Private Trip Dates & Rates Available Upon Request (subject to availability)

Come join us for a 2 day skills course, formulated for women, by women. Our focus will be to help you gain confidence to splitboard and ski beyond the resorts and gain knowledge of winter backcountry travel, route finding, safety skills, and trip planning. This will be all supportive, fun and encouraging environment led by our professional female guides.

Our two days will be spent outdoors. In order to get the most from the course you should be comfortable skiing off piste at the resort and dealing with the elements of a typical blustery day on Hokkaido. We’ll cover everything from choosing gear and layers to packing your pack, dialing in your kick turns and efficient transitions. If you’re ready to take your backcountry skills to the next level, refine your existing skills or meet like minded women to get rad with in the backcountry this is the course for you.

We can provide avalanche safety gear including beacon, probe, shovel and pack- just let us know when you register!

– Review beacon function & range check

– Effective communication strategies for the backcountry

– How to dress for ski touring: clothing, equipment, packs etc.

– Putting together a light pack for lift assisted backcountry touring

– Boot, clothing, and binding adjustments for downhill skiing

– Boot, clothing, and binding adjustments for uphill skiing

– Making efficient transitions between uphill and downhill and the reverse

– Safely getting down slopes that feel steep, icy, or complicated

– Making kick turns when going uphill or when changing direction going downhill

– Developing ski/snowboarding proficiency in challenging conditions

– Using the terrain to your advantage on the uphill

– Group backcountry travel skills

– Track setting and pacing

– Safely getting down challenging slopes in an efficient manner

– Increasing transition speed to maximize touring time

– Taking care of hydration and nutrition needs

– Route finding and time calculations

– Learn to recognize and safely travel through avalanche terrain

This course is designed to build off of the basic avalanche and snow science skills you learn in an AST 1. This will also give you the skills necessary to start organizing your own tours or joining an existing group for a day of backcountry skiing. By the end you will have learned some new science, encountered variable conditions, and slayed some pow. Along the way you’ll develop an increased ability to evaluate the skills of others you consider touring with, and should feel confident joining a hut trip or other multi-day ski tour.