Hi I'm Heather from Just A Colorado Gal and I'm here today to talk with you about the
clothes you're going to wear for a good ski day, because next to your skis, the clothes
and the gear that you put on is going to be the most important factor to having a good
day.
So starting at the top of your head, the first thing that you're going to want to remember
is your helmet.
Helmets are important for a couple of reasons.
First of all they're going to keep you really warm and keep the heat from escaping your
body, but they're also going to protect your head in case you have any accidents with the
tree or the ground.
Next up you're not going to want to forget goggles, similar to these ones on my head.
And your going to want to remember goggles for a couple of reasons.
First of all they're going to give you eye protection to keep any debris or tree branches
out of your eyes, but they're also going to act as sunglasses for your eyes and they're
going to keep the sun out and keep the glare out of your eyes so they don't get tired.
Next up, and this sounds a little crazy, but you're going to want to remember to wear sunscreen.
Even though it's cold and even cloudy outside, the sun reflects off of the snow a lot and
sunburns from skiing are very very common.
So, make sure to put sunscreen on your face and chapstic for your lips, for the same reason.
Moving on down to your torso area, there's a couple of things that you're going to want
to remember and there's three layers involved.
The first one is what we call your next-to-skin layer, your base layer.
And you have two options here.
It can be a synthetic layer or a merino wool layer, and basically the point of your baselayer
is to wick the sweat away from your body.
Next up on the second layer is going to be an insulating layer, so that can be anything
that's down, or something that's going to keep you warm.
And then finally on the outside you're going to want a shell similar to this one and that's
basically going to keep mother nature out of your clothes and it's going to keep you
dry.
To keep moving downwards, on your legs, you're going to want to wear a pair of baselayers
that are similar to the one up above.
But, basically those are going to be what help keep you warm and help keep the sweat
away from your skin.
And then on the outside you're going to want a pair of snow pants and again these are insulating,
but they're also most importantly going to keep you dry when you're in the snow.
The next thing that you're going to want to pay attention to is the socks that you put
on your feet, because these are kind of important when you're skiing or snowboarding.
You're going to want to make sure that they're probably wool, not only to keep your feet
warm, but also to wick the sweat away so you don't get all clammy and disgusting, and then
additionally ski socks have a lot of padding on the front of your shin that helps prevent
kind of a boot slam so you don't get bruised on the shin.
When you put your ski socks on you're going to want to pull them up as high as you can,
because then you're going to pull your ski boots over the top of them and you're going
to want to make sure that everything is smooth with no wrinkles, because any type of wrinkles
or creases tucked into your ski boots is going to cause a pressure point and after a day
of skiing with tight boots cinched around your shins it's going to make it very uncomfortable.
So not only are you going to want to pull your socks up to prevent that, but some people
like to pull up their base layers, and pull those out of their boots, so that they don't
have extra fabric folding on the inside.
To round out your ski outfit you're going to want to remember to bring mittens or gloves
with you, and a word to the wise, make sure you pull your jacket sleeve over the top of
your mitten, so if you do have a big fall in some snow, that keeps the snow out of your
gloves and obviously your hands will stay warmer longer.
And, that same rule applies down below with your snow pants and your ski boots.
Snow pants these days all have built-in gaiters on the inside, so after you put your boots
on you're going to want to take the gaiter and pull it over the top of your boot, and
then snapping it at the bottom, and then pull your snow pants over that, so that way if
you get into some deep, knee-deep powder maybe, it'll keep the snow out of your boots and
obviously your feet will stay warm and dry.
Finally, you're going to want to remember to bring, some type of neckwear to protect
your face.
Something like a neck gaiter or a buff that you're just going to pull on over your head
and tuck it up under your collar, and then you have that piece of fabric to pull over
your chin and your mouth if it gets really windy or cold.
A couple things on the do not touch list for a day of skiing, first and foremost, don't
wear anything made of cotton.
There's that old expression that cotton kills and while it's a bit extreme there is some
truth to it.
Cotton gets wet and cold very quickly and if you have a layer on that's made of cotton
once it sweats through you're going to freeze all day, so it's a good idea to just not even
bring it with you to the mountain.
Uh, jeans are really uncomfortable to wear and they're cold, so it's probably best to
leave those home as well.
I hope you found these tips helpful, and if you did, give us a thumbs up.
For more ski-related videos, click on one of the links at the end.