon, with their Shift Binding, are at the forefront; they’re ‘multi norm compatible’ so fit a selection of boots and are lighter than most freeride bindings. Our lead guides are using the Shift binding this winter, so if you’d like to know more about them give Lockwoods a ring.

  Ski Poles
  We recommend telescopic poles. They must have wide powder baskets (4-5 inches/100-120mm diameter) otherwise you’ll be up to your armpits on the ascents. Go for an alloy rather than carbon poles which are lighter but have a nasty habit of snapping near the basket due to ski edge nicks.
  
  Rucksack
  A small day pack can be used on this course as you're not travelling hut-to-hut and don't need to carry a lot of gear. However, the pack should have the key features of a good ski touring pack:

  • a method of attaching your skis in either an A-frame (one either side) or both together on a diagonal ski carriage
  • easy access into the main compartment without having to empty the sack to get something at the bottom
  • separate pocket for avalanche shovel, handle and probe
  • small top pocket for items like wallet, sunglassed/goggles etc; an ice axe loop
  • built-in rain cover and a secure method of attaching/stowing a ski helmet 
  • good hip/waist belt and adjustable shoulder straps

  Avalanche airbag rucksacks are generally not recommended for ski touring due to the additional weight however they can be used on our ski touring skills courses

   

• Ski Touring Skills - Technical Kit
  • Ski Skins – these are skins which, now made of artificial fabric, stick to the bottom of your skis and allow you to walk up hill. They must be cut to fit your skis exactly, so if you are bringing your own skis you must provide your own skins.
  • Ski Crampons (aka couteaux) - most ski touring bindings have ski crampons specifically designed for the binding. We always carry these just in case. Again if you are bringing your skis and touring bindings you must provide your own ski crampons. 
  • Ice Axe - general lightweight mountaineering / alpine pick. Ideally this needs to be short enough to fit in your pack.
  • Boot Crampons - ideally lightweight aluminum ones although steel crampons are required for more demanding tours
  • Climbing Harness - a simple lightweight harness. The key feature is that it should have fully adjustable leg loops for putting on over ski boots, crampons, etc.
• Ski Touring Skills - Safety Equipment

  The “Safety Trilogy” - required on all our ski tours and off-piste courses.

  • Avalanche Transceiver/Beacon
  • Snow shovel
  • Avalanche probe

  We recommend simple and intuitive ORTOVOX AVALANCHE RESCUE KIT 3+

  Remember it is not enough just to carry this equipment; you have to know how to use it.
  How about joining one of our specialist avalanche courses – check out www.mountaintracks.co.uk/activity/avalanche-training
• Ski Touring Skills - Accessories
  • Good pair of ski goggles with a lens for low light is essential in the event of snow and poor visibility
  • Good quality sunglasses with 100% UV protection
  • 30-35 liter rucksack
  • 1 – 1.5 Liter water bottle – we don’t recommend hydration systems (e.g. camelbak) in winter as they can freeze.
  • Food – bring some of your favorite hill nibbles (chocolate, energy bars)*
  • Suncream and lip salve
  • Camera with a large capacity memory card!
• Ski Touring - Hiring
  Most resorts have ski shops that hire ski equipment and we try to provide relevant contact details for all our courses and tours.
  
  Prices do change by resort/country, but here’s an approximate guide to hire costs for 6-days hire:
  
  Touring Skis plus skins and ski crampons €150-180
  Touring boots €80-90 
  Boot Crampons €45-50
  Ice Axe €30-40
  Harness €20-30
  Helmet €20-30
  Transceiver/shovel/probe €75-80
  
  Our guides also generally have additional sets of safety equipment (transceiver/shovel/probe) which they hire out to clients for €65 for 6 days hire. Must be booked in advance.

• Insurance

  It is a condition of booking that you are insured for your chosen activity and the cover must include medical expenses, personal accident, personal liability, third party risks and rescue (including helicopter rescue). You are strongly advised also to take out cover against cancellation and curtailment.

  For UK residents Ski Club Travel Insurance may be a suitable option.

  For more details and to purchase a policy online visit http://www.skiclubinsurance.co.uk/
  If you need assistance arranging your personal insurance please let us know.
   

• Travel to Ste Foy

  Sainte Foy is accessible by road, rail and air.

  The nearest airport is Chambery with a 90 minute transfer time. Geneva and Lyon are both about 2½ hours away.

  The course fee includes a group transfer to/from Geneva airport.  We meet at 2pm at Geneva airport on the arrival day so you should arrive on a flight no later than 1.15pm; on the departure day, we ask you to book a flight that leaves Geneva airport no earlier than 2pm so there is time to travel to the airport. 

  It is also possible to travel by train to Bourg Saint Maurice (with a Eurostar direct day service from London St. Pancras to Bourg Saint Maurice on Saturdays throughout the ski season. Timetables and bookings are available at Eurostar. Bourg St Maurice is only 10km from the chalet and the train offers a viable alternative to a flight and transfer. The chalet hosts provide a twice-daily pick-up and drop-off service at the station.

  Check with our office for detailed travel arrangements.

• Ski Touring - Guides

  All our ski tours are led by our team of IFMGA Mountain Guides. The team is led by Olly Allen, Matt Dickinson and Nick Parks. 

• Accommodation Information

  Accommodation in Sainte Foy is provided by The Auberge sur la montagne. Please check the holiday description to confirm which accommodation the course will be housed in. For 2019/2020 season we are using;

  The Auberge;

  Auberge sur la Montagne is our spacious boutique catered chalet with hot-tub, featuring contemporary design and fine dining in a rustic setting.

  Chatlet Fegguese

  Fegguese is situated just a short walk above the centre of Sainte Foy resort, and about 200m from the green piste which leads down to the first chairlift and ski school. It is a bright, airy, detached wood and stone built Savoyard-style chalet with large sun terrace, BBQ and private parking. It has spectacular views across the Tarentaise valley to the Aiguille Rouge and Mont Pourri mountains. The chalet has recently been extensively refurbished, including new fitted kitchen, bathrooms and new soft furnishings.