Development Awards

Applications for 2024/25 open on 1st Sept 2024 and close at midnight on 1st November 2024.  

The Development Awards are aimed at helping young skiers and mountaineers to become established in Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering.  The Awards were originally created by legacies (the Georgina Travers Memorial Award and the Janey Reid Memorial Award) which are now supplemented by the club's own funds and donations from members.

Who are the Development Awards for?

A typical candidate will have a love of mountains and wild places which they have developed through winter hill walking and perhaps mountaineering.  They will also be a strong piste skier with some off piste experience.  And they will be seeking to develop the skills and experience needed to safely explore the mountains in winter on skis.  The Development Awards are intended to help these young people to get a solid grounding from which they can grow - whether as a day tourer, hut to hut tourer, ski-mo racer or wilderness expedition skier.  For further information about the skills needed see Introduction to Ski Touring and Tour Grading

Anyone may apply for a Development Award but we do now require successful applicants to become a Club member before they take up the award.  The Club subsidises membership for people under 30 so this is not an onerous commitment!  And membership of the Club enables an Award candidate to take advantage of a huge range of cheap (or free) ski touring training opportunities as well as access to a unique network of ski mountaineers.

What do people spend the Development Awards on?

Most awards enable applicants to improve their Ski Mountaineering capabilities with courses such as - 

• An introductory ski touring or ski mountaineering course in Scotland or the Alps
• An instructional course to improve off-piste skiing technique.
• Essential ski mountaineering safety skills (e.g. Avalanche safety, navigation).

And some Awards have enabled applicants to go on their first club ski tour.

Applicants are encouraged to consult prior yearbooks to get an insight into some sorts of training activities that young members have used in the past - and even to contact the members involved to learn more about the courses, tours etc that they did. 

Criteria

• Applications must be from an individual, not a group. Members of the Eagle Ski Club and non-members are equally eligible.
• Applicants must be aged 35 or under.
• In line with the club's aims, applications will normally only be considered from British citizens or UK residents.
• An applicant would normally only be eligible to receive one award under this scheme, although this restriction could be waived in exceptional circumstances by the Development Awards Sub Committee.
• Applicants must be amateur participants in the sport.

Successful applicants have previously demonstrated - 

• How the Award would help them to pursue their Ski Mountaineering ambitions
• A real passion for the mountains and outdoors.
• Engagement with organisations, clubs or informal groups associated with related sports - ranging from climbing and hill walking clubs to the scouting movement!
• A well thought through choice of course or activity to be supported by the Development Awards - something that will make a real difference to their progress in the sport.

Process

You - 

1. Start in good time - leaving an application until a week before the deadline isn't good for anyone as it doesn't give you much time to arrange your activity, sort out referees and prepare a nice succinct application.  The awards officer is normally busy in the last week helping earlier applicants to finalise details too.
2. Contact the Development Awards Officer to discuss how a Development Award could help you.  We may be able to help you to choose the right course or tour for you.
3. Contact the organiser of the activity (typically a course or a ski tour) that you would like the Award to support.  Check that they will accept you, have space and make a reservation.  Also check that you're OK with their cancellation conditions (particularly important with COVID) and that you have appropriate insurance that suits your circumstances.
4. Complete the Application form in PDF or Word or - including two referees.  
   Referees do not have to be club members or mountaineering professionals - their purpose is to confirm that you - are a real person (not a scam!), have a Ski Touring level that will benefit from your proposed Development Activity (which can be from beginner to extreme) and that you will contribute positively as a member of a group in a mountaineering setting.
5. Submit the Application to the Development Awards Officer  before the closing date - 2359 GMT 1st November.​

We - 

1. Take up references by email and sometimes phone.
2. The Development Awards Committee (selected from the Young Members team and previous Award "winners") review all applications.
3. The committee together creates a prioritised shortlist and agrees levels of award (previous years we've had between 8 and 20 applications - all but a few very late speculative applications were successful with awards ranging from £100 to £400).
4. Notify all applicants of the outcome - typically within 3 weeks of the closing date.

You - 

1. Commit to providing a short article for the Eagle's yearbook describing how you spent your Award and how it has aided your Ski Mountaineering
2. Agree that the Club can use material from your yearbook report in social media such as the Club's facebook page.  We would of course check with you if we deviate from what you have written.
3. Commit to keeping the Club informed when plans change.
4. Finalise the booking of your course or tour if you haven't done that already.
5. Agree that if you are unable to comply with the requirements of the Award or complete the Award activity as planned please contact the Development Awards Officer.  The club will try to be flexible if you need to amend the award within the same ski touring season (e.g. changing a course to a different date). But you must contact the club to get agreement.
6. Have a great time doing your Development course or tour - and then send me a write up with a photo or two that we can use in the our Yearbook, Newsletters and club Facebook.  The report should be brief and informative and really help other members to consider whether the activity or course would be suitable for them.
7. Send the report, activity receipt and your bank details to the club treasurer treasurer@eagleskiclub.org.uk and copy devawards@eagleskiclub.org.uk to arrange payment via BACS.

Important Notes - 

1. In normal circumstances we will not pay the award until we have received a year book report within 4 weeks of you completing the activity.  This is because the majority of applicants forget to do this and need many reminders and a significant minority just don't do it at all.  It's up to you to remember to submit the report and ask for payment.  No report = no payment.
2. Some applicant's financial circumstances (e.g. students, early careers in lower paid roles etc) mean that they really need the award to pay for the course and the club does, of course, want to encourage people from all walks of life.  So, if this is you, please discuss this with the Development Awards Officer before your application.
3. Since COVID we have allowed some members to carry over awards to future years.  This has now stopped.  If for whatever reason you are not able to complete your awarded activity when you applied for it then your award will lapse.  You may of course reapply the following year.