preparing for a ski holiday

I haven't really mentioned this much in recent months but i'm going on holiday! :) I'm off next week and i'll be going skiing for the first which, to be honest, I'm a little nervous about. So to prepare myself for this active packed american getaway I've been doing a spot of shopping, list writing and of course exercising.

In the lead up to my first 'active' holiday I've found that there are a few essential steps to prepare yourself for a ski holiday - or in my case, to psych yourself up for a ski holiday.

upping fitness levels

To prepare my fitness I've borrowed the Davina exercise bike from my bestie and I've been doing around 15 - 20 kilometres every evening. I'm hoping to up ther distance to about 30k for the majority of next week. I've surprised myself a bit by enjoying getting my gym gear on and donning the exercise bike - i'll be going on cycling holidays next.

getting the gear

There's nothing wrong with a little ski retail therapy to get excited and prepared for a holiday plus it's going to be cold and snowy which means needing good quality warm and waterproof clothing that doesn't look too awful :) The ski trend at the moment it seems is bright and patterned - you have to be seen by all. So I chose super bright and relatively shocking pink - Yes I know that i'm not a pink sort of girl but this ski jacket has a place in my heart. I love the built in gloves with thumb holes and the fit isn't too big and baggy like I expected ski wear to be. I've also got black ski trousers with braces attached - just so that I don't have to worry about pulling them up at all and I can concentrate on 'trying' to ski.

I waiting for the sales and grabbed some great gloves and ski socks on a bogof deal, the essentials but a little boring if you ask me. Of all of my new ski gear I love my goggles the most I think. They were a gift from Shaun for christmas and as far as womens goggles go I think they're pretty perfect - And Dirty Dog is a pretty good good brand as well apparently :)

lessons or practice

This morning Shaun and I headed up to the dry slopes for an hour of Shaun watching and trying not to giggle and an hour of me being taught one on one by an instructor (yes that's me up there - at the start of my lesson Shaun took a sneaky picture!) I'm now a level three and I couldn't recommend doing this enough. It gets you used to the way boots feel whilst on and walking in them, how weird ski's feel when on but also the taking on and off of the skis. I learnt how to travel on flat and up hill, the starting position, how to stop and how to turn - quite a lot for a first go I think :)

It's important to get to grips with the basics if you're a newbie, stopping especially because the last thing I want to do is be a nuisance on the slopes! Ofcourse learning on the artificial slopes will never be the same as the real thing, in fact I was assured this morning that learning to ski in the uk is a lot more difficult than on real snow. Best to check out Ski Club for your local ski slopes and schools. If you've beenskiing before but not for a little while then it can be good to visit the dry slopes just to refresh your memory and have a bit of a practise, i guess this depends on how long it has been and how confident a skier you were/are.

packing checklist

This is something that I always do, whether going up the road to stay with my daddy for a couple of days or away to portugal for a fortnight - a checklist is an essential part of my holiday/break preparation. I thought that i'd share with you part of the essentials on my checklist, just to give you an idea of how much and what to take.

ski jacket | ski trousers

goggles | sunglasses

ski gloves | normal gloves

hats | snoods / scarves

ski socks | trainer socks | long socks

midlayers - roll neck or thermal tops

leggings | skinny jeans | baggy jeans

snow boots | waterproof boots

tshirts | vest tops | jumpers

hoody | bomber jacket
nice normal clothes (for evenings)
swimming gear (for hot tub)

suncream | body moisturiser

lipbalm | spf beauty balm | face moisturiser

usual makeup, skin care and hair care products

passport | tickets | ski passes
currency | credit card
meds inc. allergy tablets | camera

A slightly different blog post than the usual but I hope that you enjoyed it all the same :)

On the blog front, i've been writing a fair amount so i've prepared and scheduled a number of blog posts to go live whilst i've away for two weeks, just so that you won't miss me too much :)

♥ abby