You are reading a single comment by @French_Touch and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@French_Touch
I was out riding in Tignes a week and a half ago and some of the advice above would have seen you screwed. Skinny jeans and hoodies? Laughable. It was between -10 and -20 in resort, with added wind chill out on the hill and it was even colder up top. I was wearing:
base layer x 2 (ls and ss tops)
fleece
mid layer
t shirt or shirt on top
ski jacket
I was riding hard so was getting warm on the way down, but I'd say even with all that, I was never exactly (toasty) warm. Couple of nights I had a thick padded down gilet on top of a padded jacket as well.
It's warmed up though and this week I see it's -7 at its coldest with it warming right up to -1 later in the week.
I agree you don't need totally technical gear to cope all the time, but be sensible about it. I wouldn't go near a hill without proper technical gear, and if it gets warm I'll take a layer off. Might get the hoody out if it's a warm spring day, but hardly going to shred powder in a pair of skinny jeans...
Can you borrow some gear from mates? Or get onto ebay? Baselayers would be a good idea and you can pick them up for cheap. So, yeah, you do need a specific pair of 'snowboard/ski pants' and at the very least a winter jacket, preferably also a ski/board one. Gloves are another essential, but that aside your other layers don't need to be ski-specific.
Don't worry about snow boots, just wear trainers, and if you're really worried, spray them with waterproofing.