Ski Performance Course for Mountaineers

“This last 2 weeks I have been over in Chamonix skiing. It has simply been ‘the bees knees’ and is now my new favourite thing! For our first week we spent our mornings on a ski course run by Alison Thacker. This is my second time on the course and I will no doubt be back again next year. The course is off-piste skiing and aimed at people who are just getting in to the off piste, to those who think they already can! It was superb with a very steep learning curve, conditions were good and a great time was had by all.”

Chris Walker 24th December 2009

To ensure Chris’s passion for skiing is still felt on these courses and to assist individuals with similar aspirations to Chris, BASS and Off Piste Performance are offering annually a free place on their ‘Ski Performance Course for Mountaineers’.

This section of the Trust is administered by Alison Thacker in memory of Chris.

The main criteria for selection are:

  • Applicants are to be keen mountaineers/climbers with some ski experience. The main focus is skiing off-piste and ski touring.
  • This must be the first course of this nature that applicants have undertaken.

To apply please complete the application form online at https://www.offpiste.org.uk/application-form/

The closing date for applications is the 31st July each year, and the successful applicant will be chosen by Mr and Mrs Walker.

  • Winter 2010/11 – Free place awarded to Nathan White
  • Winter 2011/12 – Free place awarded to Jon Gupta
  • Winter 2012/13 – Free place awarded to Becky Coles
  • Winter 2013/14 – Free place awarded to Matthew Robinson
  • Winter 2014/15 – Free place awarded to Chris Cowdrey
  • Winter 2015/16 – Free place awarded to Jonny Treston
  • Winter 2016/17 – Free place awarded to Nicola Jackson
  • Winter 2017/18 – Free place awarded to Josh Butler
  • Winter 2018/19 – Free place awarded to Tom Thorne
  • Winter 2019/20 – Free place awarded to Baz Whale
  • Winter 2020/21 – Free place awarded to Phil Stevens
  • Winter 2021/22 – Free place awarded to Ollie Whiting
  • Winter 2022/23 – Free place awarded to Ben Gibson
  • Winter 2023/24 – Free place awarded to Aaron Hodgson

I am emailing to thank you and to please ask you to also pass on my thanks to the other trustees of the Chris Walker Memorial Trust for awarding me the sponsored place on the Ski Performance Course for Mountaineers. Although I have skied a reasonable amount over the last couple of years I have had very little ski instruction so many of the coaching points from Alison were a complete revelation to me! The course really was fantastic and I already feel a lot more confident as well as feeling that I am skiing much more efficiently. I am really looking forward to the rest of the season to put everything into practice and to getting out touring as soon as the conditions allow. I also have my eye on some ski mountaineering further afield from the Alps and now feel ready to ski some of the volcanoes in Chile and Argentina this summer.” Becky Coles