Alpine Off-piste and Touring

What is off-piste and backcountry touring?

Anyone who has been downhill skiing or snowboarding for a number of weeks, and is confident on red and black runs on the pistes, will enjoy getting away from lifts and seeking out untracked snow and amazing scenery. After some basic safety training you can enjoy some of the greatest off piste in the world, either directly from the lifts or by touring (walking on skis or splitboard). Many ski areas have good access to less travelled zones, which you can get to on your regular ski or snowboard set up. To explore a little deeper into the backcountry then touring equipment is required: either touring skis or splitboard, with skins attached for ascending or walking on the snow. This could be anything from a 5 minute shuffle back into the lift system from the end of an off piste run, to a multi day expedition across mountains far away from any lifts.

What do we offer?

We offer both off-piste ski and splitboard guiding and all aspects of backcountry touring in the Alps. We can cater for everything from a one day try out at ski or splitboard touring, or a morning’s guided off piste, to famous hut to hut Alpine traverses. Ric is rare amongst Guides, in that he is both a skier and splitboarder, and is happy guiding on either.

This can be in the form of a private booking on a daily basis or a guided week for your group or family. Or, it may be with an ‘open’ trip that is available to all-comers. With open trips we try very hard to make sure groups are compatible. The open trips are usually packages including accommodation and are normally some of the more popular weeks such as an Intro to ski touring, or the Chamonix to Zermatt Haute Route or to other destinations outside the Alps.

Need some technical skills?

We also offer crevasse rescue, navigation, mountaineering skills training for boarders and skiers both in the Alps and in the UK. We also offer avalanche training and safety, as part of any guiding, either as a stand alone course or session, or simply as a trickle of information, hints and demonstration of best practice throughout the day, and during the course of fun skiing and riding.