Off-Piste Snowboard Lessons

Lift passes are not included in our ski or snowboard lessons.

To access terrain in the backcountry, you will often need to use the lifts to get as high as you can to access terrain further afield. It means that as a group, we can travel further and make the best use of our time.

Yes. We’re proud of our diverse, fun and friendly international team. Boasting some of the best instructors from around the world. Hailing from England to Ecuador, Austria to Australia, and everything in between. All our instructors speak great English. They also have lots of experience teaching in English.
We hand-pick our instructors. They must be incredible at teaching and working with people. They must also love the sport and speak English well.
Every instructor must speak great English. But we can teach in over 20 languages. So, contact us if you’ve a specific request.

Depending on which resort you’re heading to, requirements will vary. Refer to the ski school pages for resort-specific recommendations.
We’re always here to help, so feel free to contact the team if you prefer.

We suggest using all-mountain and powder-focused snowboards which come with bindings having a less negative angle on the back foot, 0 angle, or even a positive angle. For all-mountain or powder riders, a good starting point would be +15 on your front foot, and a slight negative on the back or just straight perpendicular to the board set at 0 degrees.

It is possible to adjust the position of bindings on a snowboard, either towards the nose or the tail. When using a snowboard for off-piste snowboarding, the bindings should be placed further back towards the tail. This is because it allows for a longer nose which can be lifted higher out of the deep snow. This results in the snowboarder “floating” on top of the snow rather than sinking into it.

Unfortunately, if this is the case it’s likely we will have to cancel the course. But we will open the discussion with everyone booked on, as there are always mountain safety scenarios we can practice if the snow conditions are not always favourable.

Children aged 16 and over can join us on our off-piste courses. Please ensure you take a look at our off-piste levels to ensure they are in the right group for their ability.

In our novice and beginner off-piste courses, we will introduce everyone to the equipment and teach everyone how to use it. In every level group, we will do checks to ensure you know how to use the equipment, and if there are any doubts, we’ll go over everything again to be safe.

We’re sorry if you can’t make the lessons you’ve booked. But, if you do not attend, we can’t refund or reschedule. We’re happy to provide a letter for your insurance company in this instance. If you miss a day of a group lesson, it’s fine to come back the next day. But, you may find yourself behind the rest of the group. If it’s appropriate, we may need to move you down a level.

See our terms and conditions here.

Please ensure you have adequate Off-Piste mountain rescue insurance.

We do our best to ensure this doesn’t happen during the booking process. If your instructor feels you’re in the wrong group, we’ll do our best to move you to a more suitable level.

Find your level

This changes by level and course. Please see the breakdown below.

• Off-Piste Courses | 2 – 6 Pupils
• Group Ski Lessons | 2 – 8 Pupils
• Piste Performance Clinics | 2 – 6 Pupils
• Piste Performance Courses | 2 – 6 Pupils
• Ski Touring Courses | 2 – 6 Pupils
• Level 1 and 2 Ski Instructor courses | 2 – 6 Pupils

Yes, the groups can be mixed, but typically our off-piste courses are more popular among skiers. Whether you have skiers or snowboarders in your group will not affect your progression.

Your backpack needs to be big enough to carry the list of items mentioned earlier on this page. Roughly a 20L pack should be large enough and it’s good to look for backpacks that have a ski or snowboard carrying feature. This is particularly useful for any sections where we need to take your snowboard off and hike up a steep pitch to access the off-piste terrain. Ellis Brigham has a good selection.

Yes! We have four off-piste levels, so make sure you take a look at which level you’d be best suited to. We always match our groups based on these off-piste levels.

If you can’t see the availability you’d like online, please contact our team by email or phone (contact information found here).

Unfortunately, we can’t let people join a group for part of a course. Each pupil must be in the programme for the entire week so that everyone progresses at a similar rate.

Our group lessons will always start at our meeting point in each resort. If the group finds a better location for all the guests and the instructor and agrees on it, they may start or end there. But you must discuss that with the group and the instructor since it isn’t guaranteed.