Confused about clothing!!

:?: Can someone help us. We have just booked our first family holiday in the snow!!! We are mum, dad and our 10 yr old daughter who has never seen snow. We live on the Isle of Wight and have mild winters here. Anyway, we are off to Grindelwald next Feb. we chose Grindelwald because there seems lots to do for non skiers. ie toboganning, snow shoeing etc. We need some advise about what clothing we will need. All the info I can find relates to skiers/boarders. For instance what sort of shoes/boots should we be taking for general mucking about in the snow. Will waterproof walking boots be ok or do we need snow boots/moon boots. Should we worry about not wearing cotton base layers etc as advised by one web site I've looked at due to the effects of perspiration etc. Whilst we will obviously be on the same snow and in the same climate we won't be working as physically hard as a down hill skier. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks AndyB :?:

Hi Andy, welcome!

As far as clothing goes I'll assume that you're buying / hiring ski jackets/salopettes trousers. Obviously gloves are of vital importance and not worth skimping on when it comes to cost although they don't have to cost the earth, I bought my pair from an ebayer who sells winter gear and they have been excellent but only cost £25. Any decent pair of walking / hiking boots should be fine, as long as they have decent soles as you'll be surprised by the amount of injuries caused 'off-piste' as it were. Finally, if you don't want to go to all the expense of base layers and wicking materials etc etc that's fine. Our friends came with us skiing 2 years ago not sure if they would like it and wore multiple long sleeve t-shirt combinations and had no issues. I have to advise getting some thermals though, first thing in the morning out of the sun at -20 can be VERY cold and whilst you'll survive!! You would be more comfortable with than without. It can be expensive, something like Helly hansen base layers clock in at £20 a top and similar for bottoms, quite pricey with a family. If you don't want to spend a fortune head along to your local Matalan (which I'm guessing would be Southampton/Portsmouth) where tops / bottoms cost approx £5-6 each.

Oh, don't forget the hats either, very important to have a beanie to keep the ears toasty :P Hope that helps somewhat.

Thanks for the info and yes it does help. There is so much info out there, a lot of it conflicting! We want to be safe and warm and dry but obviously don't want the expense of buying stuff we really don't need to worry about. We are family holiday makers and prabably wouldn't benefit from spending a fortune on having top of the range gear. Thanks again. :-)

Invest in good wool mix socks and gloves that do not leave a gap at the wrist. Thermal inner soles in boots will help.

Trencher

If you don't want to spend a fortune head along to your local Matalan

Let's not forget TK Maxx!

They always surprise me the amount of quite decent ski gear they have. Especially as we head into Autumn. Last year we picked up 4 pairs of top of the line Salomon technical ski socks for about 8 quid a pair and a Helly Hansen Ski jacket for £80.

Hi Andy

Have you used the mail order company www.tchibo.co.uk? They do all sorts of stuff, but have fantastic ski wear in their catalogue which should appear in a couple of months or so. It is really good quality & very reasonable. Most of the gear my family has is from them & we've all been really pleased with it.

My hubby & I just travel in walking boots which we use around the resort & my son (9) wears Decathlon snow boots which are brilliant (easy on & off) & not at all expensive. They do a wide range of ski wear too but the nearest one to you is probably Lakeside - not that near! As Ellistine has said - there's often some great stuff in TK Maxx.

I only take one pair of gloves & wear glove liners in them for extra warmth (approx £5 from Decathlon) - they also stop them smelling & can be washed every couple of days if necessary. For little ones, they make getting gloves on & off easier too. I do take spare gloves for my son because he always get them wet throwing snowballs, playing with icicles etc & wet gloves don't keep hands warm! Fleece "snoods" are good too - much easier than a scarf & good for filling the gaps on little ones between their jackets & ski helmet.

Good luck & happy shopping (if there is such a thing) :?

Hi

Hubby and I went skiing for the first time a couple of years ago. I got my ski jacket from TK Maxx (also great for horse riding!) and my salopettes from Mountain Warehouse. He got his first ski gear from there also but this year got salopettes in TK Maxx and an Animal ski jacket which he wears everywhere in the winter. We also got base layers from Mountain Warehouse and they weren't expensive. I'm quite small so was able to buy kids sizes and they were really good value. I have Peter Storm walking boots that I got from Millets (kids size again) and these are perfectly fine and warm for walking around the resort in the evenings. Think my hubby's boots are Timberland. Also v. good for tobogganing!! This Jan though there wasn't a lot of snow in the resort and I found I wore trainers for most of the time. It was also warm enough to ski in t-shirts this year in Austria but I also take thin polo neck tops, long sleeved t-shirts and a couple of micro fleeces because you never know. If you find you get too warm in the morning you can remove a layer at lunchtime anyway between ski school lessons. Also take a scarf or neck warmer because our first year the nursery slopes were about -15. A woolly jumper is also useful for the evenings for walking around, sleigh riding or tobogganing.

Hope this helps!! :)

Hi Andy,

We went for the first time in 2007, me, wife and 2 kids 14 (G) & 9 (B).

We got most of our ski stuff from T K Maxx, my wife got hers from Aldi, they do decent ski wear (range is a little limited) but you need to be quick when it comes out. I tended to wear my ski-jacket with a running tee-shirt underneath most days plus a micro fleece if it was cold.

We took walking boots to wear when not skiing but trainers would have been OK since the roads where we stayed were kept clear.

If you have one near you Decathlon is very good for cheap fleeces and tee-shirts, they also do a wide range of ski clothing.

My experience was that in general people clearly had the same ski gear for years and kept wearing it year after year, I didn't get the impression of there being any designer snobs.

A neck warmer is also a good idea. We all preferred to ski in goggles