Alison Thacker

Alison started skiing aged two and trained as a child and teenager with the Gordon Skiers, representing both Scotland and Great Britain internationally. At 20 she gained the highest level of BASI ski instructor award, at the time one of the younget people to do so. After achieving a First-Class Honours degree in Outdoor Studies at Ambleside, Alison moved to Chamonix where she lived and worked for 15 years as a ski instructor in winter and a walking leader in summer. During this period, she started running popular off-piste ski courses, later founding the specialist ski training and guiding business Off-Piste Performance, as well as a company delivering Duke of Edinburgh training and assessment expeditions for schools. Alison continues to run both businesses successfully from her home in Kingussie, in the Scottish Highlands, where she lives with her husband James, an IFMGA Mountain Guide, and their daughter Abigail.