Backcountry Guiding
We provide custom made packages for guided ski & splitboard tours that can extend to include accommodation and transportation planning. Customize your trip by adjusting the amount of dates spent on the greek mountains and its accommodation style.
Duration: If you’re just visiting Greece for some other reason and want to spend a day or two exploring the backcountry or you want to have a dedicated several days-long backcountry trip in Greece we can make it happen. Availability to rent all hard goods equipment through our partners (touring skis, splitboards, avalanche safety gear etc).
Location: Greece is a small country filled up with mountains and mountain villages. Travel distances between them can vary from 1 to 5 hours with the average travel time from mountain to mountain in the 2 hours range. We can plan everything ahead or decide the trip location based on weather and snow conditions and arrange our accommodation options on the go. This will allow us to find the best snow conditions we can with the best possible weather.
Accommodation: This can vary from
- Hospitable and cosy mountain guest houses that offer great amenities. They’re usually located in villages where we can also find traditional taverns/restaurants that will allow us to try local recipes.
- Mountain huts/refuges that are located at higher altitudes, sometimes accessible by car, others by ski/hike. They can either have staff (can be arranged) that will cater for us, or sometimes be self catered (we will need to carry our food and stoves).
- For more advanced tours or ski traverses we can plan on staying in hunter/shepherd huts-shelters or tents.
Transportation: You can use your own vehicle or we can arrange a car or van and do the driving duties.
Guide/guest ratio: Depending on the trip’s objectives the ratio can be 1 guide to 2-5 guests. Two guides will be required on bigger groups or more technicall tours.
Examples of ski/splitboard touring packages
3 days ski/spitboard touring on Mt Parnassos-Mountain hut accommodation
- 3 days guided touring on Mt Parnassos (2457m) backcountry
- 3 nights full board accommodation on Mt Parnassos refuge/hut at 1800m of altitude
- If the snow cover is sufficient we ski in-ski out from the refuge
- Possibility to use the lifts of Mt Parnassos ski resort at the start of every day to reach
the high alpine and the backcountry - Option for some days skiing at the ski resort before or after the touring package
- Side activities: The significant archaeological site of Delphi is only 25minutes away. The picturesque
Galaxidi seafront village for fresh seafood is 1 hour away
7 days ski/splitboard backcountry touring trip on the Greek mountains. Adjusted to
weather and snow conditions
- Aiming to visit 3 to 4 different mountains
- Aiming to tour the most days possible
- Relative flexibility on the schedule based on snow conditions, weather forecast and
accommodation availabilities - Accommodation on guesthouses/hotels and refuges based on availability
- Breakfasts on our accommodations, dinners on taverns/restaurants
- Transportation with cars/vans
Avalanche Education
Courses of the French Avalanche organization ANENA on
- Assessing the avalanche hazard
- Planning your tour
- Mitigating the risk
- Companion Search & Rescue
Set or custom dates and possibility to integrate parts of the course in a multiday guiding package. Duration of the courses can range from 1 to 3 days and ideally be based on a mountain hut or accommodation in the alpine so there’s immediate access to the snow. The courses include theoretical and practical/on the field parts and students should be proficient on using touring skis or splitboards. Please inquire for further details and available dates.
Splitboarding Courses
Private or small group courses on splitboard technique and the associated backcountry knowledge required to efficiently ride the mountains. From beginner levels and topics like the equipment and its proper use to intermediate+ levels on moving efficiently on more difficult conditions and riding and managing more demanding lines. In case the student needs to improve his/her riding technique this can be provided with instruction at the ski resort.
Some of the topics covered:
- Use of Equipment
- The mountain environment and its hazards
- Conditions – Plan – Risk Mitigation
- Uphill techniques
- Safe riding techniques
- Travelling Efficiency
General Information
Ski touring & Splitboarding in Greece
Greece is a country scattered with mountains along its mainland and islands. Pindus mountain range is the main massif that lies along the North to South axis with many mountains available to ski. Other examples of notable mountains are Mt Olympus close to the city of Thessaloniki, Dirfy on the island of Evia or the mountains of Peloponisos.
Limestone is the main type of rock found on them and vegetation can be rich with thick pine forests at higher altitudes or deciduous trees at lower elevations. The highest summit of Greece on Mt Olympus stands at 2918m while many more mountains follow at around 2000m-2500m. Skiing on good snow years can sometimes reach below the altitude of 1000m. It is typical to not find crowds when ski touring as the local touring community is small. From several mountains a sea view from the higher grounds is expected and that can be very special.
Culture and history
During your trip it is easy to include stopovers on places of interest like the great archaeological site of Delphi on Mt Parnassos, the impressive rock towers with Monasteries on top of them in Meteora or the picturesque traditional Zagoria villages on Mt Tymfi. In spring you can even enjoy a sunny seafood lunch on a seafront village. Discovering the mainland of Greece will reveal the less known and more untouched by intense tourism, side of Greece.
Climate and Snow
Greece is surrounded by water so weather systems that can come from different directions can get fuelled by the humidity of the sea around the country. When a front of low temperatures coincides with a new storm, snow will fall on the mountains. Many times not all regions across the country will get affected the same by weather systems, so across the West-East and North-South you can find different snow and weather conditions and thus have a flexibility in planning ski touring outings.
Winters tend to be mild with the occasional winter storms that can bring low temperatures and powder snow all the way till the middle of March. Most of the time though the sun shines and the snow settles fast and well, making the snow on the mountains available to stay present well through the month of May. This can mean a more consolidated snowpack that when timed with aspect correctly will offer great spring ski conditions with top quality and long lasting ‘corn’ snow. Persistent weak layer avalanche problems are not common while loose snow or wind transferred snow related problems can be encountered more often. Icy conditions and it’s associated hazard can also be encountered so boot & ski crampons as well as a ski touring ice axe may be required.
About us
My name is Alex and I’ve been a splitboard and sea kayak guide for several years. In my early twenties I graduated from Uppsala university with a MSc in Ecology and Conservation. From 2009 I’ve lived my winters on Mt Parnassos and in 2014 I’ve founded Sea Kayak Paros through which I’ve guided hundreds of guests to experience sea kayaking. On the mountains I’ve spent my initial years with the aim to snowboard as much as I can and I made my living as a full time certified snowboard instructor. I gradually transitioned to splitboarding, exploring the backcountry on a permanent basis and finally splitboard guiding. I’m drawn to steep riding, touring to new places, finding aesthetic lines, understanding snow science and mitigating the associated risks that come with complex snowpacks.
Certifications and experience:
- Splitboard guide – International Mountain Safety lvl4 (British Association of Snowsport instructors)
- Aspirant Ski mountaineering instructor (on skis) – Hellenic Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing
- Avalanche operations 1 – Canadian Avalanche Association
- Avalanche educator – French organization ANENA
- Touring the greek backcountry and realizing first descents since 2011
- Participation on freeride contests, snowboard – FWQ Mt Parnassos 2020 1st place, FWQ Mt Helmos 2022 4th place, Freeride contest Mt Parnassos 2011 1st place & 2012 2nd place
- Snowboard instructor – BASI 2 & Austrian Snowboarding Federation ‘Anwarter’, Snowboard coach lvl 1 UKCP-BASI
