Available trips
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Please contact us if you are intrested in future trips.
Skill: **
This early season skills workshop is ideal for competent on-piste skiers capable of skiing parallel at a steady pace on all red runs whatever the conditions and easy black runs. Participants should be keen to learn off-piste, ski touring and general mountain awareness skills and techniques but previous off-piste or ski touring experience is not required.
Stamina: **
You need to come to this early season course with good basic fitness and stamina. We recommend that you prepare for any trip by running, cycling or any other keep-fit activity. Generally the fitter you are, the more fun you will have.
The ideal early season week for honing your skiing skills for the winter ahead: concentrating on off piste as well as piste ski techniques and includes sessions on avalanche safety, transceiver use and ski touring equipment and techniques.
Itinerary
We have chosen to run this course in Switzerland in the small resort of Zinal in the Val d’Anniviers. The Val d’Anniviers
offers vast scope and potential for adventurous skiers and we rate this area as one of the very best places to ski in the Alps.
The area has a large network of lifts servicing about 200kms of pistes up to an altitude of almost 3000m. The whole area is
characterised by stunning, high alpine terrain, deep valleys and charming villages. There are 4 main ski domains: Zinal,
Grimentz, St Luc-Chandolin and Vercorin, all of which are well-connected by local buses. The area also has the advantages of
being relatively unknown (and therefore not so busy) and easily accessible from Geneva, Zurich or Sion airports.
The winter season starts early here with lift systems opening as early as the end of November (weather permitting). The area
is popular with some of the race teams who come for early season training.
Day 1
Travel to Zinal. Evening meeting and briefing with the Mountain Tracks team.
Days 2 to 6
5 days of intensive ski instruction and skills training. There will be technique sessions on and off piste skiing. On
most evenings there will be some video analysis of your skiing from the day and we'll also include sessions on avalanche safety
and equipment. The Auberge is a great place to relax and recuperate in the evenings!
Day 7
No instruction today so the day is yours to free ski.
Day 8
Breakfast at the Auberge followed by outward travel.
The itinerary is flexible depending on the weather and snow conditions, the preferences of the group and the recommendations
of the instructors.
Additional Information
Price
The price includes: 5 full days ski instruction, 7 nights half-board accommodation (6 evening meals) in fully catered
chalet (twin rooms).
The price does not include travel to Zinal, Lift pass, lunches, personal insurance and equipment hire.
Group Size
The maximum group size is 12 with 2 instructors.
Accommodation and meals
Our base is the Auberge Edelweiss in the hamlet of Mottec, 2kms from Zinal. The Auberge has been fully restored in 2008
and offers very comfortable accommodation with 5 ensuite rooms. The Auberge is owned by Eric and Penny Kendall. Penny is a
whizz in the kitchen and meals are delicious and nutritious.
The Instructors
This course will be led by BASI Ski Instructors. Our team includes Bryan Hogg and Annie Donovan. They'll ensure you have
a fantastic week.
Equipment
For a comprehensive kit list
CLICK HERE.
A copy of this kit list will also be sent to you at the time of booking.
Standard alpine downhill equipment is recommended on the early season skills course. The group may hire ski touring
equipment if conditions are suitable.
All skiers will need to carry a small day sack (recommended size-20-30 litres) containing their safety gear and any
personal items e.g. camera, water bottle, favourite hill-snack!
Everyone is expected to ski at all times with the three essential items of avalanche safety equipment; transceiver,
shovel and probe.
If you ski off-piste regularly we recommend you purchase your own set. We use and recommend the DTS Tracker and these are
available to purchase through our recommended on-line retailer
FACEWEST.
Click here for details.
Alternatively the guides do usually have a number of sets available for hire.
Insurance
It is a condition of booking that you are insured for off-piste skiing covering personal accident, rescue and third party
risks. You are strongly advised also to take out cover against cancellation and curtailment.
If you are looking to purchase insurance for your trip we recommend
SNOWCARD. They specialise in travel insurance for adventure sports particularly skiing
and snowboarding. Their rates for both single trip and annual policies are very competitive.
For details on their policies and to get a quote CLICK HERE or contact our office for further details.