What to pack for a family ski trip!
If you’ve never been skiing or even if you have but never where you have yourself and kids to think about working out what you actually need and what to pack can be daunting. I admit that this time we probably took a little too many clothes for apres-ski I think it’s because both me and my husband last went when we spent time socialising apres-ski and when you go with young kids we found although we had a few later than normal nights most of the time because the kids were so tired after a day of ski school that they went to bed at normal times. However, we did use the ski things that we took – that hasn’t changed much since I last went.
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So here goes our list of what to pack for a family ski trip!
Ski Clothes for each family member
- Thermal Base Layer
- 2 or 3 Cotton Long Sleeved T-shirt
- Warm fleece
- Snow Trousers
- Snow Jacket
- Scarf
- Ski Gloves or Mittens
- Ski glasses or goggles
- Hat
- Snow Boots
- 2 or 3 pairs of Ski Socks
- Gloves or mitten made from wool or fleece
With this set for each person, you are good for whether it is slightly warmer or you can add extra layers to keep yourself warm if the temperature really dips. You could combine the scarf and hat into a balaclava which is especially useful if it is extra cold or there are high winds as will protect your face normally the only place that I ever feel cold when skiing.
Ski Equipment
Ok – so if you go REGULARLY it’s worth getting your own equipment like ski’s, boots, snowboard, helmets etc… however, if it’s your first time or you’re going with young kids then do this in the resort. If you go with a ski company then the rep in the resort or on the coach will be able to arrange this for you, but going solo is possible and most of the resorts now have websites that you can find out the hire shops in resort and order everything in advance.
It is also worth checking whether a local ski or snowboard shop hires although this does mean more baggage to take to the airport as well as trying to hold that as well as your young kids as they move around and around.
Apres-ski
What you take for your apres-ski wear is obviously up to you. But I would really advise that you take a complete set of scarf, gloves, hat in addition to those you use for skiing especially for the kids as they will play in the snow in their lessons and the stuff will get wet if it’s snowing – they don’t dry quickly either.
If you plan on joining in any of the other sports that are around you can wear your ski clothes but just wrap up a little warmer the temperatures really drop at night and it gets very cold.
You will likely want to take something to swim in as well – most resorts have swimming facilities and there is nothing like swimming surrounded by snow especially as the water is normally very warm.
The Little Extras
So you are going skiing you wouldn’t think that you need sun cream – let me tell you that having Snow Burn is incredibly painful – the rays of the sun bounce off the snow and you end up getting burnt between your lip and nose, or even inside your nostrils. Get some mountain sun cream it will prevent a lot of pain believe me. It maybe more expensive but it does last.
