Ski Touring

Mountain skiing (ski touring or ski mountaineering) combines walking uphill with adhesive fox fur skins attached to your skis, and descending on untouched snow outside marked ski runs. It's the purest form of skiing: no ski lifts, no queues, choosing your own descent line across mountain slopes and gullies. Spain offers excellent terrain for mountain skiing. The Pyrenees (Aragonese and Catalan) have the largest selection of routes and specialist guides, with classics such as the Benasque-Baqueira traverse, the gullies of the Arán Valley, or the corridors of the Montes Malditos. Sierra Nevada provides mountain skiing with Andalusian sunshine and views of the Mediterranean. The Picos de Europa and the Cantabrian Range complete the picture. Experiences range from half-day introductions (learn how to use skins and uphill technique) to multi-day traverses with overnight stays in mountain huts. Qualified mountain guides provide safety in avalanche terrain, knowledge of snowpack conditions, and help select itineraries suited to the group's ability. The main season runs from December to May, with the best powder snow conditions between January and March. Equipment includes touring skis with touring bindings, fox fur skins, backcountry ski boots, avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel (avalanche safety gear).