Henry Off-piste

Spending The Day With Henry Off-Piste in Val d’Isere

I’ve just spent a day in Val d’Isère, France, with Henry of Henry’s Off-Piste on their ‘One Day Course’. If you’re going to ski off-piste then this is an absolute must do course – I’m a qualified ski instructor and have done quite a bit of avalanche safety stuff, courses and exams, but having a comprehensive re-fresh is essential and you gain even more knowledge than you had before.

But even if you’ve never skied off-piste and you’re thinking about venturing into uncontrolled terrain, this course is even more important. There’s some pretty basic rules that if followed, will make getting caught in an avalanche far less likely than if you don’t follow them. If you follow these rules, you’ll be able to enjoy skiing the powder snow and get some control over your days skiing. If you are out there constantly worrying about avalanches, you’ll put others in danger and it won’t be much fun – plus if you’re that worried, you shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Of course, if you are not worried because you’re unaware of the dangers, that’s even worse!

Obviously prevention is better than cure, but if the worst happened and your companions got caught in a slide, then you need the know-how to quickly get them out – this course teaches you how to do that, but you still need to go out and practice afterwards! If you’re skiing off-piste with people who don’t know what they are doing then you’re putting your life at serious risk. I’ve had several personal experiences where avalanches have happened very close to me and some where I’ve been involved in helping out with victims – I’ve seen avalanches seriously hurt people and on a couple of occasions, kill them. I’ve also been caught in a few myself, which is something I don’t want to repeat.

Skiing off-piste is one of the most fun things you can ever do, and I’m not going to stop doing it – that’s why I learn as much as I can about ‘staying safe out there’, as Henry would put it himself.


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