Despite being an active, sporty person and absolutely loving spending time in the mountains, I shied away from taking up snow sports until I was nearly 50. There were two principle reasons for this. One was the huge costs involved and the other was the sport’s reputation for posing. Funding a skiing trip would be hard enough but then shelling out huge amounts of money on the clothing seemed like adding insult to injury.

The Investment

Eventually I was forced to relent but took up the sport with some trepidation. My fears about the costs involved proved to be entirely justified. There isn’t a way to ski on the cheap, merely ways to make the whole enterprise a little more affordable. It seems to me that skiing is a bit like weddings. The mere mention of the word ensures that a huge premium is placed on the clothing and equipment.  This is all very well if you live near the mountains and can ski frequently but for most people in Britain you are buying things that you will use only once each year.

The Pose

Clearly some of the more upmarket brands have adopted a pricing policy to maintain their exclusivity. There isn’t any real justification for a price tag of £1000 for a jacket and I just wouldn’t pay it. There do appear to be a fair number of people around the resorts for whom the fashion statement is crucial. Whilst I am keen to look good, I couldn’t possibly afford to spend thousands on my ski wear so I have been forced to seek cheaper alternatives.

Solutions

There are budget ranges which offer reasonably value for money. Sadly most of these fall short on the style front. Not that this should be a major obstacle as skiing should be primarily about the sport.  You can also pick up a few bargains on eBay although even there the premium labels like Spyder command high prices. After a lot of searching I found what I think is the perfect solution to the problem.

 

In the Pink

Icepeak is an outdoor clothing brand from Finland which offers reasonable prices and great styling. The label may not have the Kudos of some others I could mention but the gear looks the business. I guess if you are skiing fast enough nobody will have time to see the name on your jacket! In my case what they will see is a splash of extremely bright pink!

A Winner

My Icepeak jacket and salopettes were a fraction of the price of many brands but the quality is excellent. The funky retro designs are just fabulous and I knew that I was on to a winner when I visited the indoor ski centre recently. I had been practising there for weeks without hearing anyone comment on anybody else’s attire but when I walked in wearing my new jacket  I got a shout of “great jacket” within seconds. I was bursting with pride.

So the fashion end of things has been sorted but with the cost of the equipment, my trips to the ski centre and the holidays, skiing is still proving to be a rather expensive enterprise.  It is such great fun, however, that it is an expense I am just going to have to bare.

Article by Sally Stacey