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Mother of Ski Mountaineering Signup [Trip Series] · Mon. Jan. 1st, 2024 - Wed. Jan. 31st, 2024
Warning: This is an old trip - it already happened
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Start: Monday, Jan. 1st
End: Wednesday, Jan. 31st, 11:59 pm
Description:
Please carefully read this entire description if you wish to join the trip.
Ski Mountaineering is the sport of mountaineering where the primary objective is the descent of a mountain on skis, as opposed to the ascent of a mountain, as in traditional mountaineering.
This is an opportunity for some intermediate people to learn some stuff! If you’ve been touring for a bit and have dreams of doing more complicated objectives but aren’t really sure how to gain the skills to do so, this is the place for you. This is a great trip series for an advanced downhill skier who is newer to the world of backcountry/mountaineering to gain the skills to access steep ski descents in the mountains. This will be a series of trips throughout the season (starting in late Feb/early March) where you can gain some experience with touring, snow travel and glacier skills, and learn more about decision making and trip planning in the winter, which will lead up to a final objective at the end (March/April/May). The final objective will happen in small groups with 2 instructors and 4 students. This trip will be heavily limited by instructors, but our hope is to have 3-4 groups. The groups will be split approximately by ability level, so if you are looking for a super steep descent there will be a group for you, and if you are looking for something more moderate there will also be a group for you. The goal is that by the end of the season, you will have made some friends to ski with, including one or two more experienced friends, and that you will feel comfortable planning and going on some similar trips on your own, without more experienced friends.
The trips will include;
- Rope skills in the park (ascending, descending, haul systems, anchors, etc)
- A day in the backcountry practicing snow and glacier travel skills (self-arrest, crampons, snow anchors, etc), as well as steep skiing fundamentals
- possibly an additional practice ski day either resort or backcountry if your instructors are keen
- Final objective: An aesthetic ski mountaineering ascent/descent involving glacier travel, winter camping, and snow climbing
Pre-requisites;
- Lots of stoke and a positive attitude
- Commitment to all these trips and continuing to use the skills afterwards
- Have AST-1 or Equivalent
- Been ski touring, ideally for at least a season
- Can ski an off-piste black run confidently and fluidly, double blacks are an asset and in the case of limited spots priority may be given to more advanced skiers
- Backcountry overnight experience (not necessarily in the winter)
- G1 would be helpful but is not required (if you don’t have G1, Rock 2 or equivalent is also very helpful)
A word on commitment— ski mountaineering is a heavily weather/condition dependent activity, and as such the final objective will not be scheduled in advance. You will receive a message from your instructors approximately a week before, and you need to be committed to drop everything to the best of your ability and make going on this trip a priority, otherwise the trip will never happen as someone will always bail. This has been a major issue in previous years. Obviously we know there are things that are more important— we won’t expect you to skip a final exam for example. But know that you must be flexible, and priority may be given to those who have more availability.
If you are super duper stoked and are missing any of these, please reach out and we can talk about it!
Since this trip is such a large time commitment for everyone involved, the signup process for this series of trips will work differently than other VOC trips. Please sign up on this post and fill out the google form on the signup page. After the committed list closes, I will go through the responses and pick some people that I think will fit the best with the trip and with one another based on their previous experience and stoke, and let everyone know by early February.
If you’re an experienced person that is super stoked about this and wants to help out, send me and Ethan Somji an email and we can chat about it! Our email addresses can be found on our member profiles.
Credit to Kaylie Robinson (previous organizer) for the basis for the trip posting