Sam’s thoughts on kit, after a lot of seasons watching people get it right and get it wrong. What is worth spending on, what to hire, and what most people wish they had known. School trip, family holiday, week with friends, uni trip or a full season, there is a section here for you.
9 things Sam would want sorted before a trip. Everything after this list is optional, a lot of it can be hired, and some of it you will never need.
Waterproof, insulated, ideally with a snow skirt and a lift pass pocket. The millimetre waterproofing ratings on the label are not worth much, because brands do not measure them the same way. Sam would read the reviews instead and look for what people say after a wet day.
One thing Sam feels strongly about: worth buying rather than borrowing. A jacket that leaks ruins the afternoon, and you will get years out of a decent one.
Salopettes have a bib and braces, so snow stays out when you sit down in it. Trousers are cooler and easier in a bathroom. If you expect to be on the floor a fair bit, bibs are the kinder option.
Merino or synthetic rather than cotton. Cotton holds sweat against you and then you spend the afternoon cold. Two sets tends to be plenty for a week.
A fleece or a light insulated jacket that fits under the shell without bunching. A cotton hoodie will not do the same job.
Two good pairs tend to beat seven cheap ones. Over the calf, nothing bunched underneath, and nothing else inside the boot with them.
A lot of painful first days come down to thick walking socks bunching inside a rental boot.
Sam’s rough number. Much under fifty and they tend to wet through by lunch. Much over sixty and you are usually paying for features you will not use on a first trip. Mittens are warmer than gloves for the same money if your hands run cold.
Thirty pounds can be plenty. Sam would judge it on the reviews rather than the price, looking for what people say about fogging and about flat light, because those are the two things that tend to go wrong. If you wear glasses, look for the ones marked OTG, which stands for over the glasses.
Worth owning rather than hiring. Rental helmets have been on a lot of other heads and the fit is a lottery. Look for one that sits level, does not rock when you shake your head, and meets your goggles without a gap.
Worth trying it on with the goggles you are taking. The two have to work together and often they do not.
A couple of pounds of fabric that makes a surprising difference when the wind gets up. Most people end up wanting two.
Kitting out a child? The list is the same, the sums are not. Children grow out of a jacket in a season, so a lot of families buy the helmet, goggles, gloves and socks, and hire or hand down the rest. Snow+Rock carry a proper junior range if you would rather buy.
Snow reflects sunlight back up at you and altitude thins the air that would otherwise filter it, so people burn on days that do not feel sunny. High factor, face and ears and under the chin, topped up through the day. Cloud is not much protection.
We link to the sun protection ranges rather than naming one bottle, because we are not in a position to tell you how well any of them will work on your skin.
Any of them with an SPF on the label. Lips burn and crack faster than anything else up there, and a three pound stick does the job as well as a nine pound one.
A pound a pair, and they can rescue a bad afternoon. One thing worth knowing about toe warmers: if the boot is already snug, the warmer takes up space your foot needs and you can end up colder. Worth trying one before the trip rather than on it.
For the evenings and the lift queues. Only a thin liner under a helmet, or the fit goes.
More useful than people expect. Handy for lunch on a terrace and for the drive, and goggles are miserable to wear when you are not actually skiing.
This is the question that decides your budget, and the answer is different for each item. Sam’s view, take it or leave it.
| Item | Sam would | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Skis | Rent | Rental skis are perfectly good for a beginner, and you have no idea yet what you like. Buying before you can ski is buying blind. £150 to £1,300 to own, or roughly £22 a day to hire. |
| Poles | Rent | They come with the skis. Nobody’s week was improved by their own poles. |
| Bindings | Rent | They come attached to the skis and they need setting to your weight and ability by someone qualified. |
| Boots | Buy | The one to spend on, and the one nearly everyone gets wrong. See below. |
| Helmet | Buy | Fit and hygiene. It also has to work with your goggles, which a rental one will not. |
| Jacket and trousers | Buy | You will wear them again, and rental clothing where it exists is poor. Not second hand: sizing is unreliable and the waterproofing on an old shell has usually gone. |
| Goggles, gloves, socks, base layers | Buy | Personal kit. Nobody rents these and you would not want them to. |
| Ski bag and boot bag | Depends | Only worth it if you are taking your own skis or boots. If you are hiring on the mountain, you need neither. £16 to £275. |
A boot decides whether the week is enjoyable or miserable, and you cannot judge fit from a photograph. Rental boots are the single most common reason a first timer comes home saying they did not enjoy it.
If you are paying serious money for boots, go and be fitted. A fitter watches you stand, measures both feet, and puts you in a shell that suits the shape of your foot rather than the shape of the box.
Both Ellis Brigham and Snow+Rock do it properly in store, and both do it free if you buy the boots from them. Ellis Brigham also do heat moulding, shell stretching and shell grinding at no charge on boots bought there.
Adult boots start around £190 and most first timers spend £200 to £350. Junior boots start around £40. Allow an hour in the shop.
And if you are in rental boots, say something on day one if they hurt. The shop will change them. Most people suffer all week rather than ask.
If your feet are difficult, ask about custom footbeds. About £78 to £98, almost nobody knows they exist, and they fix more problems than a more expensive boot does.
If you are out for a season, skiing off piste, or doing enough days that hiring stops making sense, this is where the money goes.
Both shops sell them as one package with the binding already matched, which is simpler and cheaper than buying separately. Around thirty days a season is where owning starts to beat hiring.
Same advice as above and more so. A hundred days in the wrong boot is a hundred days of your own choosing. This is the one place where paying more genuinely buys you something, as long as the fit is right first.
Edges and wax, two or three times a season. Both shops publish their prices. A home tuning kit is about £80 and pays for itself in a season if you are willing to learn.
Transceiver, shovel and probe, bought as a set. If you are going off piste you need all three and you need to have practised with them. Airbag packs run £658 to £971.
Owning this kit is not the same as knowing how to use it. Do the course.
Only once you own skis. A wheeled bag is worth the extra over a plain sleeve if you are flying with them.
More of a snowboarding item than a skiing one, and worn mostly by people in the park or riding hard off piste. Not something a first timer on a blue run needs.
Ellis Brigham for boots, hardware and anything that needs fitting. Independent, family owned, and their boot fitting and workshop operation is the best of the four.
Snow+Rock for clothing and for children. They have a proper junior range, which matters if you are kitting out a child for a school trip.
Decathlon when the price genuinely is the point, which for base layers, socks and neck warmers it often is.
Amazon for the small things: warmers, lip balm, spare goggle cases.
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