Off-Piste Coaching Intro Ste Foy

Off-piste skiing should be fun and exhilarating! If your off-piste skiing is currently more about burning muscles and face plants... well, then our instructors will transform your ability to access the extensive mountain terrain away from the pistes!

Sainte Foy is nestled in the French Alps close to Val d'Isère and offers superb skiing off the beaten track: it remains remarkably unspoiled - preserving its authentic charm and local architecture. Lifts take you up to 2,550 metres and the Col de l'Aiguille, the launchpad for much of the off-piste skiing for which Sainte Foy has earned its reputation. Superb off-piste descents in one of the world's premier ski regions!

This is an introductory course and is ideal for anyone looking for a new skiing challenge or if you want to get more of a whole mountain experience. At the end of the course, you will be able to ski confidently off-piste, have a range of skills for coping with a variety of snow conditions and will be aware of safety issues associated with the mountains in winter, including avalanches.

Our Off-Piste Coaching courses are intensive instructional ski courses aimed at helping you make the transition from piste to off-piste and teaching you the techniques to confidently ski the whole mountain. Each course blends off-piste instruction with sessions on mountain safety and awareness combined with excellent skiing that guarantees they are informative, educational and a lot of fun.

On our courses, you’ll never ski with more than 6 in a group so that everyone receives excellent individual attention as well as enjoying loads more skiing, minimal waiting and safer experience on the mountain.

Our courses don’t just run for 6 hours during the day: we do our best to ensure that your group will really gel over the week. We use chalet-style accommodation with comfy areas to relax and all meals are taken as a group (including one evening meal out during the week). So even if you come on your own, you are sure to meet loads of like-minded skiers and have a great time. You’ll leave the course not only with new skills but with new friends and some wonderful memories!

This course will be based in The Auberge sur la Montagne

The price includes:

• 5 full days guiding and instruction
• 7 nights half-board accommodation (6 evening meals) in a fully catered chalet
• daily ski transfers in private vehicle
• group transfer from Geneva airport, pick-up/drop-off at Bourg St Maurice (for the ski-train)

The price does not include:

• lift pass
• lunches
• personal insurance
• equipment hire
• international travel

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.

• Off-Piste Coaching - Clothing
  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.

   

  • A good quality pair of ski trousers. They must be made from a waterproof and breathable fabric like Gore-Tex or similar. It’s useful to have some venting zips on the legs either inside or outside thigh or full-length side-zips. Integral snow gaiters and some pockets for handy items are good features.
  • An outer shell jacket made of waterproof and breathable material like Gore-Tex or similar with a built-in hood. We advocate the ‘layering principle’ and so a shell is recommended rather than an insulated jacket.
  • Comfortable underwear with good wicking properties. Very popular at the moment are the wool based layers from companies such as Ortovox. They are comfy, breathable, warm when needed and can be worn for days without your friends catching a whiff!
  • Several thin (rather than fewer thick) layers between your skin and the outer shell - an approach that gives better heat retention and good flexibility. These tops are known as ‘mid layers’.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Good quality, ski gloves or mitts if you suffer from cold hands and 1 thinner pair of gloves made from a softshell or fleece material if the weather is warm. These are particularly useful if you do any ski touring or hiking on the trip as thick gloves quickly become too hot.
    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.
• Off-Piste Coaching - Ski Equipment

  We continue to see big changes in ski, boot and binding design and technology, which make off-piste skiing and ski touring much more accessible.

  For our Off-Piste Coaching courses, good downhill ski and boot are required.

  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. 

  There are many ‘all-mountain’ skis to choose from and we highly recommend skis from Salomon, Dynastar, Movement, Black Crows, Trab Skis, Scott and Volkl. Look for a ski that is the right size for your height, typically the tip of the ski should be somewhere around your nose height. As for the width of the ski or “side cut” a mid-fat ski – 90-100mm under the foot - is perfect for getting to grips skiing off-piste and these skis give you floatation in powder snow but are still easy to handle and carve on the piste.

  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
  For off-piste performance courses, standard downhill ski boots are ideal, they offer rigidity, responsiveness and flex depending on the snow conditions. If you have ski touring boots or a pair of the hybrid freeride/touring boots with a walk mode, then these are fine too, bring them with you. We do not recommend you come on a trip with brand new boots.
  
  Boot Liners
  These days many manufacturers offer ‘thermo-fit’ liners as standard equipment. You may also want to consider a custom liner. 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-shelf¹ 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. 
  
  Bindings
  Standard downhill bindings.

• Off-Piste Coaching - Safety Equipment

  The “Safety Trilogy” - applicable for all our off-piste courses
  Avalanche Transceiver/Beacon 
  Snow shovel
  Avalanche probe

  We recommend Simple and intuitive ORTOVOX AVALANCHE RESCUE KIT 3+

  
  Avalanche airbags/rucksacks – if you wish to ski with one of these on our courses you are welcome to do so, they are not mandatory but we always support the use of available safety items.

  You can hire avalanche rucksacks in a lot of resorts, makes are usually Snowpulse/Mammut, ABS or Ortovox Avabag. Prices vary from shop to shop and resort to resort but a guide line price would be from €30 / CHF 35 per day 

  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 http://mountaintracks.co.uk/discipline/winter-mountaincraft

• Off-Piste Coaching - 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
  • 25 – 30 litre rucksack with straps for carrying skis. If you wish to use an avalanche airbag/rucksack you are welcome to, you can now hire these in most resorts.
  • 1 – 1.5 litre water bottle – we don’t recommend hydration systems (e.g. camelbak) in winter as they can freeze.
  • Food – bring some of your favourite hill nibbles (chocolate, energy bars)*
  • Suncream and lip salve

• 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.

• Off-Piste Coaching - Instructors
  This course will be led by our team of BASI Ski Instructors which includes Dave Meyer, Will Evans and Greg Jones. They are all extremely talented ski coaches who are passionate about off-piste skiing. Our instructors consistently prove they have the ability to teach skiers how to hone their technique and confidence in off-piste terrain.They'll ensure you have a fantastic week.

• 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.