Ski Touring

Ski Touring

Well today we are going to tell you all about ski touring. What it is. Where you can do it. Where do you get the kit from. What's it all about and to answer the famous question of why walk up when there are lifts?

So Ski Touring or Ski Randonnee is when you walk uphill on a pair of skis. You wear slightly softer boots and click into skis which have bindings that lift up at the back so that you can walk. In order to get uphill you have a set of skins which you stick to the bottom of each ski. A long long time ago when skiing first started - before chair lifts, vin chaud on the mountain and the Buddha Bar - people used to get up the mountain by using animal skins on the bottom of their skis - the idea being that the hair of the animal would be smooth one way so that you could go up and if dragged back down the hair would go the other way and the tension between the hair and the snow would stop you sliding backwards. Nowadays, the hair is synthetic (bright blue in my case) and this is what you stick to the bottom of your skis. You should also have a transceiver on you in case of Avalanche risk. You can hire all the appropriate kit from All Mountain Rental - http://www.allmountainrental.com/ So this is pretty much the equipment along with ideally extendable poles. And off you go.

So why do it when there are perfectly good lifts for you to go up on. The idea is that you can venture off to places where there are no chair lifts and find untouched off-piste areas and usually it is pretty much all to yourself. This area of the Portes du Soleil is fantastic for it. Not only do we have over 650kms of pisted runs, loads of snowparks and a great town but we also have tonnes of off-piste/back country areas. It is also a good way to keep those four course dinners that James and Rinne cook all season from not ending up completely on my behind!

We often head up into Graydon or the Valley de la Manche areas and you can find some amazing touring adventures. What to remember - never go alone, always check the weather and the avalanche risk, have the right kit with you and most of all - take an experienced guide with you. Through the ESF in Lindarets, the Avoriaz Alpine Ski School or Freedom2Ski you can hire off-piste guides that will make sure that your day is not just exilerating but also safe. For anyone who knows Darren he often wears a t-shirt that has 'Safety never takes a day off' emblazened across the front - he even wore it when I was in labour which funnily enough didn't bring a smile to my face!

So this is what it is all about. Check out some of the photos on our website under ski touring. It could be a bit of a different day when you come on holiday! By the way even if you snowboard you can still stick on a pair of snow shoes and carry your board and venture out. Or look into getting a split board - now that's another story (next blog)!

Ski touring is most of the time about finding lots of powder in untouched areas. Conditions this season so far have meant that our ski touring days have been great but also our days on the piste have been superb. January although cold has seen some great powder days and just when you feel that we could do with a bit more....some more arrives. Guests happy, staff happy, we're happy. All good.

See you all soon.


Sam Woodley
http://www.thegreatescapemorzine.co.uk/