The Skiing Department Blog

Ski Mountaineering and Snowshoeing is the latest instalment from the ‘Rucksack Guide’s series by world renowned mountain guide, Alun Richardson. Other books in the series include Winter Mountaineering, Alpinism and Rock Climbing. These pocket sized guides are designed to be carried with you wherever you go.

This particular guide especially appeals to skiers who like to venture off piste. It specifically deals with the pastime of ski mountaineering and ski touring. Ski mountaineering is the combination of climbing on snow and ice using various techniques including rope and ice axe work whilst crossing glaciers and travelling from point to point. Specially adapted equipment is required to enable the skier to walk, climb and descend on skis.

The idea of the book is that you can use it as a reference guide and keep it with you at all times. It is aimed at entry level participants to the sport, of any age, although some of the tips would be useful for more experienced ski mountaineers. It does not claim to cover all aspects of the sport, but gives information on what to do in any given situation. It does not go into great detail about the reasons why you should do certain things, but this is made clear in the introduction.

The author, Alun Richardson is a fully qualified mountain guide. He is a member of an elite group of mountaineers who are qualified to lead people on any terrain, anywhere in the world. In winter time they often work in some of the major skiing centres including Chamonix, Verbier and Zermatt where they are the only people qualified to lead skiers over unmarked (off piste/back country) glaciated terrain. Mountain Guides are not to be confused with tour operator ‘Ski Guides’ (can show guests around the marked runs of a resort without instruction) or Ski Instructors (qualified to instruct skiers on piste) or Ski teachers (qualified to teach skiers on and off piste but not on glaciated terrain).

The book is broken down into several sections which deal with the various aspects of ski mountaineering including, equipment, travelling light on skis, route finding and avalanche safety, skinning on skis, tactics and crevasse rescue. These sections are then broken down into sub categories to make referencing your various questions quick and easy.

I found the book very easy to read and the layout made understanding all the points really easy. Some of the tips were helpful to me as a fairly experienced ski tourer and back country skier and it’s always good to brush up on avalanche safety techniques and advice. I think the book would be perfect for anyone attending a course on ski mountaineering and ski touring or even a ski instructor attending a mountain safety examination. Reading the book beforehand and having it with you for reference, taking a look on a ski lift or over a coffee could be useful to refresh the memory.

As any experienced mountaineer would tell you, the only way to truly gain the knowledge required to safely travel in a high mountain environment is to get out there with professionals who can guide you and teach you how to deal with all situations. Gaining the knowledge that is required to go it alone can take many years. This book must be used as a compliment to learning with a professional, and in no way does the book claim otherwise.

Many of the diagrams and certain images that compliment the text are required and are very well done, although I did find the use of a few images such as full page views of skiers slightly puzzling in this kind of book. The pictures were excellent, but trying to give a message of travelling light and at the same time adding to your rucksack weight with these images seemed like a contradiction. I also had a small problem with the downhill kick turn technique on page 90. Point 2 states that both poles should be placed behind you on the uphill slope to provide support. I find that this method usually results in the skier placing too much weight on the poles and cannot support themselves. Personally I prefer them to place all the weight in their uphill ski and use the uphill pole as balance, turning the downhill ski first and then turning the upper body with the uphill ski as it comes around. This also promotes better balance and confidence with practice and the poles do not get in the way. Maybe this is just personal preference and if it works for the author then fair enough (see my post on kick turning). Also on the same page, the advice to take skis off if the snow is hard on steep slopes if all else fails seemed odd to me. Ski boots are no substitute for ski edges when it comes to gripping on hard snow and in my opinion this could be dangerous.