Off Piste Performance offer a free place on their Ski Performance for Mountaineers course in memory of Chris Walker
"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 Culshaw. 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
Chris Walker’s life was tragically cut short when he was killed in an avalanche in Glen Coe in February 2010. Chris was a personal friend of Alison's and also a regular client to BASS Chamonix. He had aspirations to become a Mountain Guide but he knew at some point he was going to have to get to grips with skiing if this was going to come true. It quickly became clear that learning to ski was not just about the guide’s scheme – he had discovered a new sport which he undertook with the upmost passion and enthusiasm. This free place will hopefully ensure his passion for skiing is still felt on these courses and to assist individuals with similar aspirations to Chris.
The criteria for selection is as follows:-
- You are a keen mountaineer/climber with some ski experience. Your main focus is skiing off-piste and ski touring.
- You intend to benefit as a result of increased knowledge and ski ability so that you can enhance your own personal ski experiences.
- This will be the first course like this you have undertaken – you have had little input into your ski technique before from a ski instructor.
Click to fill in an application for 2024/25 online.
Click here to see the courses dates.
The closing date for 2024/25 applications is 31st July 2025.
Previous Recipients
- Winter 2010/11 Nathan White
- Winter 2011/12 Jon Gupta
- Winter 2012/13 Becky Coles
- Winter 2013/14 Matthew Robinson
- Winter 2014/15 Chris Cowdrey
- Winter 2015/16 Jonny Treston
- Winter 2016/17 Nicola Jackson
- Winter 2017/18 Josh Butler
- Winter 2018/19 Tom Thorne
- Winter 2019/20 Baz Whale
- Winter 2020/21 Phil Stevens
- Winter 21/22 Ollie Whiting
- Winter 22/23 Ben Gibson
- Winter 23/24 Aaron Hodgson
- Winter 24/25 Alex Rhodes
"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
"I was on the Dec 09 course with Chris Walker, he was such a lovely guy ... fantastic to see so much done in his memory" Rosie Ellis
Chris Walker Trust
This grant is part of the much wider reaching Chris Walker Trust, which provide funding on an annual basis for CPD in avalanche awareness in Scotland to British Mountain Guides and members of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors. You can read more about the trust here.