Leadership Courses

Pre-requisite Skills: Prior attendance at one of the Basic Skiing Skills (XC Introductory) days or demonstrable on-snow experience are necessary to attend any ski-tour Leader training course.

Remaining Current: Ski Touring Leaders are required to keep a log of touring trips for re-accreditation every three years and must continue to be active in ski-touring to remain current and be re-accredited at the level of competence trained and/or qualified for.

Level 1 – Ski Touring Leader (Basic) Course cost: $25

One day on-snow training and assessment - designed to cover ski touring practice and group management, over and above simple skiing techniques. This level of Leader Qualification can be undertaken in two ways.

• Attendance at a start-of-season scheduled training day as a group skills-building exercise - focusing on planning of on-snow activities, ski and snowshoe-based mobility, group-management on-snow and risk management.

Individuals attending the training day are required to bring or hire their own skis/stocks/boots, to travel to the location and cover any resort entry charges and trail-head fees. Bring everything you would need for a day in the snow, including hat, sunnies, sunblock, spare gloves, water, high-energy nibbles and your lunch too.

• Attending as a Leader and demonstrating the required skill levels on a XC Intro training day, on ski trips arranged as part of your own Scout or Venturer programs, or at the IGLUTE Introduction to Snow camping weekend in early August.

Level 2 – Ski Touring Leader (Intermediate) scheduled in consultation with candidates. Course cost: $50

Two consecutive days training on-snow with snow-camping, scheduled as ski-tours consisting of youth members led by the trainee Leader, accompanied by one or more State Ski touring Team members. These training and assessment weekends will be scheduled in consultation with individual Leaders who express interest in gaining a Level 2 qualification.

Alternatively, adult members who display the necessary skills in the course of scheduled on-snow activities can be invited to apply for a Ski Tour Leader qualification, subject to providing evidence of suitable experience.

Level 3 – Ski Touring Leader (Advanced) Scheduled in consultation with candidates.

Course cost: $50

To obtain the Level 3 qualification, extensive experience in a variety of snow country and conditions is required, assessed via a log of trips undertaken plus an observed assessment of ski touring and snow craft skills over several ski trips.

The Intermediate and Advanced Practical Weekends are conducted as ski-tour trips led by the Ski-tour Leader being assessed, accompanied by one or more State Ski Touring Team members and enable an assessment of the Leader’s ability to help their youth members to learn skiing and snow craft, and manage a group of youth on a ski tour with differing degrees of experience and difficulty of terrain.

NOTE: We may ultimately need to vary dates depending on demand, prevailing snow situation or weather conditions.

As we can only accommodate Groups able to provide their own transport and accompanying Leaders/adult helpers, Leaders or their delegates should express their Group’s intention to attend by filling out an application form and emailing it to state.skitouring@scoutsvictoria.com.au, you can find the application form on the Ski Touring page of our website.

A registration link for the event will be forwarded to the organising Leader to pass through to the youth members planning to attend, to enable them to register individually.

Costs of Introductory Skiing Skills Training Days: $15 per youth participant as cost recovery for our team member’s attendance. Scouting groups attending any of the skiing skills development days will need to:

• These skills days are designed to teach basic skiing technique and staying comfortable/safe on-snow.
• Bring everything you would need for a day in the snow: including hat, sunnies, sunblock, spare gloves, water, high-energy snacks and your lunch too.
• Hire your skis, boots and stocks or snowshoes en route to or at the training location (usually $30-40pp per day).
• Come as a self-contained group in your own vehicle and snow chains – we do not provide transport for individuals.
• Pay the resort-entry fees (around $55 per vehicle) at the resort entry gate. Free entry is available at St. Gwinear on the East side of Baw Plateau - or at JB Plain or Paw Plain between Mt Hotham and Dinner Plain resort.