Ski touring course around Riksgränsen and Narvik

Course in English or Swedish? The course is normally in Swedish. All our guides are fluent in English and you as a non Swedish speaker are welcome to join the course. However be aware that some of the other participants will ask questions and and will communicate with the guide in Swedish, and it might not always be possible to translate everything to English.

Ski touring is a wonderful combination of beautiful views, the stillness of being in the mountains and the action of downhill skiing. The skills you need, to go on ski tours in a convenient and secure way, are very extensive. You need both personal skills of skiing, general knowledge of navigation and path choosing as well as specific knowledge of for example avalanche security. In short, there are a lot of fun things to learn and on this course we enter deeply into the above. The goal of the week is to learn more about ski touring and have amazing experiences in an extraordinary environment.  

We normally carry out this course in the area around Abisko, Riksgränsen and Narvik. The program is built from this base. If you wish to participate on a course as a group we can adapt to your requests and the course can also be held in the Alps as well as in other places in Scandinavia. The same course can be held in Chamonix, Zermatt or why not Lofoten or Lyngen.

Content of the course

• Equipment for ski touring

We go through different types of equipment and go through their pros and cons.

Partly we will do this before the trip so you all have the right equipment on arrival.

• Ski tour techniques

How to walk effectively on skins and do "kick turns" and turns.

• Path choosing uphill

How to make an uphill track – taking both security and efficiency into consideration, where and how to make our turns and what formations to avoid.

• Skiing techniques in different snow conditions.

How do we handle crust, wind packed snow, carbon, concrete and other interesting snow types, but also how to go powder skiing.

• Path choosing downhill

How do we find the best snow and the most secure line

• Tour planning

How we by looking at the map can organize a tour and calculate how long it will take.

• Navigation

How to read a map and a compass as well as the usage of GPS.

• Avalanche knowledge for ski touring

We dig in the snow and look at different layers to learn more about avalanches. But more importantly we will go through how to choose our lines up and down hill in order to minimize the risk of avalanches.

We also cover the factors that increase the risk of avalanche and what to look for to avoid them.

Goal for the course

The goal for this course is to give you a solid foundation based on knowledge about going on ski tours to be able to make your own tours in the future, together with others sharing the same knowledge. 

Skills

The course suits you who know how to ski, can go down a black slope without problems and have at least some experiance of backcountry skiing. You need no previous experience from ski touring. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any doubts when it comes to your skills (or any other questions you may have…)

Program for the week

This is a program proposal for the course. If it is arranged on another location it will of course change, but the content stays the same. Changes may also occur due to weather conditions. By the end of each day we sum up the day and draw conclusions from what we have learned during the day.

All week will be adjusted to weather conditions and you will participate in the work of the mountain guide to follow the weather reports and choose the right tour for each day.

Day 1, Sunday

Arriva lday. At 18.00 in the reception at Hotel Riksgränsen the guide will meet you for a shorter information about the week.

Day 2, Monday

Vassitjocka could be a good start with an interesting way up and a 700 vertical nice skiing downhill. In the evening we sum up the day and go through what we have learned during the day.

Day 3, Tuesday 

Weather conditions will as always be important to our choice but the goal for the day is our second ski tour for the week of about 700-800 metes vertical. If it will be Melkefjell, Vassdalstind or Rivtind, and we will get a sea view as a bonus.
Navigation is the theme for the day and we put extra time on reading map and compass. Sum up in the evening. 

Day 4, Wednesday 

Ski techniques are in focus today and we use the lift in Narvik to get a lot of skiing in one day. Here we find a very instructive terrain and we bring our skins to prolong the runs by walking a little from the top of the lift. Today we will also have a more thorough summery of the course so far and evaluate what we have learned.

Day 5, Thursday 

We take a longer tour on Rombakstøtta. This impressive mountain above the fjord of Rombak has one of the most amazing views possible. Here we will most likely have to use crampons and ice axe at the end. A useful element in the course.

Day 6, Friday

Sovande drottningen, "The Sleeping Queen", a mountain named after her beautiful silhouette of a woman lying down with her forehead, nose and cheek showing. The view from the top is just as breathtaking and it is a great mountain for ski touring. Today we focus on tour planning and we are extra thorough to go through how to plan a tour and calculate how long it will take.

Day 7, Saturday    

Last tour day and we will let the conditions of our legs and the weather decide on where to go. There are plenty of tour options left to do and on a course like this it is good to have an extra day of flexibility. We may have missed out on a tour earlier during the week because of the weather conditions and wish to give it another shot today.

Day 8, Sunday                                                                                                        

Departure day.

Included in the price:

• Training and guiding by an authorised mountain guide (UIAGM/IFMGA) for 6 days

• Rental of avalanche security equipment (shovel, probe and transceiver)

• Rental of ice axe, harness and crampons

• Transportation throughout the week

• Accommodation in double room 6 nights at the hotel or boarding-house, breakfast included.

Not included in the price:

• Personal equipment

• Ski pass, if we decide to take a tour starting from a lift

• Trip to/from Kiruna/Riksgränsen

Personal equipment:

• Skies with ski touring bindings

• Crampons for your skis

• Climbing skins

• Poles, adjustable with big baskets 

• Ski touring boots

• Back pack about 35 litres 

• Clothes for skiing

• Extra underwear 

• Down jacket, Lightweight

• Extra gloves

• Sunglasses

• Ski goggles

• Sun block (minimum 20) 

• Thermos

More inspiration

Start by watching our ski touring film. Just click the Swedish flag in the upper right corner and you will come to the same page in Swedish where you find the film. That will give you a good overview of the product and answer some of your questions about equipment. But you are just as welcome to send us an e-mail at info@mountainguide.se.

There is no need to worry about safety equipment, your mountain guide with provide them for you.

Testimonials 

"I think the ski touring week was very pleasant and it was carried out in an atmosphere best compared to friendship. I have also attended a week on Mt Blanc with Mountain Guide Travel. If  compare the two I find that the Mt Blanc week contained more instructive elements than the ski touring week. They were both physically demanding. Especially Mt Blanc."

Jesper Engstrand

"Perfectly arranged in an amazing environment

- Very infomative. Andreas has the ability to combine the course elements and guiding in a good way.

- Ski touring in the most beautiful surroundings."

Micke Sandberg

If you have any questions about this trip, feel free to e-mail info@mountainguide.se or call +46 702 494700