Whilst skiing...

[Wuxiapian]

... how hot do you actually become?

I'm a soon-to-be-novice skier and have no idea what to buy clotheswise.

I do naturally sweat very easily and there's talk of wicking/thermals/layers. It's all so confusing.

Can anyone advise?

Much thanks in anticipation.

tbh you'll never get the ideal clothing/amount of layers - because ski-ing involves different activities. there's actually ski-ing - exerting ourself but with the air zipping past/through you; then there's sitting totally still on a chair lift; then there's lugging your skis around - out of the boot room or onto cable cars. on the same day - ie with constant weather - you can go from freezing to sweating. As I keep telling dds it's just a small amount of discomfort that you have to put up with.

having said that...assuming you aren;t going in April I find a vest or t-shirt; a long-sleeved t-shirt and a good ski-jacket is about right. or a crap ski-jacket (I made a duff buy) plus a fleece.

In jan and feb thermals do come in handy

Not very if you are a novice unless it is end of season and very warm - lots of waitng around and falling in the snow. Wear 2 cotton layers, a good jacket and have a fleece available for colder snaps and early morings, end of season you may get away with one cototn top .

lizs makes a good point about there being more standing around as a novice. maybe add a fleece/sweatshirt to what I said.

but do be warned that getting ready and carrying skis and poles around can get you hot and flustered - esp when you're not used to it all.

If you get hot you can always open your jacket, but as others have said you need to wrap up again on the ski lift.
We always use pure silk thermals as we have sensitive skin, and they don't seem to get too sweaty.

I strongly recommend jackets with arm-pit zips (I'm sure they have a better name than that but that's what I call them). They are really good for when you get warm - you unzip and get cool air inside your whole jacket

Agree that if you're learning you'll spend a lot of time standing still and falling over. On the other hand, the better you get, the higher the length of time you spend on lifts in relation to time spent skiing, so perhaps it evens out. I had a couple of lessons this year and my instructor was wearing 6 layers...think it depends on the person to a large extent.

I always wear a thin thermal layer, then a thin (but warm) fleece, then a ski jacket as a minimum. That's usually fine (though have never done April skiing). If colder, I'll add extra layers - another long sleeved t-shirt or long johns. dh has some stuff from here and swears by it - apparently you can wear the merino next to your skin for a week and it won't smell .

Expect to get it wrong for the first couple of days. But thermals are pretty crucial, I'd have thought - you can get ones that look just like long sleeved t-shirts. And thin layers - are you skiing with someone else you could persuade to take a rucksack so you could stuff things in if you need to?

I am not the fastest skier (have just completed my Level 1 Adults with ESF ) and I wear thermal leggings and a merino long sleeve base layer, a mid-layer (again Merino but have also used a regular hoody); fleece and jacket (but I tend to buy jackets which are not padded but more like a goretex shell). When I got too hot, I either open the pit zips on my jacket or left my fleece layer unzipped.

As everyone else has said, it depends largely on how active you are and trial and error. Our ski group was not full of power-skiers but we skied for pretty much 3 hours solid every day in classes and I switched to much lighter layers by day 3.

it also depends on where you are going - where we ski in canada the temps can get quite parky (on our honeymoon we headed up the hill at -24 when the locals were laughing at us - mad brits - they were handing out hoc chocolate at the gondola station )

the first few lessons you'll be standing around loads, so make sure you are comfy and warm - as you get a bit braver (or the panic sets in lol) you can shed layers.

don't wear so many socks that you can't wiggle your toes - you need to be able to keep the circulation moving and rental ski boots are, erm, something to get used to... don't forget to dry them out thoroughly and air overnight so you have dry warm feet the next day. nothing makes me feel colder than chilly toes lol.

i wear a thin wicking layer, a microfleece roll neck, and a decent jacket. i also always wear thermal leggings under my salopettes. make sure you have something you can pull over your nose on the chairlift (fleecy neck tube or similar) and think about hands - i wear thin liner gloves and mitts as that's warmer, but if it is really warm i lose the mitts or just wear fleecy gloves. it's the extremities i tend to focus on! stay flexible lol.

If skiing in spring take a baseball cap or similar to protect your head - I burnt my parting one April because had taken off wooly hat as hot and had a sore head for days!

helprelocating - better still, wear a helmet!

Some reports of nasty accidents in the news this season, if you are involved in a bad collision, sunburn will be the least of your worries!

Agree with hatwoman about the zips on the armpits. I also have trousers that have zips down the thighs that you can open, they are lined with meshy fabric so it's not like having big open bits IWSWIM? Mine are Nike All Conditions Weather Gear.