The Uphill Athlete 8 week Basic Hut to Hut Ski Tour Training Plan is the minimal training we recommend for skiers bound for a moderate multi-day hut trip and or ski traverse like the Wapta traverse in Canada or the Oertler in Italy. For fitter skiers or those with higher aspirations for bigger trips like the Haute Route please consider the Advanced Hut to Hut plan. The Basic plan assumes that you have no strength training background and need to build fitness up to enable multi-hour tours.

This plan is ideal for ski tourers who have never engaged in an organized training program or who have not done so for a long time. It is also meant for those without access to snow on a daily or even weekly basis. It starts at 7 hours/week and builds to 10 hours/ week and includes a lot of vertical elevation gain and loss. While there are options for the use of machines like a stairmaster or steeply inclined treadmills, the ideal training will take place on big hills out doors, preferably skiing at least 1-2 days/week. Many of the mid week workouts will allow you to do dry land training when skiing is not an option.

This plan is based on scientifically sound training principles and a combined thirty years of professional endurance coaching experience and sixty years of world-wide skiing, climbing and mountaineering experience. In order to complete this plan it is important to keep a few concepts in mind: Rest when you are tired. If you miss a workout do not try to make it up. Move on to the next day. If you miss more than two workouts in any given week, then repeat that week.

For those with more time to prepare and higher aspirations, we strongly recommend using our 16 week Ski Mo plan. Following this longer program will give the athlete a chance to utilize a more advanced and effective periodization schedule.

The plan starts with a self-administered Aerobic Threshold assessment test. From this you will establish the training intensity limit for most of the aerobic base training that will dominate your training. This plan also includes a simple, easy-to-apply strength program to develop what is called strength reserve, the ability to repeatedly execute strength-dependent movements such as taking a step while wearing a heavy backpack.

During the last 4 weeks we introduce more intensity into the aerobic workouts in the form of weighted uphill hikes. Do not increase the intensity of the other aerobic workouts and hope to gain more benefits or try to squeeze a 1 hour workout into 30 minutes. There is no short cut when it comes to aerobic adaptation.

Send us your success stories! You might also want to visit our free forum at uphillathlete.com where you will find answers to the most common questions about our training plans. 

Happy Training, 
The Uphill Athlete Team