Two day Ski Mountaineering seminar
Scheduled Courses for the 24/25 season:
Jan 21-22 | Front Range, CO
Feb 25-26 | Front Range, CO
March 8-9 | Front Range, CO
Program Basics
This will be a two day program that will focus on steep skiing skills. We practice technical skills and get into bigger terrain. As a team we will select objectives that will allow us to use real life strategies to manage more challenging ski descents.
Advanced skiers with or without technical systems backgrounds will enjoy this program and should not be concerned about the difficulty of the skiing. Generally technical descents will be limited and belays or rappels can be easily facilitated and supervised.
This is meant to be a learning opportunity where the environment will be safe and controlled but also the real deal.
Technical Skills
To be successful as a ski mountaineer we need to start thinking about the big picture. It involves a more comprehensive spectrum of mountain skills than any other type of alpine endeavor.
It would be impossible to cover everything involved in ski mountaineering in two days and a large part of this program is to help identify lacking skillsets and make a plan for how to add the skills required for your goals.
- Mountain Snow Environment: avalanche hazard, surface conditions assessment
- Navigation: route selection and planning, map and gps use
- Uphill Ski Travel: track setting, skinning, ski crampons, transitions, ski carry
- General Climbing Systems: rope manegment, anchoring, belaying, rappelling, lowering
- Snow Climbing: crampons, ice axe, snow movement, snow anchors, sliding fall assessment
- Rock Climbing: traditional rock anchors, fixed gear/tat/pitons, rock movement in ski boots
- Ice Climbing: ice anchors, ice quality assessment,
- Downhill Movement Skills on Skis: powder, steeps, variable, exposed, use of ice axe in downhill context
- Ski Based Climbing Systems: ski anchors, ski belays
Avalanche Safety in Extreme Terrain
The skills required to interact with avalanche terrain are not something you will learn on an AVY 1 or even an AVY 2. Honestly most rec level AVY instructors are not equipped to even teach on these subjects.
To begin interacting with terrain that can readily produce avalanches you will need a much more nuanced understanding on the mountain snow environment.
Discussing avalanche hazard and mitigation strategies in steep terrain is a huge part of this program.
Prerequisits
People often come to ski mountaineering classes without any background in climbing and rope work. Even though they are ripping skiers they really don’t get the most out of skimo programs because they lack fluency in basic rope craft and alpine climbing skills like crampon and ice axe use.
In skiing the whole point of rope is to use it as little as possible so you can ski as much as possible. But ropes are tricky to use and if you don’t have a background in climbing it’s really hard to be efficient and effective. It’s more than just tying knots and rigging rappels but things like how to stow and coil ropes without them getting tangled is always under appreciated.
Look for a evening session for: Ski Mountaineering Primer and Rope work Fundamentals
Interested?
Please drop me a line with the contact form. I can give you some more information and we can talk about if this program is a right fit for your goals.
Look for evening ground schools: Ski Mountaineering Primer and Rope work Fundamentals
Scheduled Courses for the 23/24 season:
March 15-17 | Rocky Mountain National Park