If regular ski resorts have lost their appeal and you find yourself looking for something a little more challenging, then a tailored off-piste skiing adventure is undoubtedly the way to go. With Pure Powder, the pinnacle of skiing experiences is only a quick call away – allow us to assist you in crafting the perfect off-piste skiing adventure. If you have not already, we encourage you to look over our many heli skiing, off-piste, small group, single-day, and introductory experiences.
In this article, we will have a look at the crucial role of your ski guides and how they can positively impact your skiing experience.
Off-Piste Skiing And Guided Tours
Your experienced off-piste skiing guides fulfil several roles on any given day and throughout an off-piste adventure. Without them, the quality, safety, learning opportunities, and enjoyment of the trip would be severely impacted. Allow us to walk you through five reasons why your guides are so essential.
1. Discover And Ski The Best Slopes: Whatever location you decide on, the guides assigned to you will be highly knowledgeable about the surrounding terrain, including the best off-piste slopes and runs in the area. Most guides know the area just a well as a map – their knowledge of the backcountry is unrivalled. Not only will they be able to lead you to secret spots unknown to the masses, but they also know areas to avoid and what to look out for when out in the wilderness.
2. They Provide Guidance And Useful Knowledge Throughout: While heading through the wilderness, your guides will provide you with ample information to improve your mountaineering skills, including tips on avalanche safety, snow conditions, terrain, and weather. At any point, you will be able to turn to your guide and ask them any questions that might arise, and they will be only too happy to share their mountaineering knowledge and expertise. Not only is this useful for future excursions you might embark on, but it is undeniably fascinating to witness someone with such a great understanding of the environment around them.
3. Drastically Improve Your Skiing Ability: Their guidance is not only beneficial to your mountaineering skills but also to your off-piste skiing abilities. If you have thrown yourself into a deep powder ski environment in the past, you will already know the stark difference between making your way through pure powder snow compared to groomed resort slopes. Your guides will be able to ease the learning process considerably and should be more than capable of teaching you a number of things along the way. They have years of skiing experience under their belts and know how to improve your technique and coach effectively.
4. They Will Keep You Safe: Ski guides undergo rigorous training before eventually being qualified for the role. Before any skiing begins, our trip coordinators would have relayed the general skiing ability of the group to the guides – using this information, they can ensure that no one feels out of their depth regarding the difficulty of the terrain. Beyond this, avalanche safety and weather analysis are priorities, and your guides are capable of making on-the-fly decisions to guarantee your group’s safety. Using their immense backcountry experience, they can ensure that you have the time of your life, while also remaining perfectly safe and injury-free throughout.
5. They Add To The Overall Experience: Besides all the crucial roles outlined above, your guides will also act as active companions on your adventure – adding to the group dynamics, sharing exciting stories of their past excursions, and making the entire trip more enjoyable for everyone involved. It can never hurt to have a friendly local guide show you the ropes and explore the beautiful winter wilderness by your side.
Moving From Groomed Resort Slopes To Off-Piste Skiing
As exciting as it is to embark on your first off-piste skiing adventure, there are a few notable differences in technique that can ease the transition from piste to off-piste. The goal with backcountry skiing is to bask in the natural beauty surrounding you and experience the joy of making your way through untracked powder snow. While it is immensely enjoyable once you’ve gotten into the swing of it, it certainly is more challenging and physically demanding than resort skiing.
For this reason, we recommend putting some thought into ski fitness and ensuring that you can handle the physical challenges of the backcountry. You don’t need to be ridiculously fit, but it undoubtedly makes a difference to your overall experience. We have spoken about ski fitness at length in past guides, so if you want more information on how to get physically prepared for these trips, have a look at those posts or check out the Ski Fitness tab on our website.
When you book your trip through Pure Powder, you can be sure that your guides will accompany you throughout the duration of your skiing escapades. This negates the need to review snow conditions, inform others of the path you plan to take, or ensure that you are not skiing alone – which is typical advice for those setting off on their own backcountry excursions.
Here are a few more tips and tricks to make the transition from groomed slopes to off-piste adventures a smooth one.
Why Choose Pure Powder?
One of the greatest things about our family-run business is that all these adventures are created by skiers, for skiers, and we truly love the process of facilitating these incredible experiences. Since 1978, we have been matching our customers with the perfect skiing adventure for them, and over this period, we have cemented ourselves as the most prolific heli ski specialists in the UK.
While heli skiing is our speciality, we have formed strong relationships with operators and lodges across the globe, allowing us to quite easily diversify into off-piste skiing excursions and a range of other experiences. If you choose us, you can rest assured that you will receive the highest level of service and attention, from the moment you get in contact with us, to the moment you arrive back home. At this point, we have mastered the art of creating tailored skiing experiences that fit what our clients are searching for.
If you aren’t already convinced, rest assured that going through us will never be more expensive than choosing to go directly through an operator – in fact, our longstanding relationships with many of these companies often means we get preferential rates, making it much more affordable than direct planning. This can also apply to your flights and other travel arrangements; we are very familiar with the locations we help our customers get to, and we are able to make recommendations and plans that will make the entire process as simple as possible.
