i am currently living in courchevel, doing my second ski season. started touring at the start of this winter, have mostly been doing shortish day tours(around courchevel area) getting used to touring and the various bits of new kit. unfortunately my current partner needs to leave mid march for his summer job, planning to do a few multiday tours in the first few weeks of march before my mate has to go. So looking for someone to tour with any time between early march to end of the ski touring season. i am a reasonably competent skier, and am looking to get into more multi day tours, i dont have much mountaineering experience. but have trad climbed back in the uk for 3 years so know basic rope work. ideally looking for some one to ski with for the rest of the season, but a week or two would be better than nothing, also doesn’t have to be around courchevel.

regards jo

key question is: Do you have access to a car?
There’s two kinds of ski tourers in the European Alps: Those who have access to a car and those who don’t.

Like most of the tourers I know with access to a car, I have less interest in multi-day tours. But when I do want to go out for multiple days, it’s because the weather models say that a favorable window is coming _now_, so I want to get out there _now_—not a day later when some combination of buses and trains might get me to my tour’s starting place.

Like your post suggests, Courchevel doesn’t have much more than short tours. Lacking a car . . .
If you can get quick transportation on short notice early in the morning down to the road to Pralognan (e.g. Brides-les-Bains or Bozel), that opens up lots more possibilities for interesting single-day (and two multi-day tours)—since someone with a car could meet you to pick up on the way to a tour. If you can get quick transpo early in the morning down to Moutiers, that opens up even more possibilities for meeting up with tourers with a car (because there’s several nice tours in the southern Beaufortain). Early morning transpo to Albertville opens the whole world of Savioe ski touring.
Get Paul Henderson’s English-language guidebook “Vanoise Ski Touring” (which covers a much wider area than just the Vanoise).

Ken

thanks for the advice, i do have access to a vehicle at the momeent and have been over to the pralong once. i’m more concerened about my lack of touring partner come late march than access to a vehicle as i cant go touring without a partner. i have got the vanoise ski touring book you suggested and would like to attempt some of the routes if i have some one to do them with.

josnow - 06 February 2009 06:11 PM

i do have access to a vehicle

Good.
Sharon and I will be around Savoie in late March / early April (also perhaps earlier) and we might be able to meet you for a tour. We usually do shorter moderate tours (like 800 vertical meters, difficulty PD in the Olizane guidebooks). With other partners I do lots of longer AD tours at a faster pace.

Send me an email at this address, and we can exchange phone numbers.

If you have a car and can speak some French, another way to find ski partners is to join CAF, select a local chapter near you, then go to some chapter meetings.

If you can decipher written French with lots of ski-specific words, I highly recommend getting
Ski de randonnée Savoie, by E. Cabau, Guide Olizane Sport (Editions Olizane)
Much more detailed than Paul Henderson’s book.

Ken