Here is a list of competitions organised in France by the French Federation of Alpine Clubs, these are by and large welcome to all skiers with a minimum of ski touring experience

http://www.ffcam.fr/index.php?&&alias=alpi-ski-tour-09

and this is the international calender with the French events organized by the FFME

http://www.ski-alpinisme.com/calendrier.php

Note that if you want to take part in competitions like the La Pierra Menta you need to get your entry in on the day the subscriptions open. To take part in the big events you would need to have 100,000 meters ski touring training over the season.

All events require the usual Avalanche Transceiver, Shovel, Probe as well Climbing Helmet and usually ice axe and crampons.

davidof - 19 October 2008 11:44 AM

if you want to take part in competitions like the La Pierra Menta ... the big events you would need to have 100,000 meters ski touring training over the season.

That’s a different way of thinking about long-period amounts of skiing.
So if you climb 2000 meters per day (which is bigger than 99% of the ski tours in the Alpes du Nord), that would be 50 full days—presumably to be done before some big race in say mid-March. Which seems to imply ski touring nearly 3 full days per week - (or perhaps some of that amount could be substituted by clever off-snow simulation). So unless you have rather flexible job hours, your family doesn’t see much of you.

Sounds plausible that that amount of training (or more) is typical for serious Pierra Menta competitors.
Which I am not.

Ken

What people seem to do is to go to their local ski resort after work and climb up by the side of the pistes for training. Now this can be quite dangerous as there is ski run preparation going on. However there seems to be some kind of accommodation between people training and the resort management in some areas so that certain slopes are left free - this happens on one slope in my local 7 laux resort.

davidof - 22 October 2008 10:46 AM

However there seems to be some kind of accommodation between people training and the resort management in some areas so that certain slopes are left free - this happens on one slope in my local 7 laux resort.

Yes that makes sense. A friend in southern Germany said like every Tuesday night one of his local ski resorts would officially allow climbing up and skiing down.

Ken