Tourskiing 1 (T1)
This course is designed for skiers who already have one to two weeks of off-piste experience, have basic avalanche knowledge and can ski downhill in a variety of snow conditions in a controlled manner. Do you enjoy hiking up far from the ski area and skiing down in untouched snow? Then the T1 course is for you!
Goal:
In this course you will learn the basic skills and techniques needed to take the first step to independent tour skiing/boarding. You will be introduced to walking on skins, working with avalanche beacon, shovel and probe, and planning light and clear tours. During a course week you will tour for about 4 days covering all aspects of planning, moving through the terrain and assessing avalanche danger. The remaining two days will be spent freeriding to make lots of descent meters and further improve your descent technique. In the evening we will discuss after, technique and avalanche science and plan the tour or freeride area for the next day.
Entry requirements:
Downhill: All slopes in the ski area you will come down smoothly, controlled and with proper technique. You can also ski in different snow types, and come down mogul slopes and off-piste terrain with ease.
Off-piste experience: At least one to two weeks of off-piste experience. For example, the off piste basic course.
Off-piste knowledge: Basic avalanche knowledge (off-piste basic course, WePowder safety module 1, or similar course).
Fitness: Be able to run 10 km in an hour or hike 1000 altimeters per day in the mountains for a week.
Snowboarder?
Are you a snowboarder and want to learn to tour as well? Then you’ve come to the right place! You can register for this course anyway, but please also let us know in an email (wp@nsac.alpenclub.nl) if you are interested in a splitboarders only course. Splitboarding requires slightly different skills than ski touring. Therefore it can be useful to take the course together with other splitboarders and to have an instructor who is also on a splitboard himself. In follow-up courses, the groups get nicely mixed again so you can learn from each other and see the pros and cons of each system. Important: skiing and snowboarding are both great and we are not trying to polarize with this split. In fact, we should form a front against the telemarkers. That people look so cool they should be banned :0
Tourskiing 2 (T2)
The T2 course is designed for skiers who already have a lot of experience in tour skiing, and who have a lot of knowledge about avalanche science and can apply it in terrain.
Goal:
During this course, participants will be expected to do more in the areas of avalanche hazard assessment, tour planning and ski technique. The focus will be on becoming independent. Thus, together with your course mates you will make a tour planning which you will then also carry out independently. The instructors will play more of a guiding role in this and provide the group with tips and tricks throughout the process. The main emphasis will be on ski touring, of course always taking into account the conditions, but a day of freeriding is certainly not excluded.
Entry requirements:
Descending: You will descend in medium steep to steep off-piste terrain (<35 to 40 degrees). Furthermore, treeruns and hip deep snow are no problem.
Experience: At least three weeks of off-piste experience, including at least one week of ski touring experience.
Knowledge: You have advanced knowledge of avalanche science (WePowder safety module 1+2, freeride 1 course, or comparable course). You can interpret the avalanche message and can handle an avalanche pager, shovel and probe.
Conditioning: You can handle a day off-piste with the elevator and you can do a week of ski tours of about 1000 altimeters per day.
Tour Skiing 3 (T3)
This course will focus mainly on conducting tours yourself, where a lot of avalanche knowledge will be learned and planning and conducting tours independently. This course can be a preparation for instructor training or for people who already have a lot of experience but just want the final touches.
Please note! This course will only take place if there are enough participants.
Goal:
Learning to make ski tours independently
Components:
Including tour planning, trail, ski technique and boatpacking, avalanche science, glacier and rope skiing, winter rescue techniques
Entry requirements:
Have passed T2 or demonstrated comparable experience, smooth off piste skiing (up to 40 degrees), C1 is recommended.
Equipment:
Ski touring and glacier equipment
If you are interested in this course, please especially write an email to the wp committee, the sooner we know there is interest, the more likely we can make it go through.
(wp@nsac.alpenclub.nl)