INSTRUCTOR-LED GUIDING RESORT REPORT
Val Thorens,
France
Heavy snow was falling in Val Thorens when the Club’s Jasmine Hammond joined a day of Instructor-led Guiding
Total pistes: 150km (600km in 3 Valleys) Lifts: 33 (186 in 3 Valleys)
Altitude: 1450m – 3230m
Jasmine (far left) lapping up the powder with friends and Club Members in Val Thorens
Waking up to continued heavy snowfall, I knew that conditions for my Instructor-led Guiding session with the Val Thorens Prosneige Ski School would be challenging. As the Ski Club’s Senior Operations Consultant and Chalets Manager, I’ve notched up a few whiteout days, so I layered up, braced myself and headed out to meet our instructor.
Joining me on the day were two non-Ski Club Member friends of mine. Experienced piste skiers, they were hoping for a first experience of skiing off-piste in a safe and fun environment.
Before we ventured onto the hill, our instructor Brice gave us a safety briefing. First, he ensured we had the number for the Val Thorens ski patrol in our phones in case of emergency. We had rented avalanche transceivers from the Ski Club so Brice showed us how to use them, checked each one and we headed into the snowstorm.
Due to the high winds, many of the lifts were closed, so we couldn’t travel beyond Val Thorens into the 3 Valleys ski area. As some members of the group were novice off-piste skiers, we stuck to areas beside the piste and beneath the lifts. Visibility levels were poor, so this also helped us ensure we were heading in the right direction! Brice gave us pointers on our individual technique and we learned quickly in the waist-deep powder, discovering how to correctly transfer our weight and position our bodies.
We finished the day a little early as the lifts began to close and we were all pretty exhausted. But Brice had one final task for us – putting our mountain safety skills to the test as he buried a transceiver in his rucksack under the snow for us to locate.
“We learned quickly in the waist-deep powder ”
We tracked it down by gathering as a team, switching our transceivers to search mode and using our shovels and probes.
Inspired by Brice’s enthusiasm, we continued to practise burying and retrieving our transceivers later that afternoon in the deep snow by our apartment.
Despite the difficult conditions and some initial nerves, we had a fantastic day skiing off-piste, something we wouldn’t have experienced without the Ski Club’s ILG service. Not only did we get some great turns in, we all felt that we’d learned invaluable lessons about safety on the mountain. And, despite not being able to explore too far afield due to the lift closures, Brice gave us some great tips on where to head the next day, when better weather was forecast.
MEET THE INSTRUCTOR...with Brice Perret-Gentil
Brice, 27, first skied at the tender age of two in the Jura, the mountainous region on the border with Switzerland where he grew up. “It was my passion before it became my job,” he explains. “It’s now a pleasure to share my knowledge with others.”
Brice has been working with Prosneige in Val Thorens for eight years: “I like this school because it’s open-minded and we’re a young team. I’ve worked hard to develop the off-piste and ski touring instruction, which is my passion.”
It’s small wonder that Brice is a fan of Val Thorens: “It offers easy access to big mountain skiing and is close to the Vanoise National Park, an amazing place for ski mountaineering.
”At the same time, it’s possible to find easy off-piste or touring days. You really can do whatever you want, and you will always have a perfect snow.”
Brice does, occasionally, take a break from skiing: “I like to have a drink in the Rhum Box or eat at Blancho.” However, as he says: “What I like the most is to put my skins on and ski all the amazing couloirs of l’Aiguille de Péclet, the highest mountain above Val Thorens, or to find some new place where nobody goes.”
