The latest in the line of 'Essentials' DVDs is aimed at anyone wanting to learn the skills to needed for back country skiing, ski touring and ski mountaineering and has been put together by instructors from the National Mountain Centre at Plas y Brenin and produced in association with the BMC and the MCoS.
As with the rest of the series, the DVD is split into two parts, a 50-minute documentary following a team of four skiers over a week of off-piste skiing plus a series of technical chapters aimed at helping you grasp the basic skills needed and covering topics like clothing and equipment, planning, skinning uphill, defensive skiing, snow sense, safe travel, crevasse rescue and avalanche survival.
We asked qualified off piste skier Gavin Baxter to cast his experienced eye over the DVD and here's what he had to say.
'We ‘Brits’ do not have a good reputation in the Alps. We turn up for our week of thrills, and, regardless of weather conditions try to eke every last bit of value from our trip to the big mountains. Poor weather days that will have the French shrug Gallic-ly and hunker down indoors, will see lots of Brits, wrapped up, braving the storm, and heading off to try to emulate their heroes of endless ‘extreme ski’ DVDs.
Take a look at this YouTube trailer for a taste of the film.
'The numbers of incidents and accidents has increased exponentially in the last few years, despite there being more awareness of avalanche safety and availability of safety equipment and training. Especially now, with trips to the Alps becoming less affordable to many, hiring a mountain guide at well over £300 a day in Chamonix, for example, may put a nasty taste in your mouth.
'This is where this DVD is both useful and potentially dangerous. It provides a huge amount of technical information on the equipment necessary for ski touring and off-piste, particularly stressing the absolute minimum requirement of transceiver, shovel and probe. The technical chapters also cover a great deal of information on how to plan a route and adapt those routes depending on the prevailing conditions.
'Equally useful is the mention of some of the groups, clubs and organisations that can be tapped-into to gain more information, experience and even access to trips and holidays. The danger with this DVD, is that the inexperienced watch it and decide to bypass the learning curve of off- piste lessons, hiring a guide or possibly joining a club in order to learn from more experienced ‘amateurs’ and head straight out into the wilderness.
'This isn't a big-budget ski film, and those people more used to watching slick productions with professional skiers tearing down terrifying couloirs, with avalanches chasing them will be gravely disappointed with the more mundane style displayed here.
'This film is essentially about safety, and how to maximise your enjoyment of skiing in this wonderful setting. So, watching as the ‘friends’ struggle with the difficult, heavy snow and also adjusting to the informal style of the guides, as they explain route choice or how to keep your climbing skins sticky, reminds you that this film is made by normal human beings, not professional athletes or actors.
'Watching the story unfold, as the party ski progressively more challenging objectives is surprisingly engaging, as well as photographically stunning. The background narrative, provided by a mountain guide, is very useful in explaining why decisions taken by the group are important and also to highlight equipment issues or route finding considerations.
'The narrative also tries to explain why skiing off-piste and touring is such a dangerous activity, but also balances this very poignantly with some thoughts on why this activity is just so inspirational to skiers.'
Verdict
Another impressive instructional DVD from the Essentials stable. It's an comprehensive detailed technical resource that you need to digest in chunks rather than swallowing in just one go. Even Gavin, who's skied a lot, often with qualified mountain guides, learned 'a few new things' along the way and concludes I can safely say that this DVD is useful to the 'eager amateur' (with some conditions), up to the 'thinks he knows it all' skier.
Not a substitute for experience or professional instruction / guiding, but a very good introduction for novices or skills brush-up for the more experienced skier.
Price is £19.50 plus postage and packing or £17.50 for BMC and MCofS members.
