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OK, I'll throw some thoughts/tips in here.
Rent your gear and most of your clothes. You will probably use polypro thermals, hat, gloves, and ski socks again, so I would buy those. Plan to rent most everything else. Ask around and you can probably borrow or buy used clothes. Try to find a ski club in your area. They will probably have a swap meet or people who will be happy to loan / sell gear. You can probably get the best advice for them also since they can show and tell instead of just tell. Is anyone from your group experienced? Ask them questions too. You want multiple layers of *thin* clothes. You probably have a jacket that will work fairly well. If you have a water proof shell (no insulation), put a fleece under it and it will work fine. Avoid cotton layers. One cotton layer is OK, but no more than one cotton layer. I worry more about how the sweat gets out than how the cold gets in. Over heating is much more common than being cold (for me anyway). If you have one thick jacket it will probably end up tied around your waist. I will not ski without a neck gaitor of some sort. I'm a tropical fish that likes to snow ski so I wear a turtle fur neck gaitor that I can pull up over my nose when it is cold and down off my mouth when I need to breathe hard. Rent skis, boots, and poles when you get there. See if you can find rentals on-line to arange before you get there. When you get there, plan to go get fitted and pickup your gear the night before. The wait for gear in the mornings will be impressive. I suggest you sign up for lessons your first morning. If you have to get your gear that morning you may not make the start of the class. You WILL take too much stuff, no matter what. Eight years after my first trip and I'm still cutting down every trip. Use the airlines baggage restrictions as a guide. If you can't take everything you need for a week of skiing without exceeding the baggage limit, you have waaaay too much stuff. If there are laundry facilities where you are staying you can cut way down on clothes. Someone said lessons. Let me second, third, fourth through 100th that suggestion. If you can find a carpet ski deck take lessons before you go. At the $/hour rate to get to the snow for your first trip you don't want to be learning to put your skis on and walk in them while you are there. Carpet skiing is much harder than snow. But everything you learn on carpet works even better and easier on snow. Oshman's, Sun & Ski, and some other sporting goods stores have carpet decks around here. Exercise and get in shape. You will work much harder as a new skier than someone who skies regularly. You need to be in better shape aerobically, flexibility, and balance. That doesn't mean you can't ski and have fun if you are not in tip top shape. But the better you prepare the more fun you will have. Besides, it is good for you. And the trip can be the goal you are working toward. Plan to spend some time playing in the snow with your 4 year old. You and your wife may have to alternate days skiing and baby sitting. Try to put them in ski school ASAP. They are much better at teaching and they are used to the youngster's attention span. Don't be surprised if the kid learns to ski better than you before the end of the trip. I'm leery of trying the kiddo on the carpet deck. Four is very young / small for carpet. Carpet is harder and may make the kiddo think they don't want to ski. Your call on what works for them. "lal truckee" wrote in message ... Monique Y. Herman wrote: On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 at 00:01 GMT, Christopher Mooney penned: I am delurking to start priming myself for my very fist ski trip this coming Spring Break. Seeing as though I have never been skiing, the missus, myself, and our four year old will be signing up for the onsite lessons. Few things I was wanting to ask a 1. Are there any exercises or practice routines you would suggest to start now to be "ahead of the game"? Ice skating uses some similar muscle groups, if you're doing it right, with lots of bend in the knees. Roller skating (in-line particularly) also uses some ski specific muscles/moves. Race coaches often recommend soccer for it's directional changes and stamina enhancement to their youth racers. Anything that works on quad strength and particularly endurance -- even sitting on an "imaginary chair" with your back against the wall until your legs ache will do some good. It's a classic ski excercise. You will get sore legs skiing (everybody does the first few times) so get all the training you can, but for sanity's sake I recommend activities (see above) rather than gym workouts, although weight traing does have it's benefits. But your primary problem will likely be altitude. Anything you can do to build up your cardio will help, for you, missus, and kids. For instance chase the soccer ball to deep chest wrenching panting, go another 10 minutes past that; and do it again the next day. repeat until trip. Even so you'll be left behind by those who train at altitude, so don't expect miracles. Also don't worry. Skiing is an individual sport, so there's no stress - ski till you're tired and stop. Or ski more relaxed and go farther; it's all up to you. 2. When you took your first ski trip, what did you wish you had done/taken with you that you didn't? Boot/glove dryer! You'll be amazed at how long it can take for wet gloves to dry without proper ventilation. This is one of the many reasons that I love my gloves, which have zip-out liners. This is an easy one; I bet your wife won't leave home without a hair dryer - just make sure it has a low temp or cool setting and you can use it to dry gloves/boots. Your hotel room may have a dryer also, or you may want to pack two. Or you can look in the magazines and waste $100 on a special "boot/glove dryer." Extra ski socks. Commercial ski socks are a crock: ski socks should be wicking (polyprop or similar, relatively thin, high rising (so there's no edge or wrinkles inside the boot cuff) and snug. Commercial ski socks are too thick and often have wool in them. Wrong. Don't expect to pad out a sloppy boot with thick or multiple socks - it won't work; insist on a good fitting boot. "Wicking" long johns rather than the old-style honeycomb kind. Silk long johns are great; so are many of the synthetics out there. The synthetics are better than silk; just not as expensive. Snacks in pockets. Most resorts will charge an arm and a leg for food. If you can manage a paper-bag lunch, even better, but personally I like having something nice and warm. Boy is this correct; nuts, dried fruit, jerky, hard cheese, etc will get you and yours from breakfast to dinner without killing the budget. 3. Same as two, but flipped. What did you take/do that you wish you hadn't? Not something I've done; but something I've heard about. Packages ski trips; they always cost more than rolling your own. If you ease into skiing like some of us, starting at birth in a skiing family, we learn this in the womb. If I was you, I'd pay lots of attention to lodging, transportation, ticket discount info etc, so if the family ends up liking this skiing stuff you can ease up on the expense in the future. I envy you - skiing is a marvelous family activity and you get to discover something new and wonderful this spring. Have fun. |
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