Off-Piste Course
The real potential of the Chamonix valley is only realised when you venture off-piste. Chamonix stands out as one of the off-piste and extreme ski capitals of the world. The main ski domains of the Grands Montets, Brévent, Flégère and Le Tour take on a whole new dimension when you venture away from the groomed runs. In addition, you have the Vallée Blanche, probably the most renowned off-piste descent in the world - 20km of stunning glacier off piste skiing through towering seracs with constantly changing views of the highest peaks in Europe.
Venturing into such domains is not without risk and experience, local knowledge and off-piste technique are essential. With this in mind, Chamonix Experience has developed our off-piste course.
Course Description
Designed for those who want to both learn and explore. Our 6 day off piste course offers a mix of instruction and off piste guiding, during which you will be able to improve both your technique and mountain safety skills at the same time as skiing one of the best off-piste areas in the world.
A few of our off piste guides are qualified ski instructors as well as IFMGA mountain guides and normally it will be one of them leading the course. Alternatively, the first two days will be under the tutelage of a ski instructor who will hone your off-piste technique. For the rest of the week you will be with an IFMGA mountain guide, whose agenda will be to take you to the wild and remote areas of the region at the same time as teaching the essential skills of avalanche awareness and skiing safely on glaciers.
During this 6 day off piste course you get similar knowledge as you would get from doing the one day Glacier Travel Course and the one day Avalanche Awareness course. The Mont Blanc Unlimited lift pass, also included in the course, give you, not only access to all lifts in the Chamonix valley but also free skiing in Courmayeur and La Palud on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc range. Both areas have amazing off-piste skiing and is often good should the weather and conditions be less favourable on the the Chamonix side. With these many choices and the local knowledge of our off piste guides you are pretty much guaranteed to find good off piste skiing every day.
To maximise your time and your skiing we leave it up to your off piste guide to tailor the programme to suit weather, conditions and the over all level of the group. Every day he will choose the area offering the best off-piste skiing at the moment.
Course Details
Duration: 6 days
2008 Dates:
January 13 - 18
January 20 - 25
January 27 - 01 February
February 03 - 08
March 02 - 07
March 09 - 14
March 16 - 21
April 06 - 11
April 13 - 18
Group Size: 3-6
Ratio: 1:6
Included:Guide fee, 7 nights bed and breakfast accommodation on a twin-share basis, 6 day Mont Blanc Unlimited lift pass, avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe, in-resort transport.
Not included: Personal ski equipment, harness, mountain rescue insurance, lunches, evening meals.
Equipment: See Equipment List or contact our office
Price: 1,695€ per person.
1,140€ without accommodation.
For whom: Competent piste skiers who have started skiing a bit off-piste and want to learn more. If you are thinking of starting ski touring and your off-piste experience is limited we highly recommend you doing this course first.
