Ski Helmet – Highly recommended:
No part of your gear is more important than your helmet. While a jacket might keep you warm, a helmet could save you from a nasty headache or worse. You can rent locally or pick up a good helmet to buy for around €50 – but if you have a larger budget, don’t hesitate to spend a bit more; after all, there’s no price on your safety.
Good Quality Goggles and Gloves:
Nothing can ruin your ski holiday quite like an inferior set of goggles or gloves. Buy these on the cheap and before you know it you won’t be able to feel you hands or see where you’re going. We recommend that even if this is your first trip, you should spend a good amount on a leading brand pair of goggles and about a high-quality pair of gloves. Even if you don’t return to the slopes you can use these back home, on your bicycle, for example.
Budget Ski-Pants and Ski-Jacket:
Although it’s essential to get a proper ski-jacket and ski-pants, there’s no need to break the bank – especially if this is your first time going on a ski holiday. You can pick these up either from discount designer stores or supermarket chains. Ski-pants should start at about €50, while ski-jackets should start at about €60. One piece of advice though: don’t wear jeans as they’ll soak up moisture and freeze solid!
Budget Layers:
Layers are important in order to keep warm – but you can use almost anything. Layers go under your ski-pants and ski-jacket, so even those embarrassing old hoodies and polo-necks will work wonders.
Ski-Socks:
Ski-socks are specially designed to reduce friction, so don’t think that you can get away with just throwing on a few pairs of football socks as this may damage your skin and cause blistering. No worries, though ski-socks aren’t expensive and can be found in most supermarket chains and discount designer stores – a set of three shouldn’t set you back any more than €20 and they can be reused for various activities, such a hill-walking.