The Mountaineering for Skiers and Splitboarders course is aimed at competent backcountry tourers who want to boost their confidence on steeper terrain. Ski touring is primarily about traversing the hills in ski mode. Ski mountaineering begins when your intended route (or an unforseen problem) requires you to switch to walking or climbing mode…

The course focuses on steep skinning and transitions, axe and crampons use and basic ropework and snow anchors.

Many backcountry skiers appreciate extra coaching on kick turns. After this course, you should feel more confident and secure skinning up slopes you previously had to bootpack!

As a ski tourer, the ice axe is your get-out-of-jail card. As a ski mountaineer, it is as essential tool of the trade. Whatever your experience of using an ice axe, we will aim to transform it from rarely-used bling to a valuable tool.

Ski tourers like to complete their ascent on ski as much as possible. But what if you are facing steep, icy or mixed terrain? If your plan is to keep going up, you’ll probably find that skins and ski crampons will reach their limit. Learn how to use boot crampons confidently and you suddenly gain loads more options.

When descents get dicey: skills for getting down safe We all look forward to the down. It’s just that some descents are a lot less forgiving than others. If you want a bit more confidence and tools for those kind of descents, this is the course for you. We will look at skills for avalanche-assessing, navigating and then descending those lines on ski/board and on foot.

Essential skills for ski mountaineering To create the best learning environment, we aim to get onto short, steep slopes, rather than graded gullies during this course. Also, we may session a certain slope rather than do a big journey, so we can concentrate on skills. Based near the Cairngorm ski area, we have a wide variety of terrain, a high starting point and a famous subarctic plateau on our doorstep!

INTERMEDIATE Backcountry

Managing Steeps