How did every-one start skiing?

Hi Jenny,

My husband also has type 1 diabetes (has had it since he was 3, now 31.) Generally he managed to do blood tests when we stopped for coffee/lunch so didn’t have a problem with the temperature, although if he started to feel low on sugar then he tended to err on the side of caution and eat something just in case (even without the blood test). We found cereal bars to be very good to carry with us, as probably a bit slower releasing on the carbs and less likely to melt if they are next to a warm body.


One other thing to bear in mind is the fact that skiing is quite strenuous exercise (even if your husband is fit) so you may find that he is 'burning off a lot more sugar' and may need to compensate accordingly. My OH is on two injections a day (75:25 long vs short acting insulin) and he decided to approximately halve the amount he was taking. He never once had a hypo on the slopes (which he was worried about), though his sugars did run a lot higher than they should have been for the entire holiday (which also isn’t good, especially as he normally has very good control - we need a better plan for next time.) I guess it should be a lot easier to manage with 4 injections as you have much more flexibility (more injections didn't work for OH and neither did an insulin pump, but that's another story.)

Obviously this is only what worked for him and I’m not a doctor (or qualified to give advice) so it may be worth an e-mail or phone call to his specialist to see if they have any specific advice or I seem to remember a website for diabetics in sport – I’ll see if I can find out the address for you.

Good luck and I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time :D

Lynn

Back to the original question, skiing was something that I’d always wanted to learn to do, even when I was a child, but sadly my Mum is terrified of heights and wouldn’t go, so we had summer family holidays instead.

I was a bit annoyed when two years after I’d left home my mum and step dad decided to give it a try with my little brother who was then 5. As myself and my (now) husband had just bought our first house, we couldn’t afford a long weekend break, let alone a ski trip so it was something that I had to put to the back of my mind. They went somewhere in Austria (still haven’t managed to find out where as neither of them can remember) but apparently it was a beginners resort and you went up the mountain in a gondola (so from hundreds of ski resorts, that really narrows it down… :roll:

Anyway, my step dad had a fantastic time (and won the ski school race, of which he is very proud) but after a day and a half, my little brother decided that he didn’t like ski school and refused to go back. Mum only managed to learn to stop and then spent the rest of the week stuck in a chalet playing snakes and ladders or supervising him on a sledge so understandably it wasn’t one of her better holidays (if it had been me, I would have insisted he give it another go, but then I’m just a mean older sister!!) :twisted:
It also turned out that he had just been bored as he put his skis back on on the last day and skied with no problems and no assistance at all. :roll:

Anyway, a couple of years ago myself and my husband decided we were going to take the plunge and give it a try, particularly as he had always wanted to learn to ski too.
We booked an hours lesson at the local dry slope and were both hooked. We immediately booked our first trip (to Sauze D’Oulx in Jan 2008) and had an amazing time, so much so that we splashed out and bought our own skis and boots last summer. We spent another 12 months looking forward to our next trip, back to Sauze in January this year, this time for a fortnight and this proved what we already knew that skiing was something we both loved and wanted to do as much as possible. We looked into another trip this season, but decided that it wasn’t possible due to lack of holidays and funds. Next year, we would love to do at least two trips but it depends on finances as I need to find a job to pay for my ski habit, which I’m in the process of looking for at the minute (if anyone would like to employ a research chemist with a ski addiction, please drop me a message!!) :D

I’d also like to convince my Mum to give skiing another go as I’m sure she would enjoy it if she gave it another try. She is worried that the rest of us would be better than her and she would be left on her own, which I’ve assured her wouldn’t be the case, but so far I’m failing dismally. My step dad and brother would both love to go back, but won’t go without her. If I win the lottery, I’ll pay for then all to go, then she can’t argue!! :lol:

RoseR wrote:Was it passed on by skiing parents/friends. Was it something you always wanted?

No-one in my family had ever skiied before me. When I was 17 I decided I wanted to go travelling and got as far as the Lake District. My mum suggested (to get the 'bug' out of my system) that I do a ski season, I first put on a pair of skis at the age of 18 in Tignes and spent my first season in Chamonix. And my second season was also in Chamonix. Many years later I did another 4 seasons. Finally got the bug out of my system 10 years ago and have been enjoying my annual ski trips ever since.

One week is just never long enough :roll:

I got divorced and started seeing my girlfriend who said ever thought about skiing (never had ) we booked to go to arinsal in andorra and loved it aching mussles and all that goes with skiing the first time, been every year since.

woodski wrote: I got divorced and started seeing my girlfriend who said ever thought about skiing (never had ) we booked to go to arinsal in andorra and loved it aching mussles and all that goes with skiing the first time, been every year since.

Just so long as your winkles didn't ache............ :twisted:

Eljay wrote:

woodski wrote: I got divorced and started seeing my girlfriend who said ever thought about skiing (never had ) we booked to go to arinsal in andorra and loved it aching mussles and all that goes with skiing the first time, been every year since.

Just so long as your winkles didn't ache............ :twisted:

Some of us don't do wrinkles :mrgreen:

twas my attempt at humour. "Mussels and winkles" :lol: :lol:

Eljay wrote:twas my attempt at humour. "Mussels and winkles" :lol: :lol:

Practice makes purrrfect