Know before you go – winter safety talks

Safety, when it comes to snow, is a sixth sense for any serious climber, mountaineer or off piste adventurer. It should be for every skier or boarder who ventures off the pisted run.

The revolution in equipment has made skiing in powder and off piste easier and more accessible to greater numbers of skiers. As a result more skiers and snowboarders are venturing off piste so there is a greater need to know about mountain safety.

Last season Snow+Rock and the Ski Club of Great Britain joined forces to help more skiers and boarders learn some essential mountaincraft and how to use safety equipment when skiing in unpisted terrain.

The talks sold out immediately, so this November and December we are holding five more talks guaranteed to inspire and inform in Snow+Rock shops nationwide.

The speakers are all mountain guides with the highest international qualifications. They include Kenton Cool, the only European to summit Everest five times. Kenton has several first ascents to his name including 8,000 metre peaks and has been nominated for the prestigious Piolet D’Or Award given to the best alpine-style ascent of the year.

His colleague and fellow guide at Chamonix-based Dream Guides, Guy Willet, has many couloir first descents to his name, he has telemarked from 7100 m on Tibet’s Cho Oyu, and earlier this year made 7 first descents in the Watkins Mountains of East Greenland. Guy, who will speak at Snow+Rock’s Monument, Birmingham and Chill Factore (Manchester) stores, is also a qualified doctor with a diploma in high altitude medicine and physiology.

The talks aim to educate skiers and snowboarders on the risks of skiing off piste terrain, how to recognise danger signs and how to use avalanche transceivers.

This year there will also be one higher level of talk; Advanced Avalanche Awareness at Kensington Snow+Rock given by Nigel Shepherd, who is Alpine Safety Advisor for the Ski Club of Great Britain. Nigel is also one of the UK's foremost and most respected mountain experts and the author of several technical manuals.

The dates and venues for the talks are:

Wednesday 7th November - Advanced Avalanche Awareness with Nigel Shepherd, Kensington
Tuesday 13th November - Avalanche Awareness Essentials with Guy Willet, Birmingham
Wednesday 21st November - Avalanche Awareness and Steep Skiing with Guy Willet and Kenton Cool, Monument
Tuesday 27th November - Avalanche Awareness Essentials with Nigel Shepherd, Hemel Hempstead
Wednesday 5th December - Avalanche Awareness Essentials with Guy Willet and Kenton Cool, Chill Factore (Manchester)

Tickets cost £2 with the proceeds going to Mountain Rescue which is carried out on a voluntary basis throughout the UK (Scotclimb.org.uk). All talks start at 7 pm.

For tickets and more information check out Snowandrock.com or Skiclub.co.uk.

There will be prizes at each event and a 10% discount at Snow+Rock on the night. Switzerland Tourism will provide wine and cheese.