Ski holidays are just the best. They provide the perfect winter escape offering adventure, fun and relaxation in the mountains. What isn’t to love about fresh powder, cosy chalets, delicious mountain food and après ski.
Whether it’s your first ski holiday or your 15th, this post will provide an outline of everything you need to do to help you make the most of your upcoming trip.
Logistics
As a first step, you’ll need to book your ski holiday. The European ski season typically runs from late November to late April, with January/February a great time for guaranteed snow.
There are numerous travel agents and tour operators that offer ski holiday packages including flights, transfers and accommodation. This can be a more ‘hassle free’ approach, but typically comes at a higher cost.
Alternatively you can book your own flights and accommodation as you would for any other holiday. There are numerous bus transfers available from airports in proximity to the mountains that offer shared ski transfers, for example Ben’s Bus https://www.bensbus.co.uk/.
With your flights, transfer and accommodation sorted, the last key logistical requirement for your trip will be a resort lift pass for the duration of your trip. These are typically available from the resort main websites.
Ski Lessons
If it’s your first ski trip, you may wish to book ski lessons. I’d recommend learning the basics at an indoor ski centre in the UK, such as Snowzone, before heading on your trip so that you’re ready to go. Alternatively, most resorts have several ski schools offering lessons for all abilities which can be booked online. This includes lessons to learn the basics of ‘pizza’ and ‘french fry’ and also private one on one off piste lessons.
Packing
I’ve put together the below list of essentials for every ski trip:
- Ski jacket – a good warm and waterproof ski jacket is an essential for every trip.
- Salopettes – warm and waterproof over trousers.
- Ski socks – thick, knee high socks to be worn under ski boots.
- Gloves or mittens to keep hands warm.
- Goggles for visibility.
- Helmet is essential for safety.
- Thermal layers for warmth.
- Buff to cover neck and face as needed in particularly cold conditions.
- Sunglasses for après ski.
- Woolly hat.
- Mid layers e.g. a fleece for added warmth
- Casual clothes and boots for wearing around the resort.
- Suncream for those blue bird days.
- Skis, ski boots and poles if you have your own, however, these can be rented from resorts, most have several rental shops located in the centre.
Getting Ski fit
Skiing is physically demanding and having cardiovascular fitness and strength endurance can make skiing significantly more enjoyable. Check out my post on exercises you can do to get ski and snowboard fit before you go!
Happy skiing!
Yours,
The Fit Adventurer
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