Skiing makes me think of snow. Snow makes me think of cold. Cold makes me think of being warm.
But how do I stay warm on the mountain? Of course I can dress warmly with layers and insulating fabrics. I can use hand warmers. I can even get a heating system for my ski boots. Then there's the all natural way of staying warm. The sun.
I tend to get cold when skiing, even with layers and hand warmers. As you can see from the photo, I am pretty bundled up. Skiing in the sun is the best way to stay warm. Here in the West there isn't much humidity, so the air is really dry. Dry air + shade = cold. Of course, skiing is exercise so one is bound to get her body warm that way. But, downhill skiing is an interesting kind of exercise in that one must ride chair lifts in order to practice the sport. The chair lifts are the coldest part of skiing. For this reason, Mom and I decided to figure out what part of the mountain was sunny side up at any given part of the day.
Today we figured out that the best place to ski in the morning is off of McConkey's lift all the way to skiers right. The trails off of this lift are amongst beautiful tree glades which make for great tree skiing, if that's your thing. We skied a great double blue called Tycoon. We also skied a dud of a run, a blue called Georgeanna. I found it to be basically a glorified catwalk. Although, the top of the trail that is right off of the lift (and you have to take it to get to any of the other runs to skiers right of McConkey's) has GORGEOUS views, especially on a beautiful day like today.
After lunch we determined that King Con, the same area we skied the second day, had the best sun in the afternoon. However, this afternoon got a bit cloudy so we couldn't perfectly judge the sunniest part of the mountain. We will have to check again tomorrow.
17,637 vertical feet later, my legs and core are feeling stronger. I am skiing faster and with better form. More videos of my skiing coming soon.
Until then...
In case you don't know--because I skied for years before I knew--there are special wool-blend shirts etc. that you can buy for skiing. You will sweat less wearing them than you do wearing cotton, and thus stay warmer. Any ski shop should have them, but they aren't exactly cheap...so my suggestion is to check out a ski shop, see what they are made of, and try to find something similar in a department store or whatever.
ReplyDeleteNever wear cotton when skiing! It's the wosrst thing you can do. I have the greatest Hot Chillis warmwear that I wear under my ski clothes. Read about them in a previous post. Cotton socks are probably the worst thing you can wear while skiing. DO NOT wear cotton socks people!
ReplyDelete