GUIDED BY GOODLAD
The Ski Club’s Alpine Safety Advisor Bruce Goodlad explains why ski touring might be the future of skiing in a Covid-19 world
Andrew Berry enjoying some great spring skiing, earned by touring, above Øksfjord in Finnmark, Norway
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the world has changed and we have all had to adapt how we live, work and play. Living in the Alps, lockdown meant we could see one of the best ski touring seasons in years, with great snow cover and weeks of perfect weather – we just weren’t allowed to touch. As we came out of lockdown and were allowed in the mountains, I managed one last ski. It wasn’t one of the best of the season, but it was great to be back.
Looking to next winter, there’s a lot of uncertainty around travel. Even if we can get to the mountains, I can’t see the season playing out as ‘normal’.
Until we have a universally adopted vaccine, we’re going to have to adopt social distancing and wear masks. At home in the Mont Blanc massif, this has meant reduced numbers of people in lifts and masks on the streets of Chamonix. In the mountain huts, capacity has been reduced, masks are worn in public areas and there are spacers between the beds.
None of these measures are perfect, but they have reduced the risk of infection and allowed us to get into the mountains. How these issues will play out in the winter months no one can predict but, with potentially reduced capacity on lifts, in restaurants and hotels, we’ll have to come prepared for a different type of ski trip.
On a simple personal management level, staying in a self-catered apartment will instantly reduce your exposure, as will driving to the mountains instead of flying, and making sandwiches to eat outside instead of in a crowded restaurant. (The last will also have a positive financial benefit.)
With regards to skiing, assuming the resorts open, the smaller, quieter resorts with open-air lifts will allow you to spend less time around people.
We’ll have to wait to see how resorts propose to manage these issues, but a great consideration has to be going ski touring. When touring, you become the master of your own destiny – you can choose to use one or two lifts to gain height but, by being at the lift station when it opens, you’ll beat the rush and be away from everyone before the crowds descend. If the ski areas are limiting numbers, you can skin from the road, thus avoiding interaction with other people all together.
There are still so many unknowns, but at least considering ski touring and having appropriate kit for your trip will keep options open. Wishing you had touring equipment part way through a trip, when the hire shop has already rented out all of its kit, will lead to wasted time and frustration. If you have it already, or have hired for the week, then it’s no stress if you stay lift access or choose to break out the skins.
Mike Austin enjoying a post lockdown ski on the Armancette Glacier in France
If you haven’t toured before, this could be your opportunity to start. Here are some basic pointers:
You’ll need your standard off-piste kit (transceiver, shovel and probe) and know how to use it. If you’re new to skiing off-piste, have a look at the Ski Club’s mountain safety video series (www.skiclub.co.uk).
You’ll need boots, bindings, skins and poles as a minimum. It’s also worth having some ski crampons, which fit onto the bindings if the snow is really hard.
Work on your touring skills on the slopes, where you’re not stressed by avalanche conditions or navigation. First get familiar with putting on and taking off your skins and changing the modes on the bindings. Once you’ve mastered these, find a steeper slope and work on your kick turns – these take some practice but it’s worth it as efficient uphill kick turns save loads of energy.
When heading out on any day, remember your transceiver check and ensure your team are current with rescue drills and how to call for help should you need it.
Choose simple tours with terrain less than 30 degrees and not connected to anything over 30 degrees. This minimises your avalanche risk and allows you to focus on new skills and navigation.
Fatmap.com is a great resource for tour planning and checking on slope angles before you leave home – you can use the mobile app but tour planning is best done at home, where you should make a few options for the day. It’s really difficult to make new plans on the fly unless you know an area really well.
Make digesting the avalanche forecast part of your evening and morning ritual – discussing with your team where you think will and won’t be safe and good to ski makes this a team event. Once you’re on the hill working on your situational awareness, make time to discuss these issues at key points with powerful questions:
Why will this work?
What are the hazards here?
What are the consequences if this slope goes?
What do you think?
If you’re uncomfortable with these skills or decision making, consider taking a course or get together with friends and ask a guide to tailor a few days learning round what you want from your skiing. The other issue to consider is that we may have many more people in the backcountry this year as a result of all the issues mentioned above, so we need to consider what other parties are doing. You may be making great decisions, but if someone drops in on top of you and triggers and avalanche the end result for you is not great. Personally, I will have my spatial awareness dialled on 11 and will be trying to keep away from other people as much as possible. Most importantly, as Martin Burrows Smith said to me when I was starting my guiding career: “You will never regret taking the safe option.”
If you’re considering joining the ski touring community, buying a copy of Ski Touring by Bruce Goodlad is a great place to start.
Learn the fast way and join a Ski Club Freshtracks ski touring skills weekend.
IFMGA mountain guide Bruce Goodlad is Alpine Safety Advisor for the Ski Club.
“When Ski Touring, you become the master of your own destiny”