 Poster: A snowHead
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Wondering if any one has done one of the Off Piste courses with Action Outdoors/UPCA and if so, was it any good??
I'm debating on whether to give one of them a go later in Feb but having not done a week course before it would be good to have some feedback from people about their thoughts and experience. From what I can find on the net the feedback is generally pretty good.
Also, I'm not sure on what resort to go for. I like the idea of Chamonix but I don't like the faff of getting to the lifts from the town, ie bun fights for the buses etc etc. I'm thinking Val might be the way to go? Anyone done the course at multiple resorts?
Cheers
Brent
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Have been off-piste snowboarding, not skiing, with UCPA at ValT, Argentiere and Serre Che.
I've been to Argentiere with UCPA. Hated the buses, pain in the f-ing neck. took away from snow time and just add a massive faff factor onto the holiday. Am going back but only because its the only place they seem to offer splitboarding via Action Outdoors and my French isn't up to going to one of the non AA centers.
Liked the whole experience of off-piste courses much more at ValT and Serre Che. Haven't been to ValD with UCPA so can't comment on that. ValT is properly ski-in ski-out and SC is at the base of the slopes and about 20 meters from the nearest lift. Much more ideal! SC has great terrain, loads and loads of trees as well as open faces. Big ski area, doesn't get tracked out quickly.
Have you done much off piste before? If so check out the 'grand traces' courses at SC. 2.5 days in SC, then 2 days elsewhere e.g. La Grave, Montgenevre or Puy St Vincent (driven in a minibus by your instructor so no hassle getting there!). Early starts for those days tho but very rewarding.
Haven't been to ValD so can't comment. Basically I love SC, great place for a nice holiday.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@kat.ryb, Thanks for the info. yeah, I have heard that the buses at Cham/Arg are a pain and take up snow time, which is real concern for me. They do have an "evasion" week which sounds similar to the grand traces one. Basically it is driving around in a mini bus over to Italy and Switz looking for good stuff
They don't have a SC off piste course on the week I can go (Feb 21st), which is annoying as I have also heard it is a good place to ski.
Done loads of off piste, pretty much that's all I have done for the last 13 years or so. Maybe sounds like Val might be the way to go. However when I called them today the women said that it really is for "experts" and they mean it. Pretty sure I would be fine but it's hard to tell.
Cheers
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I did the off piste wk at Serre Che starting the 10th of this month. I highly recommend it. The only off piste I'd done before was a couple of wks in bounds in Canada and very close-to-piste stuff in Europe, and I was one of the stronger skiers in my group - so by the sound of it you'd be fine in the expert group.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Check my report from xmas this year, Argentière and flaine.
ymmv, but not everyone is ok with dorms and 'basic' food...
buses less of an issue at Argentière as u can walk to Gd Montets.
Did u have specific questions?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I did the evasion week in Chamonix and loved it! I'm an expert rider (Level 3 instructor training for Level 4) and it was really fun. We toured around looking for the best off piste for the entire week and did a day trip to Courmayer and La Thuile. We didn't catch the local buses in Chamonix, we used a mini van to get around so much more enjoyable. The group I was with were really fun bunch of guys too. All good riders and no one minded waiting a couple of minutes for the last one to come. Our group caught up each night and headed out some nights.
I'm booked into the off piste course for Les Arcs on March 7 but I wish I could do the steeps course because I would enjoy that much more. The following week I am booked in for the off piste course in Serre Chevalier. I'm really looking forward to it.
The main reason why I like UCPA is because it's a lot of fun, you've got some other riders to ride with (I'm by myself) and having the guide makes all the difference. The cost is really affordable and the food with UCPA is average to good. I'm not worried about 4 course dinners but I'm going fancy when I go to St Anton for 10 days with a friend in a couple of weeks.
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I hope this helps. I have done quite a few UCPA off-piste weeks, at different centres. These being:
1. Chamonix - Evasion.
2. Tignes off-piste x 2
3. Argientierre Freeriding/High Mountain
4. Val D’Isere – 2 x Expert Freeride
5. La Plagne – off piste
6. Les Arcs - Pentes Fortes/Steeps
7. Les Arcs - Off-piste
8. Les Arcs – Tarentaise Evasion
9. Val Thorens – Expert freeriding/High Mountain
I may have done some more and forgotten them. I have enjoyed all of the courses. Chamonix Evasion, the centre was excellent and we travelled out to a variety of resorts. Long days but great fun, we went to Flaine and Verbier among other places. I really enjoyed it. Tignes, excellent location, centre is now a bit worn, excellent guiding on the classic off-piste runs, good ambience. Argentierre, lots of travelling around on buses and some long classic off-piste routes in the Chamonix Valley – I stayed in the old centre, I found the travelling on trains and buses tedious. Val D’Isere, excellent location, the centre is pretty worn – but a very good ambience, some brilliant terrain, but VDI is now getting tracked out so very quickly. La Plagne, complete ski in ski out, the centre is really modern. There is some quite superb terrain in La Plagne and Paradiski, a fraction of the Freeriders compared to Espace Killy (when I was there last.) Guide was a bit lazy. Oxygene (La Plagne centre) were much better when I skied with them. All of the Les Arcs courses have been really excellent, with fantastic guides. We have gone to St Foy for at least one day on each of the courses. The Tarentaise Evasion and Pentes Fortes courses were both superb. Val Thorens, really superb centre, excellent guiding, more or less ski in and ski out. I really enjoyed it loads.
Les Arcs, Tignes, Val D’Isere, Val Thorens, and La Plagne can all be cheaply, and easily accessed from Eurostar by Altibus/funiculaire. Baggageries can be found to store your kit, so you can get eight days skiing if you go for one of these.
I generally go to Austria in February, and go to the UCPA centres in early/mid April. If you are going in February then Les Arcs has some fantastic tree skiing if the weather closes in.
Enjoy.
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Thanks everyone for all the information. General consensus is that the course(s) is worthwhile and enjoyable. The only problem is deciding where to go now! Additionally I am super jealous at the amount of time everyone has off work to do all of the courses mentioned. Here is me skiing max 8 days a year  !!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@BMG,
Give Les Arcs a go, then VT, then Tignes, then La Plagne.....
One of the reasons I chose teaching as a profession! Four weeks a year of freeriding.
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An update to this thread for any future searches on the topic...
I did the off piste course a few weeks back in Les Arcs and I would highly recommend it. The guide was awesome and I had some of the best runs in my 16 years of skiing. I would not hesitate to do an other off piste course with UCPA again. Word of advice however - the accom is not your standard chalet style with all the comforts that come with a chalet - it is basic and shared but ok in general. Food was pretty good I thought - you wont go hungry that's for sure. If you want a SKI trip rather than a lush chalet holiday its def worth a shot.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@BMG,
glad you enjoyed it!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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the accom is not your standard chalet style with all the comforts that come with a chalet - it is basic and shared
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worth noting that some UCPA centres have twin rooms available for a modest surcharge over the dorms. And, of course, the cost of a UCPA holiday is a lot less than a "lush chalet holiday". 
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Bringing back to life this thread...I'm booked for a "pentes portes/steeps" snowboard week in Les Arcs mid-march but due to lack of demand (only 2 people so far booked), the course is being cancelled ...Was really looking forward to this one, so a bit disappointed...They can transfer me to the level just below ("off-piste expert") which sound ok, but drawbacks are: group can be up to 8 people (vs 5), and the ski pass is for les arcs only instead of whole paradiski (I think).
Alternative options are pretty limited and I'm sure I'll have fun anyway, but for the people who have done one of those or both (maybe @JayDub, @BMG, @kat.ryb), would you still go for it? And maybe u'd like to join so at the end everyone is happy
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You know it makes sense.
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@Cedrick,
I have done the off-piste 'normal' skiing at Les Arcs just once so I have limited experience there. The standard of the group is determined by the riders skill levels in the group. I have had some real beginners in 'standard' off-piste groups (in other centers) and real experts. It is really variable but I would go for it. I have experienced as few as 4 or 2 in a group for a week of off-piste. Last Easter after a large dump, bluebird, best day of the season, there was just two of us, both with lots of experience - it later went up to 4 and then back down to 3 for the week. I have also had 8 in the group and some real beginners in off-piste, but it does not bother me in the slightest. I know that I will always get some great riding, and I am not going to be there on my own, so I need a guide. Some people generally drop out for a day or three and you often get an injury, hangovers, and people keeping their better halves happy. So a group of 7 can easily become 4 or less very quickly - it just depends. I am sure you will have a great time either way. The guide will ask you what you want to do and they will try to accommodate that as much as they can. Go for it and enjoy. I will be off to VT Freeriding.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Cedrick, I haven't been to Les Arcs with UCPA but in your situation I would 100% still go and do the normal off piste course. Admittedly the riding might not be quite as good as you were expecting, but I have never had an issue in the 8 people to 1 guide off piste UCPA courses.
I agree with @JayDub that a group of 8 can often become 7, 6 then 5 as people get injured/tired/hungover etc.
You might be waiting a bit if there are newer off piste skiiers in the group, but TBH I've never found my groups have been too disparate in ability/speed.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@JayDub, thanks for the reply. I accepted their offer to transfer me to the new group. I thought for a while about going to UCPA Chamonix instead (was tempted by the Cham Backcountry, and I will be in Cham for Easter anyway) but I've been looking forward so much to this week in Les Arcs, I almost HAVE to go now. The UCPA admin guy has actually told me we are now just 4, so I cannot complain about group size. I'm surprised how little take up there is for those courses. For what it is, I think they are very good value and March/April are really good months to be in the mountain. Anyway, I'll report back with hopefully some great conditions.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@kat.ryb, sounds good. Thanks. Group size doesn't appear an issue anymore and I'm sure the guide will find some great terrain to accommodate everyone.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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My group in Chamonix consisted of 2 new off piste skiers(who I'm guessing had learnt powder skills skiing between pistes as they weren't out of their depth), 3 who have done a few weeks and one guy who skied quite slowly but was incredibly stylish(he was French and didn't speak much English so I didn't find out how much experience he had but I'm guessing it was a lot). All in all it worked well and nobody held he group up.
The group above that I got booted from was full of ex seasonaires and Swedes who live next door to the mountains at home. When one guy was discussing the multiple seasons he'd done at the start of the lesson I thought this would happen.
On the first day all 3 off-piste groups skied in the same area, we then met at lunch and they were rearranged according to ability. 7 in a group wasn't a problem as we all kept a similar pace.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Cedrick, Actually I have just got back from my second Les Arcs UPCA off piste week. I was supposed to do the Evasion but the vis wasn’t good most of the week so we stuck around Les Arcs most of the time because of the good tree skiing….anyway….
I wouldn’t worry too much about being bumped down to the off piste group – as the others have mentioned the guide will ride based on the groups experience level. If the all of the group is good (which they should be for expert level) then they will take you to appropriate areas/runs etc. My group a few weeks back at the start of the week had a mix of skiers, all good, but some not as fast as the others. The slower ones got moved to other groups on the days we were at Les Arcs and the rest of us charged non stop all day – to the point that we were all wrecked! The guide was a raging bull
As for group size. We started with 8 at the start of the week (which was ok for pace), by the end of the week we had 5 (due to injury etc), which was a great number. Last year we had 9 and it was still ok – if the guide pushes things along, which in my case she did. Most people are there to ride, so they are keen to move along.
The ski pass will be valid for one day at La Plagne – TBH, it takes so long to get over there and there is great riding/skiing at Les Arcs there is not much need to waste the time getting over there. Between last year and this year I think I only did one run twice!
Enjoy!
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