Freeride Briançon coaching course - spaces available

There are still some spaces left on this winter's Freeride Briançon course, running from 12 - 19 March 2016. The week will be based in a hotel in Serre Chevalier, 200m from the nearest lift. Within an easy drive we also can access the Via Lattea system (Montgenevre, Claviere etc), Puy St Vincent and of course the mighty La Grave. With so many off piste possibilities we will be able to make the best of whatever conditions throw at us, with coaching input throughout the week.

For prices etc have a look at the offpisteskiing.com website.

To get you in the mood here are a couple of shots from one of our coaching courses in Montgenevre last winter:

November 27 Snow report - Courchevel

Bigger plans succumbed to family matters today, but I still managed to sneak out for a quick leg-stretcher up the hill in Courchevel.

At 2000m there is about 40cm of unconsolidated snow, at 2500m it was definitely deeper, but no base either way so slopes with grass underneath are definitely the way to go for touring or off piste until a base starts to set up. The main Courchevel pistes have a thin base now (the pisteurs have been busy!), and cannons were in full action getting more depth down on the main arteries today (Verdons, Chenus, Biollay, Coqs etc).

Grand Bec in the background:

Coqs:

Looking over to Biollay:

Top of Chenus:

Powder on a pisted base on Jantzen:

Good cover down to (and below) 1850:

A little top-up due over the weekend - fingers crossed!

Lofoten video

Some nice memories on this little video from Matt, who was on our second Lofoten trip in 2015. Still a couple of spaces left for the right people in 2016!

Kendal Mountain Festival 2015

Winter is steadily drawing near (although the sun is very much present out here in the Alps) and as usual I am preparing for a quick trip back to the UK for the Kendal Mountain Festival. Once again I will be working on the core presenting team introducing and compering films and speakers throughout the weekend.

Kendal Mountain Festival 2015 - Official Trailer from Kendal Mountain Festival on Vimeo.

Winter 15/16 preview

Snow is starting to fall on the high peaks of the Vanoise, so after a very busy summer (hence the lack of bloggage) it feels like ski time is very close at hand again!
The summer has been incredibly busy, juggling rope access and rescue training, dusting off my UIMLA badge for some trek guiding in the Gran Paradiso (see the picture below), 2 very energetic offspring to deal with along with trying to organise the winter...

Tom enjoying a 'natural infinity pool' during our Gran Paradiso trek.

Winter 15/16 is shaping up to be a very busy one once again here at offpisteskiing HQ, with the diary almost full before June was through! Coming up this winter, the usual range of courses, from Off Piste Introduction through to the now-legendary Steep Vanoise weeks and (of course) a 4th spring in Lofoten, with 2 separate weeks on offer. Spaces are few and far between on these courses, but if you are interested take a look at the website and get in touch!

Thoughts are already turning to winter 16/17, with Japan, a return to Kyrgyzstan, a boat-assisted Lofoten trip and possibly Iceland all in the mix... let's see what comes to fruition!

Scotland still going strong!

Good to see the guys still getting after it back in Scotland, whilst we are melting in a heatwave out here in the Alps!

The Scottish scene is really inspiring at the moment, with so many motivated ski-mountaineers around...

Winter 14/15 slideshow

I have finally got round to putting together a slideshow of the best photos form last winter!

Going through all the photos reminded me of how many good days there were and how much great snow we skied, despite general perception of a 'poor' winter (and it certainly wasn't a vintage year by any means...). Just goes to show that if you stay flexible there is almost always good snow to be found somewhere...

Offpisteskiing.com Winter 1415 Slideshow from Simon Christy on Vimeo.