new skier quesations??

Hi everyone. Im new to the forum, and have a few questions. My girlfriend went snowboarding with me for the first time last season and ended up breaking her wrist. Were going again this upcoming season and this time shes going to take her hand at skiing but needless to say shes nervous. So with that said i was wondering if their is any sort of protective gear that you would recommend for a first time skiier? wrist guards? impact shorts? knee pads or brace of some sort? Being that i dont ski i dont really know what would be beneficial to have and what would be unnecessary. If any of these items or anything else would be helpful to have do you have any recommendations on specifics? Thanks for all your help.

Mickey,

The very best advice I can give you is to make sure your girlfriend is fit, ie has done some pre-skiing physical work out. Just read some discussions on this site.

Then get lessons right away from pro!

Finally, stay on easy beginner slopes!


PS
Please do not take this suggestion as insulting nor negative. English is my 4th. language thus I am very careful not to use incorrect words or poor syntax. Please check your message for clarity, spelling and level of precision.
The only impression I have of you is via the text, if you want others to take the time to "help" you then please take the time to write clear message.

Again please forgive me if this comment "offends "you. That was not my intent. You see I constantly check my sources so that you get the correct message and I use the spell check on this site!
Respectfully,
Pavel

mikey111k , sounds like you want to convince your girlfriend that it will safe to go to the mountain this time. In which case, you are right, learning to ski is a lot less painful than learning to snowboard. There is little chance of a body slam type fall on skis, though falls will happen. As pavelski said, the best protection is a reasonable level of fitness. Beyond that, be conservative in your (her) expectations. Tired people get injured.

As for snowboarding. Learning to snowboard w/o wristguards is a needless risk. Impact shorts make life a lot more comfortable and a helmet is the cheapest insurance you can buy(ski or board). All these protections are even more important when the snow is hard or icey. It's important to remember that you learn faster if you are not frightened to fall ocassionally.


Trencher

I would definately get some wrist guards even if she is skiing because she will obviously be concerned about repeating the injuries.

Here is a UK site that might help

http://www.skimeter.com/ang/flex/eng_flexmeter.php

thanks for all the input. My next question now is since you think wrist guards would be helpful would it be worth getting the level gloves with the biomex integrated guards? I looked at the flexmeter guards and they look like the best thing out there from all my research but im afraid that those will hinder her to much with holding the poles, as would any of the short guards such as the dakines. The biomex system seems to have really good movement and support. is there anybody out there using the biomex gloves? thanks

mikey111k wrote:thanks for all the input. My next question now is since you think wrist guards would be helpful would it be worth getting the level gloves with the biomex integrated guards? I looked at the flexmeter guards and they look like the best thing out there from all my research but im afraid that those will hinder her to much with holding the poles, as would any of the short guards such as the dakines. The biomex system seems to have really good movement and support. is there anybody out there using the biomex gloves? thanks

You're quite right, snowboard wrist guards are basically splints and it wouldn't be possible to correctly hold a ski pole using them. There's a number of exercises and drills instructors use that don't need poles, so she'd be just fine using them for that but as soon as poles were required it would be a problem. I see why the Biomex supports look better but I'm don't think it would change much. I've picked up my boarding gloves, which have supports, and tried to ski with them and it's totally hopeless.

mikey111k wrote:thanks for all the input. My next question now is since you think wrist guards would be helpful would it be worth getting the level gloves with the biomex integrated guards? I looked at the f.........................

Mikey111k, Like all systems I'd stick with separates because you then only need to change one part rather than the whole system if a part is damaged.

Last time I went skiing gripping a pair of skis by their edges each time I got off a gondola or had a short walk eventually resulted in the edges cutting through the outer shell of my left ski glove.

iLoveSkiing wrote:

mikey111k wrote:thanks for all the input. My next question now is since you think wrist guards would be helpful would it be worth getting the level gloves with the biomex integrated guards? I looked at the f.........................

Mikey111k, Like all systems I'd stick with separates because you then only need to change one part rather than the whole system if a part is damaged.

Last time I went skiing gripping a pair of skis by their edges each time I got off a gondola or had a short walk eventually resulted in the edges cutting through the outer shell of my left ski glove.

That might work but there's a problem there as well, the separate wrist guards you can get won't fit inside a "normal" ski glove unless you oversize the glove considerably and then you're going to struggle with the pole again although this time it's a compromise rather than close to impossible.