 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all, wondering if someone could help me out here.
I’ve skied a lot on piste and very confident on any difficulty. I’ve got little to no experience off piste (only skied small sections where I’ve taken short cuts from one piste to another) and will be in chamonix end of feb/start of march. I’ve set aside one day where I’d like to get a guide for the day and go off piste. I’ve seen ESF do this for 135 euros which doesn’t sound bad, and you’re part of a group of up to 8 people. It’s called the ski discovery course. Has anyone got any experience doing this course with ESF? Or any other guides people can recommend?
I would rather it to be more challenging than easy but as I will be a beginner I don’t want to be holding back a group.
Any advice greatly appreciated
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I did a couple of days there last year through the Companie de Guides. The guides were from ESF - so maybe the same thing.
I have experience skiing off piste but I’m no world beater therefore I described myself as relatively new to off piste and ‘intermediate’ level.
Some of the skiing was certainly challenging enough (some steepish chutes) particularly late one afternoon at Courmayeur where they had us (try) to ski through steep tight trees in manky snow down to Val Veny. I fear to think where I would have been taken if I described myself as advanced. 
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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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Do the off piste intro on your 3rd (or 4th) day ideally.
- so your existing ski technique is fully honed in
- and you're fully comfortable on your kit, etc
- and your legs (& head) are still someway fresh
( day 3 is the ideal imho)
Preferably ski on new or 1 day old snow. (Look up the 6 day forecast beforehand, & confirm the booking for your day based on that probability)
If you can bring a ski buddy with you who's at a ~similar level to you ideally.
Cos it's more fun, you'll learn more & a bit of healthy peer competition won't do any harm either. You'll also have a ready made developing off-piste ski buddy in the making too.
Enjoy!!!
P.s. take it easy on the beer the night before & get to bed early. Learning to ski off piste can be tiring!!
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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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Evolution 2 are another option you might want to look at. Slightly smaller groups and half-day sessions which would be less frustrating if you get a bad 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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@horgand,
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Preferably ski on new or 1 day old snow
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not necessarily. slightly old, nicely baked and overnight snow can be very pleasyant, grippy and chalky. Also, spring snow, the poor man's powder (and often rather better  )
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Key thing here is the objective of the group. The guides and potentially some of the instructor groups will be looking for the best snow in the valley on any given day. Last time I skied in the guides collective group the standard was very high and we had 50cm of powder. They ditched anyone who hadn't got the right technical level before we got anywhere on the mountain.
You want the people taking you to know it's your first time off piste and that the objective is tuition from square one, not finding good skiing.
It's years ago but my introduction was done by Chamex who run a week long course. It was really good and I went from a middling black run skier to linking turns in powder over the course of six days. It takes time.
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invest in a couple of private lessons.
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| sbooker wrote: |
I did a couple of days there last year through the Companie de Guides. The guides were from ESF - so maybe the same thing.
I have experience skiing off piste but I’m no world beater therefore I described myself as relatively new to off piste and ‘intermediate’ level.
Some of the skiing was certainly challenging enough (some steepish chutes) particularly late one afternoon at Courmayeur where they had us (try) to ski through steep tight trees in manky snow down to Val Veny. I fear to think where I would have been taken if I described myself as advanced. |
Brilliant thank you for the advice, I’ll make sure to describe myself as completely new so as not to risk anything too difficult. I like a challenge and adrenaline but obviously don’t want to hold the group back. It sounds like you did the same course I’m looking at
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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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| horgand wrote: |
Do the off piste intro on your 3rd (or 4th) day ideally.
- so your existing ski technique is fully honed in
- and you're fully comfortable on your kit, etc
- and your legs (& head) are still someway fresh
( day 3 is the ideal imho)
Preferably ski on new or 1 day old snow. (Look up the 6 day forecast beforehand, & confirm the booking for your day based on that probability)
If you can bring a ski buddy with you who's at a ~similar level to you ideally.
Cos it's more fun, you'll learn more & a bit of healthy peer competition won't do any harm either. You'll also have a ready made developing off-piste ski buddy in the making too.
Enjoy!!!
P.s. take it easy on the beer the night before & get to bed early. Learning to ski off piste can be tiring!! |
Thanks, I had already picked the 3rd day for that reason. I’ve got a bad habit of checking the forecast every day for the month prior to skiing…but at least now I have a better reason to keep checking.
I’ll check if any of my friends are keen on joining but think it’s unlikely, will just have to hope to get a good group
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| hold_my_biere wrote: |
| Evolution 2 are another option you might want to look at. Slightly smaller groups and half-day sessions which would be less frustrating if you get a bad group. |
Thanks for that, I’ve just looked and that looks like a better option for me
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| gorilla wrote: |
Key thing here is the objective of the group. The guides and potentially some of the instructor groups will be looking for the best snow in the valley on any given day. Last time I skied in the guides collective group the standard was very high and we had 50cm of powder. They ditched anyone who hadn't got the right technical level before we got anywhere on the mountain.
You want the people taking you to know it's your first time off piste and that the objective is tuition from square one, not finding good skiing.
It's years ago but my introduction was done by Chamex who run a week long course. It was really good and I went from a middling black run skier to linking turns in powder over the course of six days. It takes time. |
Thanks for the reply, I’ll make it clear to the instructors prior to meeting.
I did look at Chamex but believe all of their courses are across multiple days. Unfortunately I’m only skiing 4 days due to work. Managed to get flights late Wednesday, and skiing Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday and flying back late Sunday. Otherwise I’d book one of those courses for sure.
For me it’s more a taster and then I will likely go back and do a full course when I have enough time off work.
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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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| ian mcclure wrote: |
| invest in a couple of private lessons. |
From a cost perspective I currently can’t. I might look at this in the future though. I had private ski lessons before and it was worth every penny rather than the big group lessons
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I understand the cost implications totally .if your in a group of say 6 then you're only getting a small percentage of the instructors instruction.but in a one to one even if its only a half day you're getting 100 percent of his instruction. either way enjoy.
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You know it makes sense.
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For me it’s more a taster and then I will likely go back and do a full course when I have enough time off work.
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That's a reasonable plan. It is not a quick process and requires both instruction and time on snow. Unless you have a serious budget you want to go the group route for your course as you can't get the miles in without being with the guide/instructor.
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