

Backcountry snowboard camps
"Backcountry Intro Camp was truly awesome; amazing instructors"
James, Feb 2017
I've been organising Backcountry Snowboard and Splitboard camps in Sainte Foy and beyond since 2010. I now run and coach camps throughout the season, each offering a package of great, catered accommodation combined with 5 days of guided backcountry riding and coaching. Course-only options are available for some dates, allowing you to keep the cost down by picking your own accommodation.
Initial dates, prices and venues for winter 2022/23 are listed below. I will be adding more courses for late January & early February very soon. Please get in touch if you're interested in a bespoke course for your group.
Riding powder in Sainte Foy on our March 2018 Backcountry Intro Camp

Backcountry Prep Camp
4 Dec 2022
Tignes
A long weekend of training to develop the skills required for independent backcountry riding.
Skills covered will included avalanche awareness and safe travel, navigation and mountain safety, riding technique and splitboard touring.
The goal will be to spend as much time snowboarding as possible, with coaching sessions on the hill supplemented with evening learning to maximise mountain time.
Price is course only, plenty of accommodation options are available. We recommend Dragon Lodge. Riding days are Sat, Sun & Mon 4th - 6th December.
Spaces:
5/6
Price:
€ 295

Backcountry
14 Jan 2023
Sainte Foy Tarentaise
A week (5 days, Mon-Fri) of guided backcountry riding and coaching in Sainte Foy. January is a great time to ride - quiet lifts, empty slopes and usually great snow.
Sainte Foy is a legendary freeride paradise - a great snow record and superb lift-accessed terrain are combined with quiet slopes where the fresh snow lies untouched much longer than in the mega-resorts. Tignes, Val d'Isere and Les Arcs are also right on the doorstep, giving a huge choice of terrain around the valley.
Spaces:
1/6
Price:
€ 1,250

Spring Splitboard Touring
22 Apr 2023
Tignes
3 days of guided splitboarding over a long weekend. Spring touring is the best; big blue skies, long days and always great snow still to be found for those who go a little further. Tignes and Val d'Isere will both still be fully open, so there is a huge amount of high-altitude terrain to play with. Riding days will be Saturday, Sunday & Monday 22-24th.
Price is course only, plenty of accommodation options are available. We recommend Dragon Lodge.
Spaces:
3/6
Price:
€ 295

Splitboard Freeride
21 Jan 2023
Areches-Beaufort
A week (5 days, Mon-Fri) of guided backcountry riding and coaching in the little-known resort of Areches-Beaufort. January is a great time to ride - quiet lifts, empty slopes and usually great snow. This week is a splitboard freeride week, meaning that we will ride splits most days, but always with the aim of riding the best snow. If there's powder next to the piste, that's what we'll ride! Some days will involve big tours, others mostly short skins / hikes to get as many fresh lines as possible.
Areches was my favourite riding destination before I moved to the Alps permanently. It has the same perfect combination of great terrain and minimal crowds as Sainte Foy, with the bonus of a bigger lift system and the legendary Beaufortain micro-climate. One of the first mountain ranges encountered by westerly storms, the weather systems slow as they hit the nearby bulk of Mont Blanc and dump huge amounts of snow in the Beaufortain - often twice as much as in the Tarentaise or the Portes du Soleil.
Half-board Hotel accommodation included.
Spaces:
FULL
Price:
€ 1,250

Backcountry Intro
7 Jan 2023
Sainte Foy Tarentaise
A week (5 days, Mon-Fri) of guided backcountry riding and coaching in Sainte Foy. Our BC Intro weeks are aimed at riders who are experienced snowboarders, but have little or no experience outside the marked runs. The week will include extra coaching on both snowboard technique and backcountry safety in order to help you comfortably make the transition from on-piste to off-piste rider.
The focus will still be very strongly on doing as much riding as possible, with coaching mixed-in as required depending on the weather, conditions and the level of the group.
Sainte Foy is a legendary freeride paradise - a great snow record and superb lift-accessed terrain are combined with quiet slopes where the fresh snow lies untouched much longer than in the mega-resorts. Tignes, Val d'Isere and Les Arcs are also right on the doorstep, giving a huge choice of terrain around the valley.
Spaces:
1/6
Price:
€ 1,250

Backcountry
28 Jan 2023
Gressoney
A week (5 days, Mon-Fri) of guided backcountry riding and coaching in Gressonney, Italy. January is a great time to ride - quiet lifts, empty slopes and usually great snow.
Gressonney is a mega-scale freeride resort that has mostly remained off the radar. Gressonney itself is lift-linked into the neighbouring valleys of Champoluc and Alagna. Minimal pistes mean that the 3 linked valleys have a huge amount of accessible freeride terrain, ranging from tree riding around the 1600m base station to a top lift at over 3200m.
Affordable Italian hospitality and the best coffee in the Alps is just a bonus!
Spaces:
1/6
Price:
€ 1,250