Any advice on what items to take on a school ski trip?

gingin_2

DigForVictory wrote: »

Leg and back muscle. Check the ski sites & encourage him to do the basics "sitting against the wall" & so on. Start now & aim to build up so that no matter what he's wearing, he's got the muscle (&/or tolerance of pain) to really enjoy skiing!
Half an hour on a dry slope will be enough to get a clue as to where it will hurt - so practice, practice, practice... And have a wonderful time!

Yes I remember my dad having us do that before ski trips as a child, my husband is a fitness fanatic so is already talking about helping him out. He is going to have a few dry runs (literally) in the new year.

Errata

Dare I suggest condoms;)

MissMango08

Someone suggested sunscreen, make sure you get one of those small sticks of sunscreen he can put on his nose and lips they are the things that get burnt easiest.

You need ski sunglasses and ski goggles, sunglasses for when it's sunny, goggles for when it's snowing/thick fog.

Neck warmer, not only to keep warm but allows you to have your jacket undone if it's hot but not get your neck burnt.

If he's bothered about style, maybe let him get a fancy hat or something that's cheap, and then usually schools have a rental place where you rent skis from that they get the jackets and stuff from, that's what I did anyway. It might be worth explaining to him that he needs to accept he has to wear warm ski wear because the instructors wouldn't let them on the slopes without the stuff on for insurance reasons.

Savvy_Sue

I found that it was only marginally more expensive to buy salopettes and ski jacket than to hire it, especially as the ski jacket may be worn afterwards. I got the first set second hand, and the second set came from Aldi or Lidl.

I don't think either of mine who went skiing ever wore long johns, but fleece jog bottoms are much more sensible than jeans.

Going through this myself as DS2 is going dog sledding in March! Some kit provided but he needs thermals, and they're suggesting wool for the base layer. Scratching my head about that atm ... will it wash OK? will it aggravate his eczema? Where do I start looking?

meer53

My daughter went this year. I hired salopettes and goggles. Bought coat gloves etc. I bought thermal t shirts from Go Outdoors and leggings from Primark to wear under her salopettes. None of the kids were allowed to go without a helmet so we hired that too.

School had an open evening where the Ski company came and advised on what to take,wear etc and they sent a check list home a couple of months before the trip. My daughter was more concerned about what she would wear off the slopes !

danandjens_worldtravels

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Some kit provided but he needs thermals, and they're suggesting wool for the base layer. Scratching my head about that atm ... will it wash OK? will it aggravate his eczema? Where do I start looking?

Look for Merino wool base layers. I discovered them last year, wash very very well, soft, naturally anti bacterial (can wear them for days without them being smelly), naturally breathable or as the technicals say 'wick away'. They are not on the cheap side but look on ebay for the following brands -
Icebreaker, Macpac and Kathmandu (there very probably are other but these are the ones I know are nice, personally icebreaker and Macpac are my fave's)

All these companies have stores as well, so you could look on there websites too (but I think they are all NZ or Australia based) they seem to distinguish by weight/thread count, there is a number on their descriptions - 150 is tshirt like, kind of smooth feeling and cool to touch. The larger the number the thicker the garment I'd get some 150..ish t shirts for base layer.

I got given my first icebreaker last year and wore it all winter and summer. It still looks as new and I've bought a few more Merino garments since last year.

mountainofdebt

Lidl apparently have good offers on at the moment

meritaten

well, if he is anything like my son don't bother with more than one set of underwear - I supplied my son with a change for each day and he lived in one set for the whole week! and his favourite jeans and top! everything else came back unworn! lol

sighs - at least I didn't have the washing mountain I was expecting - though I did have to throw out the er, well worn underwear!

sassyblue

Mountain warehouse! We went to lapland for a few days last year and got our base layers, fleeces, gloves, neck warmers and boots there. Most things we're bogof, or half price then an additional 20% off which they do a lot.

As someone said the merino wool base layers are antibacterial so can be used for a couple of days, the hotels tend to be very warm so could DS wash and get dry one pair and wear a second pair?

I got thermal socks from M&S - take plenty of socks, we wore two/three pairs at a time, one thermal, one those cheap fleecy ones - and then a thick looser boot sock - and jogging bottoms from primark. I'd get a davy Crockett type hat with ears too.

And a sunblock/lip balm stick.

Layers are key, if you go for a thermal layer, cotton layer then jumper/fleece you wont be far wrong. But take an extra jumper, it was -25 in lapland last year and one afternoon l had both jumpers and base layers on under my ski suit thing they gave us.

mumps

On a slightly different note, has he got an MP3 player? My DD, not sporty but really wanted to go on the ski trip, said she found it a great comfort if she was feeling a bit low/tired at night.