How to Ski Tour: Ski Touring for Beginners?

Ski touring is a cross between Alpine downhill and cross-country skiing. Like cross-country skiing, you’re not reliant on chairlifts as you can walk (ski) up any mountain. Skins attach to the bottom of your skis that stop you from sliding backwards and provide enough traction to turn your skis into hiking machines. To help with walking, the heel of your boot lifts and they are typically more flexible than downhill ski boots.

However, once you get to the top, it’s back to downhill skiing. Your heel clips in, your skins come off and you’re ready to make stellar ‘S’ shaped turns as you go down the mountain.

Ski touring almost always happens in the backcountry and can extend over a longer period. Many ski tourers will spend the night on the mountain, so they’re ready to hit the slopes at sunrise.

Ski touring combines the benefits of hiking with downhill skiing. It’s an all-body workout as you don’t get to rest on a chairlift, but have to hike up and ski down the mountain. Not only will you build core muscle groups, but you’ll also gain better stamina from this cardio workout. Plus, spending time in nature surrounded by pine trees is proven to enhance your mental health and promote relaxation.

Ski touring also allows you to take backcountry skiing to the next level. You can go further from the groomed slopes and explore uncharted territory, away from the crowds. The sky’s the limit!

Before you take up ski touring, you should have some experience in the backcountry. Backcountry skiers are advanced-level skiers as snowploughs don’t work when you’re navigating between trees. You’ll also have enough confidence to handle emergencies like avalanches or injuries.

Ski touring requires more stamina than downhill backcountry skiing, so you should be healthy enough to be able to handle hiking. There are many different available routes, which makes ski touring accessible to almost anyone and you certainly don’t need to be an ultra-marathon runner.

For first-timers, we recommend starting small and building yourself up to the week-long ski tours. A gentle route will allow you to get a feel for the equipment, so you know how to put on and take off your skins, adjust your boots, and so forth. It’ll also allow you to build key muscle groups and enhance your stamina.

While ski touring is possible nearly everywhere, more and more ski resorts are starting to offer dedicated areas or slopes. You can learn more about designated areas with Decathlon's handy guide to French mountains.

No one should ever venture into the backcountry on their own. Hire a guide or partner up with a more experienced ski tourer for your first day. Skiing with someone that’s been ski touring before will provide the perfect introduction to the sport and allow you to learn important techniques as well as safety methods.

When skiing the backcountry, you need to stay alert and read up on weather and avalanche alerts. You can find out more about backcountry safety here.

With ski touring, skins attach to the bottom of your skis, so you have enough traction to hike uphill. Climbing uphill with a full pack and ski equipment can be exhausting. Thankfully, there are a few ways to make hiking uphill in your ski equipment easier and more enjoyable.

• Keep the surface of your skis flat and slide your skis across the ground rather than lift them. In this regard, ski touring uses a similar movement to cross-country skiing.
• Use your poles to stay balanced and push yourself uphill. For best results, hold your ski poles a bit higher than normal.
• Don’t try to keep up with others, but hike up the slope at your own pace. This will help save your energy and prevent you from burning out.
• Make low track angles to keep some energy when climbing uphill
• Adjust your bindings (flatter -- middle -- higher) depending on the slope incline. Most of the time you’ll probably hike in the mid-step as it provided a better grip for traversing lines.