 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all. Been having a browse of the UCPA trips as a possibility for the upcoming season. Originally we'd been thinking about doing a hut to hut touring trip, but with availability I think we're limited to the Free Rando Expert trips. Just wondering if anyone has done these before? Our options look like they're between the Les Arcs and La Plagne ones, which are off piste level 3 and level 4 respectively. We're pretty competent skiers, but the level 4 description says...
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| You have in depth knowledge on snow conditions, able to identify risks, plan basic routes and have excellent control in the most challenging terrain. You are confident on 45°+ angle slopes and are comfortable with exposure. |
I've never gone and measured anything but I suspect I've not skied anything that steep for more than a couple of turns. Does anyone know how accurate these descriptions are? We don't want to end up in a group where we're completely out of our depth, but at the same time, we'd be pretty bummed if we were just overly British about it and undersold our ability. They do talk about doing a bit of test on the first day to check ability, but I don't know how much wriggle room there is there.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| el nombre wrote: |
| we'd be pretty bummed if we were just overly British about it and undersold our ability |
In my experience British skiers are far more likely to oversell their ability, particularly off-piste. That said, the Action Outdoors descriptions seem to take this into consideration to some degree, in that they sometimes pitch things as ‘expert’ in English that require ‘confirmé’ in French.
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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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A fair point. I guess my comment was based more on general Britishness rather than ski specific Britishness, but that's really why I was asking. The description I quoted sounds pretty hardcore, but it feels a bit odd that someone that's confident with all of that would really be doing that sort of all inclusive trip where even ski rental is included (we don't need it, we've got all the backcountry kit already, bar airbags). There's also some slightly odd bits where it says you need to have a load of experience in off piste skiing but then talks about part of the course being how to use a transceiver, which doesn't quite tie up in my mind.
That being said, I'm perfectly happy to be told I'm not good enough for level 4, but was just trying to get a bit of confirmation from someone that may have done it as to whether the level descriptions were accurate/strict.
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I've done 5 UCPA weeks over the last 3 years, a mixture of touring and freerando. I did 3 level 3 courses (2x Freerando, 1x touring) before I did my first level 4 week - Freerando Evasion Expert in Argentiere last year. I would say the expert group felt like a definite step up, but not a crazy one. The two main differences I thought were that the expert group moved significantly faster and that there was a lot more "exposure" on the lines that we skied (i.e. places where falling would be a very bad idea). I don't think we skied anything above 45 degrees, but certainly a few couloirs with sections above 40. Myself and a Swedish guy were the only non-French in the group but we all communicated in English and got on very well.
On the first instructed morning, the guide will check the level of the group. This is not at all formal, they just watch how everyone skis over a few runs and decide if anyone is below the required level. In Argentiere, this was a quick piste warmup followed by doing a couple of between the piste laps in Grand Montets. I think their main criteria is avoiding any large outliers in ability within the group they have that week, rather than policing a specific level. The only time I saw someone moved down was from a touring intro group, they were clearly at a significantly lower ski level then the rest of the group.
The mention of learning how to use a transceiver is just Action Outdoors cut and pasting across all off piste courses. All off piste UCPA courses include a mandatory session of avalanche rescue practice, but in level 3/4 groups this is more of a refresher assuming prior experience and is often done as a bad weather activity or on the half day on Wednesday.
Assuming you are reasonably experienced off piste skiers who are happy to move quickly and are confident dealing with some steeps and some exposed terrain, I think you would be fine in the level 4 group. The Les Arcs Freerando course is definitely on my wishlist, some amazing terrain there. Either way, I have had a great time in every UCPA group I've done and would whole-heartedly recommend it. I've always had groups with a really friendly and supportive atmosphere and excellent guides. I'm signed up for two more level 4 groups this year, though just classic Off Piste rather than Freerando due to the specific weeks and centers we looked at.
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