Ski Touring Courses

Ski Touring

• I want to get into ski touring but I'm not sure about my ability

  UCPA recognise that ski touring is becoming more and more popular and therefore have courses suitable for nearly all levels. Including people who have never skied off piste before.

  If you're only a piste skier and you're looking to get into ski touring, then the 'Intro to Ski Touring & Technique' is the perfect course for you. Aimed at skiers who are comfortable on reds but struggle in hard conditions or steeper slopes this course aims to improve your skiing technique, both on and off piste, during the week, but also has 2 days of ski touring included, to allow you to learn about the equipment, technique and fitness required. 

    

   

• I ski off piste and I'm looking to get into ski touring

  If you're a strong off piste skier and you're comfortable in nearly all off piste conditions and you're ready to start touring to access some more interesting terrain, then the Ski Tour Introduction is the course for you. 

  If you only have a few days to escape to the Alps and your off piste skiing is ok, but you struggle in difficult snow conditions, then the 4 day Into to Ski Touring is perfect.

  Both courses cover the equipment, technique and route planning required for ski touring. The courses require you to have a reasonable level of fitness. 

• I’m a strong off-piste skier and want to access the more remote back country

  If you're an expert off piste skier and you're looking to ski some epic off piste descents and you're happy to work for them, then a UCPA Free Rando course is the one for you.

  Instead of doing long ski tours, this course focuses on uses ski touring kit to get you to harder to reach parts of the ski area and therefore allow you to find better snow and descents. 

  It is expected you have a very strong off piste ski level and you're reasonably fit.

  There are 2 courses in the Free Rando series.

  'UCPA Ski Free Rando - Expert'

  and

  UCPA Ski Free Rando High Mountain - Expert +

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• I’ve done some ski touring (1 – 2 weeks) & want to do more

  If you've already had some ski touring experience and you're a strong off piste skier looking to tour to find some great snow or get into the more remote parts of the mountain then UCPA has some great options for you.

  If you're able to do kick turns and have completed some reasonably long tours and you're looking to do longer, more challenging or higher tours, as well as some hut to hut tours then the UCPA Ski Tour - Chamonix Area would be a good choice, you can expect to ski some amazing descents and stay in some mountain refuges throughout the week. There will of course be instruction throughout the week to improve your ski touring technique.

  If you fancy something a little different, the UCPA Ski Tour - Simplon runs out of a hotel near Col du Simplon in Switzerland - you can expect some amazing skiing and scenery on this trip, as well as some significant improvements to your touring. There are no refuge stays on this trip, each tour is 'out and back' with you staying in the hotel every evening.

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• I've got a lot of ski touring experience and I'm looking for a challenge

  If you're an experienced off piste skier and you've done a number of touring weeks, then UCPA Level 3 and 4 touring courses will give you the challenge you're looking for.

  At these levels, expect to be doing long hut to hut tours, with big climbs and with quite a lot of time spent at altitude.

  These levels require you to have a high level of fitness as well as technical ability in both skiing and touring and you should be comfortable making kick turns, and keeping a consistent pace whilst touring.

  If that sounds like you, then courses such as:

  UCPA Ski Tour - Grand Jorrasses

  UCPA Ski Tour - Chamonix-Zermatt Original (aka the classic Haute Route)