First time skiing, what to buy and where to go....
Discussion
Hi
I am working in Bratislava for a year and so thought it would be a great opportunity to learn to ski as i'm so close to Austria etc.
Thing is, what equipment do I have to buy and what is best rented?
Note as i have never done it before, and i'm not sure if we will do it again, I want to buy the minimum of equipment i can get away with.
Also, anyone got recommendations for the best beginners resort near Bratislava?
Thanks
I am working in Bratislava for a year and so thought it would be a great opportunity to learn to ski as i'm so close to Austria etc.
Thing is, what equipment do I have to buy and what is best rented?
Note as i have never done it before, and i'm not sure if we will do it again, I want to buy the minimum of equipment i can get away with.
Also, anyone got recommendations for the best beginners resort near Bratislava?
Thanks
I love my ski kit, and buy pretty good stuff. I go about 4 times a year.
However, being a complete queen about your kit (like me) is not necessary.
Stuff to spend good money on:
- Goggles. Get Oakleys with an Iridium lense (not Fire, though - Gold or Blue best for skiing I find). Seriously. Cheap goggles scratch, mist and won't last a few impacts. Safer to ski in than sunglasses, as less likely to puncture your face if you fall on them (never ski in metal/glass sunglasses, by the way). If you get ones with decent lenses, you won't need sunglasses - hence Oakley Iridiums, preferably polarised. A spare persimmon/yellow lense is cheap and useful for low light skiing conditions. I have had Spy and Bolle goggles before - waste of time.
- ski boots. If you are going to ski a lot, get your own, and have the inners moulded to your feet. Seriously worth it - rented boots are hell, and will hurt a lot more.
- Gloves. They will get wet, and they will take a beating. Either buy a good pair, or buy cheap pairs if you must but get some decent thermal inner gloves. Have a cheap pair for apres ski etc, as yours will be drying on the radiator after you get in from a day on the slopes.
- Helmet. Get one. I had a head injury last year as I never wore one. I was lucky to walk away from it, to be honest. I now will never go out without one again. Mine is by Bern, and is basically one of their BMX/Jump mountain bike helmets with a clip in ear warmer for keeping you warm in the snow. Brilliantly, it thus doubles as an excellent winter helmet for my commute into work on my mountain bike. If you cycle, one of their products is worth it as it's a good all purpose lid.
Stuff to not bother about too much
- all other ski clothes. The expensive stuff is awesome, yes. But as a beginner, you simply won't get the benefits of a £500 Spyder jacket. a £100 Trespass from TK Maxx will do all you need it to do. In fact, I wuld buy a shell jacket (i.e. one that is just water/windproof and not itself insulated warm) and buy thermals and a good (Columbia Titanium for example) soft shell jacket to wear underneath. The latter will be useful for all sorts of other activities, and means you're not just spending money on ski stuff.
People will tell you that ski clothes are immensely important. They are not. As long as they are warm and waterproof, they will be fine as a beginner. Very expensive stuff for monster off piste (i.e. constantly wet, constantly covered in powder) is simply not necessary for piste skiing. When I started, I had a pair of £40 trousers and an £80 Trespass jacket (from TK Maxx). They lasted 5 years, and I only changed them because I wanted to look good, rather than because they were knackered.
Try to buy stuff with lots of pockets though - means you won't have to carry a backpack, which is good (especially on chair lifts). Everything I need for a day on piste fits into my jacket and the combat pockets of my trousers, including water and hip flask full of brandy.
Now I wear an expensive Dainese jacket and DC board trousers, mainly because I am a poseur. They look great, but I have to say perform no better on piste than my old Trespass stuff. And just because stuff is cheaper, doesn't mean it looks bad. There are plenty of jackets for around £130 that look pretty good, by people like O'Neill.
Hope that helps.
However, being a complete queen about your kit (like me) is not necessary.
Stuff to spend good money on:
- Goggles. Get Oakleys with an Iridium lense (not Fire, though - Gold or Blue best for skiing I find). Seriously. Cheap goggles scratch, mist and won't last a few impacts. Safer to ski in than sunglasses, as less likely to puncture your face if you fall on them (never ski in metal/glass sunglasses, by the way). If you get ones with decent lenses, you won't need sunglasses - hence Oakley Iridiums, preferably polarised. A spare persimmon/yellow lense is cheap and useful for low light skiing conditions. I have had Spy and Bolle goggles before - waste of time.
- ski boots. If you are going to ski a lot, get your own, and have the inners moulded to your feet. Seriously worth it - rented boots are hell, and will hurt a lot more.
- Gloves. They will get wet, and they will take a beating. Either buy a good pair, or buy cheap pairs if you must but get some decent thermal inner gloves. Have a cheap pair for apres ski etc, as yours will be drying on the radiator after you get in from a day on the slopes.
- Helmet. Get one. I had a head injury last year as I never wore one. I was lucky to walk away from it, to be honest. I now will never go out without one again. Mine is by Bern, and is basically one of their BMX/Jump mountain bike helmets with a clip in ear warmer for keeping you warm in the snow. Brilliantly, it thus doubles as an excellent winter helmet for my commute into work on my mountain bike. If you cycle, one of their products is worth it as it's a good all purpose lid.
Stuff to not bother about too much
- all other ski clothes. The expensive stuff is awesome, yes. But as a beginner, you simply won't get the benefits of a £500 Spyder jacket. a £100 Trespass from TK Maxx will do all you need it to do. In fact, I wuld buy a shell jacket (i.e. one that is just water/windproof and not itself insulated warm) and buy thermals and a good (Columbia Titanium for example) soft shell jacket to wear underneath. The latter will be useful for all sorts of other activities, and means you're not just spending money on ski stuff.
People will tell you that ski clothes are immensely important. They are not. As long as they are warm and waterproof, they will be fine as a beginner. Very expensive stuff for monster off piste (i.e. constantly wet, constantly covered in powder) is simply not necessary for piste skiing. When I started, I had a pair of £40 trousers and an £80 Trespass jacket (from TK Maxx). They lasted 5 years, and I only changed them because I wanted to look good, rather than because they were knackered.
Try to buy stuff with lots of pockets though - means you won't have to carry a backpack, which is good (especially on chair lifts). Everything I need for a day on piste fits into my jacket and the combat pockets of my trousers, including water and hip flask full of brandy.
Now I wear an expensive Dainese jacket and DC board trousers, mainly because I am a poseur. They look great, but I have to say perform no better on piste than my old Trespass stuff. And just because stuff is cheaper, doesn't mean it looks bad. There are plenty of jackets for around £130 that look pretty good, by people like O'Neill.
Hope that helps.
Edited by Harry Flashman on Thursday 25th November 12:59
sleep envy said:
all good points but make sure you buy breathable clothing - as a beginner you'll be working far harder and there's nothing worse than getting really sweaty coming down a piste and then freezing on the lift back up
He's absolutely right. Clothing MUST be breathable, and have vents that can be opened (oterwear, anyway). Otherwise you'll be your own personal sauna all day - skiing is surprisingly hot work.Good post! Agree with Lamp on all but the boozing. Get stuck in. Plenty of water, a banana and the first run will sort you right out.
Although if a beginner, probably not the best plan to ski with a hangover as you'll need to be taking in your tuition etc. No option for a fast long first run to clear the alcohol gremlins...
Although if a beginner, probably not the best plan to ski with a hangover as you'll need to be taking in your tuition etc. No option for a fast long first run to clear the alcohol gremlins...
Some good advice here.....breathable or vents are definitely a must. I have a Gore Tex jacket but still have to use vents every especially come Spring. Layering is definitely the way forward, a shell jacket and a base layer and a fleece/soft shell jacket will definitely deal with most things. Good gloves are worth there weight in gold....some come with inners which you should buy if they don't. Also if you see any without leather that's better as obvously leather when it gets wet has zero thermal insulation. Oh yeah one of those fleece things that go round your neck and you pull up over your chin is a life saver when it's really cold.
The other thing I would recommend is a small back pack with a camelback so you can keep hydrated easily. You can also keep a spare layer, sandwich, chocolate, hat bar etc in it.
Goggles and sunglasses too....make sure you get some goggles that work well in flat light and then some suglasses for when the sun comes out. I actually have two pairs of goggles and some sunglasses that I carry....but I am a geek about that stuff.
The other thing I would recommend is a small back pack with a camelback so you can keep hydrated easily. You can also keep a spare layer, sandwich, chocolate, hat bar etc in it.
Goggles and sunglasses too....make sure you get some goggles that work well in flat light and then some suglasses for when the sun comes out. I actually have two pairs of goggles and some sunglasses that I carry....but I am a geek about that stuff.
Thanks for all the replies, will do some googling and see how much this latest idea is going to cost me!!
Any thoughts on location given I'm in Bratislava?
Looking for cheap beginners location, top class black runs and exclusivity are at the bottom of the list, i just want to learn, preferably somewhere near so I can go most weekends (or just once if i break anything
Any thoughts on location given I'm in Bratislava?
Looking for cheap beginners location, top class black runs and exclusivity are at the bottom of the list, i just want to learn, preferably somewhere near so I can go most weekends (or just once if i break anything
Austria is my favouarite place for boarding (even though I learntto ski in France) since I was there for 6 years. The ski areas I like there were:
Ischgl/Samnaun
Obertauern
Wagrain/Flachau
Bad Gastein
Zell am See/Kaprun
St Anton
Stuben
Soelden
Fiss/Ladis/Serfaus
Nauders
Woukd like to try:
Mayerhofen
Saalbach
Nassfeld
Hopefully going in January to one of the above, already booked for mid-March in Soelden
Ischgl/Samnaun
Obertauern
Wagrain/Flachau
Bad Gastein
Zell am See/Kaprun
St Anton
Stuben
Soelden
Fiss/Ladis/Serfaus
Nauders
Woukd like to try:
Mayerhofen
Saalbach
Nassfeld
Hopefully going in January to one of the above, already booked for mid-March in Soelden
Edited by Silver993tt on Friday 26th November 07:08
Silver993tt said:
Woukd like to try:
Mayerhofen
Too long since I last went to be of use but I loved it when I went there years ago. Very good for late season skiing.Mayerhofen
Can't add to the advice of others really, all sounds very good. I would slash out the whole £2-3 for a pair of Velcro ski clips. The rubber ones are arse and the metal on them will skin you frozen fingers in a second. It is surprising just how much time you will be spending carrying your skis and nothing shouts 'beginner' like skis and poles sticking out of folded arms in all directions.
If you do hire your boots make absolutely sure that they fit correctly and if you find that they don't get them changed immediately, before you start to lose skin and your sense of humour.
I have no idea how fit you are but if you have any doubts you must make sure that your leg muscles are up to the job. Again it is highly embarrassing and depressing to have to cut skiing time short as your legs have gone to jelly and you can't do any more that day.
I loved every second of it when I went every year and hope to take it up again in the next few years.
Oh and in case you are in any doubt :- BUY A HELMET - You'll look a lot more stupid with brain damage than wearing a helmet and it's not just your accident but the person who skis into you have to think about.
Nice to see the swing towards wearing helmet is gathering pace, its the other numpties that you can't account for that do most of the damage.
Both my kids (18 & 21) resisted until we said two choices, wear one or dont ski, strangley enough they both saw it our way in the end, had a slight deal with by buying ipod friendly helmets, slight more money but one has to be seen to meeting them half way
Both my kids (18 & 21) resisted until we said two choices, wear one or dont ski, strangley enough they both saw it our way in the end, had a slight deal with by buying ipod friendly helmets, slight more money but one has to be seen to meeting them half way
Harry Flashman said:
A load of really useful stuff, including using TK MAXX.
They've had just a load of ski wear into Bromley and Thurrock. In the last 10days I've got the following.A Rossignol Bandit 3 jacket reduced from £299 to £49. As it had a 2cm slash just above the logo which will be sorted with a water proof repair and covered with one of these.
An SOS softshell jacket reduced from £299 to £85, I managed to find an SOS fleece for £5 to go with it.
A pair of Patagonia guide trousers down from £285 to £85 (this was in April tbf), and a couple of pairs of Reusch leather race gloves down from £99 to £35. For a couple of hundred quid you've got some really good technical kit that will last, and if you go back to TKMX it won't cost a fortune to replace. As Harry says, they have a ton of really good well priced stuff by Trespass.
Have fun on the mountain!
Edited by Dominic H on Saturday 27th November 11:14
Take some decent ski socks. I'l skip the details but one of our lot missed a whole weeks worth of boarding in France because of hired boots - after an hour of wearing them he had some massive swelling and pain, turned out to be an infection from skanky boots.
Buying boots might not be top of the list just yet, but I'd suggest a helmet, an arse pad and some decent socks will get you started. Throw in a decent breathable jacket and some cheapo ski / boarding pants and you'll be spot on.
Buying boots might not be top of the list just yet, but I'd suggest a helmet, an arse pad and some decent socks will get you started. Throw in a decent breathable jacket and some cheapo ski / boarding pants and you'll be spot on.
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