Confused about clothing!!

Everyone above ahs good advice - also try looking at e bay especially for your child as they grow out of each piece of kit every season. Next do some great ski stuff - remember they have a sale just after x mas and usually have ski stuff in the sale - their gloves I buy new and are only £8 a pair and are very good - Ive also had some good ski stuff from M&S also from e bay and in the sales again just after x mas and had some very good bargains from there - and lastly but not least local papers you might get a bargain in there as well - Think 1 jacket and 1 pair of salopettes each with a tl;east 3 pairs of thermals (long johns and vests - again M&S are very good and reasonable) gloves/mittens each and plenty of good ski socks - M&S again sometimes they do 3 for 2 as well and you can mail order them - a good pair of socks is your most valuable investment as they will provide warmth cmonfort and protection for your shins - also have you thought about dry ski lessons before you go a very worthwhile investment it helps you hit the ground running so to speak once on the snow - I know there is a dry slop in Aldershot but maybe there are others nearer to you. Have fun its great - dont spend too much on your gear first time it has been said you either love it or hate it skiing unfortunately Im hooked enjoy and have fun its great!

:D :D Thanks to everyone for all the great advice. Can't wait to get going now!!!!!
AndyB

AndyB,

Good point made about using the dry slope before you go, but I wouldn't waste my money if I were you on a load of dry slope lessons.

My Wife had been on a skiing holiday from school (checks over shoulder to make sure shes not looking - about 25 years ago), my daughter had been on a dry slope before from school but my son and I had never been, I had never even had a pair of skis on before.

We went to one open family lesson at the Telford dry ski slope, I just wanted to experience having skis on. We just learned how to snow plough, stop and sort of turn.

We had lessons every day when we went skiing (Livigno) and I found my one and only trip to the dry slope sufficient, it was much easier to ski on the real thing. However, my 9 year old son beat me in to second place in the slalom competition on the last day of lessons, pesky kids - but next year, revenge!!!

catford wrote:Good point made about using the dry slope before you go, but I wouldn't waste my money if I were you on a load of dry slope lessons

Dry slopes are more difficult than snow, less forgiving than snow, harder work than snow, a lot slower than snow and an awful lot shorter than on snow.

All of these attributes can greatly improve your skiing if you give it enough time!

One or two lessons will certainly get you ploughing but sticking with a dry slope, in my own experience, teaches you to turn propperly with correct weighting and posture. Mainly because you can't do it any other way. I've spoke to lots of people at our local slope who say 'I'm a good skier but I can't ski on this stuff' - obviously not that good then.

Personally I ski on our local slope twice a week, every week. Probably a bit extreme but well worth it considering how much it has improved my skiing.

The trouble for us is our location- the Isle of Wight!!! It means we have to add ferry fares getting to and from a dry ski slope which all adds extra expense for what will add up to be a fairly pricey holiday anyway. Also, this isn't supposed to be a skiing trip as such. We want to snowshoe, tabogan etc as well. My 10 yr old daughter is desperate to play snowballs and build a snowman having never seen snow. We may have a couple of private lessons just to say we've tried it but not envisaging doing much more skiing than that really.

AndyB wrote:The trouble for us is our location- the Isle of Wight!!! It means we have to add ferry fares getting to and from a dry ski slope which all adds extra expense for what will add up to be a fairly pricey holiday anyway. Also, this isn't supposed to be a skiing trip as such. We want to snowshoe, tabogan etc as well. My 10 yr old daughter is desperate to play snowballs and build a snowman having never seen snow. We may have a couple of private lessons just to say we've tried it but not envisaging doing much more skiing than that really.

You're coming to the right country for that, the rest of Europe don't really take tobogganing seriously but there's some serious runs here. Grindelwald actually has the longest, the Big Pintenfritz which is from the Faulhorn and 12.5km or 15km long (depending where you read it).

If you're going sightseeing and riding up the lifts to places like the Schilthorn or the Jungfrau you should brace yourself for the prices which are eye-watering.

For snow shoeing you can rent the kit of course. The thing to bear in mind is that the shoes will throw bits of snow up onto the calf area and will soak your trousers which will be very unpleasant. If you have gaiters it makes all the difference but they need to be goretex otherwise you sweat so much it doesn't make a difference.

ise wrote:
For snow shoeing you can rent the kit of course. The thing to bear in mind is that the shoes will throw bits of snow up onto the calf area and will soak your trousers which will be very unpleasant.

won't AndyB & family be wearing salopettes for show shoeing? I would but would it look odd, ise?

iLoveSkiing wrote:

ise wrote:
For snow shoeing you can rent the kit of course. The thing to bear in mind is that the shoes will throw bits of snow up onto the calf area and will soak your trousers which will be very unpleasant.

won't AndyB & family be wearing salopettes for show shoeing? I would but would it look odd, ise?

I wouldn't personally, ski trousers are a bit warm for snow shoes for me but it might be that my snow show trips are more vigorous :D

http://snowslider.net/2006/12/30/zinal-cabane-du-petit-mountet/

but you're right, ski trousers are much more practical than ordinary trousers.