December Mountain Safety Prep.

White Marmotte in conjunction with The European Ski School

Overview

This course will cover all aspects of the BASI EMS and Mountain Safety syllabus. Over five days, plus evening sessions, we will look at navigation, snowcraft, the basics of ski touring, transceiver skills and rope-work. This course is run in conjunction with the European Ski and Snowboard School.

Course content

The course includes five full-days, six hours per day, of practical content. This will be on snow if possible. There will also be three evening lectures covering relevant course material. The exact programme will depend on snow conditions in early December. If possible, we will spend some time ski touring outside of the resort, as well as skiing on- or off-piste within the Deux Alpes ski area. If snow cover is poor, it might be appropriate to spend some time hiking below the snow line to practice navigation techniques. For this reason, we recommend purchasing ski passes day by day depending on whether one is required for each day’s programme.

The course will be tailored to the individuals attending, with extra time allocated to areas needing the most work. We will cover all of the following subjects in depth:

• Mountain navigation – distances and timings, navigation tools, contour interpretation, low visibility navigation & planning a route
• Avalanche awareness – snowcraft (understanding the snowpack), terrain management, understanding the avalanche forecast
• Avalanche rescue – personal transceiver skills, teaching transceiver skills to clients, group check strategies, multiple burial scenarios & limitations of transceivers
• Skinning techniques – kick turns, setting a good skinning line, leading a group off-piste

• The mountain environment – knowledge of fauna and flora, geology of the Alps, mountain hazards, relevance of the mountain environment to route planning and safety, weather
• EMS ropework
• Evening Sessions- snowpack and avalanche awareness, the mountain environment, weather and group management, mountain navigation. There will also be an opportunity to review the material covered on the mountain and clarify any areas of uncertainty.

Practical Information

Additional Costs: The cost of the course will be €300 per person, this is for the course only. It does not include accommodation (see below), food and transport costs and lift passes. 

Lift Passes: We recommend buying passes day by day, as we are unlikely to be using the ski lifts every day. We provide updates closer to the course as the programme will depend on snow conditions.

Accommodation: There is no shortage of quality hotels and apartments in Les Deux Alpes during the summer months. The resort caters for anything from budget to luxury accommodation. However, if you are having trouble finding something suitable, please get in touch.

Getting to Les Deux Alpes: The easiest way to get to Les Deux Alpes is by car. If flying, Lyon and Geneva airports offer a good selection of reasonably priced car hire options. Turin airport is also an option, but flights here are often fairly limited. Drive time from Lyon Airport is roughly 1hr45 and from Geneva Airport around 2hr45.

It is possible to take a shuttle bus from both Lyon and Geneva Airports to Grenoble Bus Staion. They run roughly hourly, and cost between €10-30. From Grenoble there is a very cheap local bus service to the resort. However, this service only runs once or twice a day. For more information, see https://www.transisere.fr .

If you are having difficulty organising transport please get in touch!

Booking

For further information, or to book onto the course, please contact us at bookings@whitemarmotte.com.

Note

Please note that this course is sold and organised by the European Ski and Snowboard School. It is therefore subject to their Terms and Conditions and Cancellation Policy, and is covered by the Ski School’s public liability insurance. White Marmotte staff delivering this product will be working directly for the European Ski and Snowboard School for the duration of this course. White Marmotte’s role in this instance is solely as an advertiser of a third-party product.