This beginners lesson will be run on the Huge Snow Days weekend, so please sign up for that as well to help with organising cars and tent groups.

I strongly recommend people participating in this lesson drive down on friday night and camp at Island Bend so we are there on time for the lesson on saturday morning. The lesson will be run by Wilderness Sports. No booking will be made until there are sufficient numbers (10) and all persons have paid.

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.

The trips will involve leaving Canberra at around 5:30am on a Saturday morning to be able to drive to the snow in time for the lesson to start at 9am. After the lesson finishes the group will either return to Canberra (i.e. a day trip) or, depending on interest and trip leader availability, stay for the Sunday. If you stay for the Sunday you will car camp in a campsite which is below the snowline where it is warmer. On the Sunday you will return to Perisher and play on some of the gentle slopes or one of the easy XC tracks.

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 around a long time in advance of the actual trip so that the club can pay Wilderness Sports in advance.

The lesson cost is NOT refundable 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 I will send you an email and start collecting money.
My preference is to collect cash and provide you with a receipt. You will be able to pay at any time time that I am at a club event (eg XC Skiing Planning Night, Navigation Sessions etc).
3) Once 10 people have paid me they will get the spots on the trip and I will then pay Wilderness Sports thereby confirming the lesson.