Skiing in the Cold

[Judy1234]

Any tiips from anyone who has skied with children in cold conditions? We've only skied in Europe and it's 25 deg C where we are going next week.

Thermal t.shirts and long johns from Muddy Puddles - absolutely brilliant and double up as PJ's when they get home.

Loads of layers obviously. Dd and I use mittens instead of gloves, often with glove liners inside. We all have a Buff which we wear pulled up onto our heads before hats/hoods go on but the most important thing is to make sure there are absolutely no gaps anywhere, so cuffs are pulled right down, mittens go over the tops etc.

Enjoy!

Xenia - where have you been? Have you decamped totally to that Times On-Line site now?

Also, am sure your kids are a bit older - have I remembered that correctly?

Balaclavas with neoprene face bits, helmets and goggles (so no flesh is exposed) and those heated packs for hands and feet. silk gloves and socks under regular gloves and socks.

Loosen boots on long chair lifts so you can wiggle your toes.

Sweets/choc in pockets for a sugar rush to revieve wailing children!

Lots of hot chocolate stops.

We did this sort of temp a few years ago with a 2, 5 and 6 year old. The little one hated to be outside. The 5 year old did lots of stops in an igloo to warm up. The 6 year old was fine, but slept like a log.

where are you going that is soooo cold??

(hopes its not that cold where we are going)

Whistler where my elder daughter is working. We don't have any of those things yet though, just the usual ski suits we wear in Europe. The twins are 10. I get really cold in Europe so I'm not sure how we're going to manage. My daughter's friend was skiing with her yesterday and the friend has taken herself off to hospital today because she thinks she might have frostbite. It was minus 25 today and was minus 30 the other day.

Have you skied in Austria? Thats where we are off to.
Im not good with the cold so am dreading it a bit
-25 would make me pretty miserable.

I was hoping not to spend any extra money but it looks like 5 of us will need all this stuff. My daughter gets at 25% discount in the resort so I think even given the problems the pound has it will be best to get it there although it will have to be on Christmas day. I don't want us going out before we've got the right clothes.

I don't particularly want to replace our five sets of ski gloves but perhaps it's best to take advice from my daughter and the shop I suppose when we get there.

Use lots of layers - leggings and tights tights etc. Heads can be problematic if your children wear helmets as thick hats wont fit. silk buffs/balaclavas are good in combination with thinish knitted/material hats.

And regular hot chocolate stops for small children.

Decathlon do or used to do silk gloves in childrens sizes that are quite good inside normal ski gloves. Dd gets very cold hands sometimes uses silk gloves, then wooley gloves and then ski mittens.

Agree lots of layers and neckwarmers/masks to shield face and leave as little exposed as possible. You can buy rechargeable heated insoles for skiboots - Tchibo did sell them relatively cheaply a couple of years ago - and instant heat packs for hands/toes. Buy additional stuff locally as that will be the most appropriate for conditions. Plan lots of pitstops for hot drinks(may be trikier in N America where mountain cafes are less evident) and try to ski between 11 and 3 when it is "warmest" taking a late lunch.

Sheesh- is it really that cold???

It can be - we skied Crans Montana one January and Saas Fee one February when it was so absolutely bitter so we curtailed our skiing for the day. A chairlift ride in those conditions can be a very painful experience and even risky for young kids.

It's minus 18 in the resort even and snow is forecast between then and when we go. I found 1 degree C here in London far too cold for me the other week. I can't imagine bing minus 18 or 25. (Or 30 which my daughter had skiing last week)

I was just reminding the children about the Long Winter book by Laura Ingles Wilder I read to them - the extreme cold descriptions in there.
The skiing 11 - 3 might be a good idea actually or even ski 11 - 1 then lunch then small bit of skiing after which is what we've often done anyway except we'd normally start about 9.30 or 10. There is a sauna and spa and inside and outside pools so I think even if it's really cold we'll still have a good time.

I am worried even about a chair lift with small children when it's dangerously cold. thew new lift between the tops of the 2 mountains is enclosed so presumably warm but not sure about the others. It's annoying. Val D;isere were we usually go has loads of lovely snow and won't be cold and Whistler hasn't had much cold and it's perishingly cold. But we will see my daughter and all be together at Christmas.

I hope so and I see the lifts close at 3 so we can't be staying too late anyway. I think there's an outside hot tub at the place we're staying (and apparently my daughter even though she's sharing a room all season is in a lovely rented house with outside hot tub).

I've got inner glove linings but even with those in Europe my hands get cold. I might buy mittens. We'll see when we get to the ski shop I think.

Ah it's marginally warmer minus 18C on the slopes and minus 14 in the village... still very good, though. We don't even have wooly jumpers some of us which shows how warm we keep this house I suppose. Found the boys' cricket jumpers which may be better than nothing with lots of scarves. I don't have a single warm jumper.

Oh, I've been to Whistler. Parents were crazy skiing types.

It's really cold. We used to do silk layers of underwear - top and bottoms, and loads of layers because it's cold going up, but less so, going down. Do bum packs/backbacks so extra layers can be put on/off/

You'll have a great time! Am sooo envious! Have a great time and Happy Christmas

Thank you. It's kind of sad because we're going because my father died this year so there was just about enough spare money to afford it but I@m sure he would be glad and it means all my 5 children are together at Christmas where the older one is working. And, sadly, it's a huge relief not to be in his house which was really like an old people's home with nurses, incontinence pads and worst of all his mind gone like the last few christmases. Good point about the backpacks. We don't normally take them but if they're going to be taking layers off they'll need somewhere to put them. Not sure we've even got any suitable ones of those but I am sure I can dredge one or two up.

We're here now and skied today (Christmas day). It has been like French conditions really which is such a relief. The temperature until we came has been the coldest in 40s years and because of the credit crunch and the cold + no snow (until recently) numbers are down 40% here. Anyway so far so good. Just bought woolier hats (and ski trousers as my son forgot his) and some extra goggles so hope it stays like this.

Oh Xenia, I'm so glad you are still here!

Enjoy the skiing. Not sure about Whistler, but here the temperature is set to increase to above freezing at the weekend.

For skiing in such cold (was about minus 22 last time I skied in the Rockeis), I wear:

Silk thermals
Yoga pants/ fleecey lounge trouser things
Ski Pants/ Bibs

Long sleeved t-shirt
short sleeved tshirt
Fleecey type thin but warm sweather
Ski Jacket
Hat
Gloves
normal socks
Proper socks
Sunglasses

My jacket has zips on the under side of each arm that you can open for some ventilation without needing to strip off!

My daughter who is working here all season has the right gear but she has things like face mask which cost 49 dollars and we can manage with that given there would be the 4 other children and me to buy for. Today it is about minus 1 and has snowed all day. One twin got quite cold during the first run so we had a break for hot drinks. After lunch everyone was warmed but that may just have been because we skied faster down to the village. It's very nice to ski with all five children and not have the hassle of ski classes to get to and set time tables.

It's getting dark here on boxing day and there's a coal effect fire opposite me in this loung area of the room, view of the mountains and snow outside; very peaceful. Being in snow at Christmas is lovely.

Ok, well, what do you have as your base layer?

Could you list what each person is wearing?

I've done a few extreme sports, maybe I could sugesst something.

Hope you are having fun Xenia, we are in the Interior, so not far away. We just stayed inside when it was -25 or so! Although the kids still wanted to sledge at school (and were allowed to). I am so glad that it has started to warm up Might even take the children to our local family resort next week. It's due to go over freezing on Monday Fun to have our first white Christmas!