 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all, going to the mecca of Chamonix in Jan for a week. Have done a little bit of off-piste-but no way any kind of expert. However don't want to miss opportunity to do some of famous OP in Cham. Any advice on what ski school I should be signing up with?
Will be going with OH so ideal would be 3 days of OP so I am not deserting her too much, and would like to do some of pistes there too? (Pref also if start on the monday so we ski together on first day and I get a bit of practice in)
However I don't want anything gnarly or avalanche risky. I am comfortable on any black piste but prone to loss of confidence if I start falling in steep powder in middle of wilderness. I would like to be in group where guide erring way on side of caution from avi point of view. However, while wanting non-scary OP, i don't quite want to be just with complete intermediate skiers either. Also would like a group likely to have lots of english speakers so I know what the hell is going on.
Any thoughts?[/table][/url]
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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 suggest you search online for the course. I did a 5-day course there with Chamonix Experience and it was great. They run both introductory and more advanced courses; they will cover also avy training and glacier travel with crevasse rescue. But they don't run them every week. I signed up for the course first then booked a trip. You can google and something will surely come up that will suit your dates. Maybe some schools will run 3-day courses too. Why don't you both sign up? With two participants a course is guaranteed to run.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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jbob, thanks for that, unfortunately there 3-day course starts on the Saturday, which is my travel day, and they don't appear to be offering week-long courses the week I am there (starting jan 13). Thanks tho
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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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Then you probably need a 5-day course. 3-day courses are often geared towards those on long weekends. 5-day course I did ran Monday-Friday. Starting with quite mellow Le Tour on the first day, second day Brevent, 3rd - Argentiere, then Auguille du Midi and finishing with La Palude in Italy on the last day. Delicious. If I can squeeze extra week holiday this season I will do another course. Definitely worth it and cheaper than a guide, plus you get instruction. And you can prepare for it by skiing blacks in Argentiere on Sunday. The requirement is to be comfortable on blacks in all conditions and be able to ski 700m vertical without stopping, so should work for you. The company is ran by ex PGHM guy so they know what they are doing (though all guiding companies will as high qualifications are required to be able to teach/guide in Chamonix) and won'tt be taking unnecessary risks. They will also help you to buy mountain rescue insurance and can organise tranfers from/to Geneva if you need one, and can help with accommodation too.
http://www.chamex.com/en/winter/11--ski-off-piste/4-offpiste-5-days-introduction-course/#overview
Here is the link for you. You are lucky because they run introductory course starting from January 14 so it should be perfect.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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never summer, looks fantastic! I hope it would not be too advanced though? How much experience had you when you did it?
I am pretty comfortable on black pistes and could do 700m descent without stopping on non-mogulled REDS. I will probably need to stop several times on an icy Face de Bellevarde and good chance of slipping and falling at some point (tho that run would be piece of cake with soft snow). Why do you need to be able to descend 700m without stopping?
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patricksh, I didn't have an awful lot of experience. I could get down some steep black moguls, like Mt Fort in Verbier fairly gracelessly but not being a danger to myself or people around me, and ski Tortin itinerary. I could also ski down Pointe de Vue in Argentiere. Not fast but fairly steadily. But my off-piste experience was limited to some mellow rolling hills around La Chaux in Verbier and other areas on the sides of the pistes. I would say I was a confident even if not awfully skillful intermediate. I could make basic turns on moguls, do a snowplough turn anywhere, ski long and short turns on piste and side slip. It was my 6th season skiing, maybe 220 days total by that point.
I think non-stopping requirement is due to the fact that when you ski off-piste you are not supposed to be stopping at your will, i.e. if you get tired etc.; you only stop where it's safe to do so and it can be far, so even in a relatively safe terrain where you can stop you need to be practicing this skill, so that not to put self or others in danger when it matters. It's true for both avy and glaciated terrain, on a glacier you have to move so that the pressure is distributed more and risk of falling through a snow bridge in a crevasse is less. If you stop on a bridge it may collapse. Descents in Chamonix are long. It's not about speed and going fast, but steadily with some sort of rythm, not turn and stop. You won't be taken anywhere gnarly or particularly steep on introductory course. Le Tour is gentle, this's where you work on technique and avy practice, following days you will be taking this technique to different environments to develop it some more. I would say that blacks in Chamonix are quite a bit harder than it's more accessible off-piste terrain. Reds are harder than Vallee Blanche classic. If you ski your first day in Argentiere and get confortable there, the first day of the course will appear easy.
I don't know your fitness level, but you might want to work on this a little bit. I think it might be the key as your level seem appropriate and not different from mine. You need to avoid sore legs.
If you are interested, I think you should email Chamex and ask all the questions. They will be able to recommend you skis you should hire for the course too.
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patricksh, I forgot to add, that "comfortable on blacks in all conditions" doesn't mean you should be able to ski down them like Didier Cuche, ice or whatever, but you should be able to adapt your technique, i.e. switch from crave to slide, change edge angles when terrain/snow demand etc.
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