First Timers and Beginners Ski Lessons are designed for those who have never skied before or who have only done a little bit of skiing. There is no need to have any prior experience or even to have been to the snow before! The aim of these lessons is to give every club member the chance to try cross country skiing and gain the basic skills that you will need on other club trips.

Because everybody on these trips is first time skiers and beginners you will stay on gentle slopes without any pressure to keep up with more experienced skiers. The lessons are with fully qualified instructors from Wilderness Sports who will teach you the basic cross country skills. Having done a lesson all members will be ready for easy club day trips! If you pick up skiing quickly you may be ready for an easy overnight trip after just one lesson! That said, most members will need to follow up the lesson with a day trip (or two) before they have the skills for overnight trips.

These trips may differ slightly depending upon whether your trip leader decides to leave Friday night or early (5:30am) Saturday morning to get to the snow in time for the 9am lesson. Lessons will be from 9am-12noon and after the lesson you will practice the skills on nearby slopes. After the group has had enough you will car camp in a campsite which is below the snowline where it is warmer. In the morning you will either return for another 9am-12noon lesson and skills practice before returning to Canberra.

What is Cross Country (XC) Skiing?

XC skiing is a popular winter sport. There are different styles of XC skiing and the club uses NNN-BC and Telemark equipment which is ideal for backcountry tours but is not designed for skating on prepared trails. This means that the ANUMC equipment allows you to ski pretty much anywhere that there is snow! The versatility of the ANUMC equipment means that club members go on ski trips for a range of reasons ranging from simply doing a “bushwalk on skis” to backcountry downhill where they find a steep slope to challenge themselves.

Signup & Payment:

Your place on this trip can only be confirmed once the ANUMC has paid Wilderness Sports for the lessons. Therefore you need to pay for your lesson a long time in advance of the actual trip so that the club can pay Wilderness Sports in advance.

The lesson fee is NOT refundable (unless the whole lesson is cancelled) but is transferable so you could give your place to another member and get them to give you the money. Given the high demand for club ski trips, if you were to give sufficient notice there is a very good chance that you would get somebody to replace you.

This is how the signup & payment process will work:

1) You sign up to the trip electronically using the ANUMC website.
2) Once there are enough members to fill the lesson the XC Ski Officer will send you an email and start collecting money.
3) Once 10 people have paid they will get the spots on the trip and the XC Ski Officer will then pay Wilderness Sports thereby confirming the lesson.

Places on this trip go to the first people to pay even if they somebody signs up and pays on the same day they get priority over the person who signed up months in advance but was late paying.

Costs:

$10 to hire all gear except clothing from the ANUMC.
~$40-60 for share of car costs to the snow. Please note that car costs for snow trips are greater than any other club trips due to the need to pay entry to Kosciosko National Park ($27.5 per car per day) and hire snow chains.
Lessons $50-$80 depending on if you are a student and whether you pay early or not.