First Tracks: My First Ski Touring Experience

Skiing down is the easy part. Skiing up, without sliding back, is not. We tried the First Tracks experience, an early start on skis in La Plagne, to find out what makes ski touring worth the effort.

The runner's high

It's 7am when I join our instructor and a group of strong skiers keen to try ski touring for the first time. Questions keep popping into my head: is it hard? Am I dressed right? How do the skis even clip on? Our instructor just smiles and tells me it's going to be alright.

The kit looks a lot like normal ski gear. The real difference is the skins, fixed under the skis so you can climb without sliding backwards. The First Tracks experience begins.

Halfway up, a couple of skiers in the group start talking about the pleasure of pushing hard uphill, what runners call the runner's high. I mostly notice the sweat on my back and wonder where the fun is supposed to be. By the time we reach the top, after a properly strenuous climb, I have to admit the technique itself is simple. The effort, less so.

Ski touring, from transport to sport

Ski touring is far from a new trend. Its roots go back to Norway, with recorded use as early as 1555. Nordic peoples travelled on long skis fitted with skins made from reindeer, elk or seal hide, to stop them sliding backwards. The name skins has stuck, even though today's versions are synthetic.

The sport took off around 20 years ago, when a handful of adventurous athletes started heading uphill to reach places most skiers never see, chasing untouched powder. Today, ski touring is no longer limited to off-piste terrain. People take it up to get in shape, to experience skiing differently, or simply to reach spots the lifts never go near.

Our instructor put it simply: the pleasure of ski touring comes from moving under your own steam. I will admit I prefer the view to the effort, but he has a point. It is one of the only winter sports that puts you in truly untouched mountain terrain, with the satisfaction of having earned the view.

Where to try ski touring

More and more French resorts are marking dedicated uphill routes, which makes it easier to start out and avoids collisions with skiers coming down. Ski touring races trace back to military training during the Second World War, and grew into a wider following from the 1990s onward.

Ski shops have kept pace too: skis, boots and skins are available to rent in most resorts.

The summit, silence and the way down

An hour after setting off, we reach the top. The silence is startling, almost disorienting. I step out of my skis, peel off the skins and pack them away, then add a layer, a hat and gloves: everything that felt like too much on the way up is suddenly welcome once we stop. After taking a moment to look at the peaks around us, we are ready for the descent.

And that is when it clicks. Not another skier in sight, and a view that stops you in your tracks. Before we head back to the groomed slopes, our instructor reminds us that this descent is nothing like any other: we earned it. A few minutes later we are back in Plagne Centre. Still catching my breath from the climb, I watch the first skiers queuing for the lifts to open, and feel genuinely proud of what I just did.

Want to try First Tracks?

Ski touring takes a bit of effort, but it hands you a mountain no one else has touched yet that day. Find out more about the First Tracks experience and book your early start in La Plagne.