Most people who go skiing know about thermal underwear.  I learnt about thermals the hard way in high school when we all went on a skiing trip.  My family never went on skiing trips so we didn’t have any cold weather clothes, but a lot of the kids from school often went with their families, so my mother borrowed some ski clothes off a friend of hers and she put the bag in my bedroom.  When I opened it I was horrified, these stretchy pale woollen stocking things that I was suppose to wear under my clothes?  No way hosea!  Extreme uncoolness was registering in my teenage brain!  I hadn’t even heard of insulated underwear for men and I stubbornly refused to wear those silly looking things which my mother told me were thermal underwear, instead opting for some big bulky coats which actually looked warm.

Well when I got to the school that morning I could see that I was already sticking out.  The others looked neat and tidy and collected in their slim line clothing, and I though to myself, haha, those fools, they are gonna get so cold when we get up to the snow.  And sure enough true to form it’s me who starts to shiver once we’re at the mountain and we start going out into the snow, and I start to wonder if maybe my mother’s dorky thermal underclothing might have been a good idea after all.   I’m wearing this enormous coat that is too hard to move in, and everyone else is getting their ski hire and I’m just fumbling around with my gazillion layers of cotton clothing and jumpers and coats… in the end I actually gave up on the skiing thing, I was so bulky I could barely move properly to get going.  A friend and I, both having not taken thermals on this camp, felt thoroughly stupid with ourselves and decided to go and make snowmen instead.

So I have officially not been skiing, and all because of not taking my mother’s advice and wearing the thermals!  Who knows I might have been a pro at it from the start and been world famous skiing on all the pretty white slopes by now, and instead I am here blogging about thermals, lol.

(Actually it’s not like I’ve given up completely… I will take my thermals along some time and actually go skiing… I look forward to it.  :))

My friend, who goes skiing a lot, has given me a few tips about what to take, aside from the obligatory thermals.  A ski jacket, ski trousers, ski gloves, ski goggles and sunglasses, she says, sound like a lot but will really make the experience enjoyable.  She adds that you would probably also want a woollen hat or cap and thermal socks and thermal gloves.  And just before I sign off on this post I will remind you all again in case my silly little story hasn’t burned it into your memory forever…. always take thermal underwear when skiing!  ;)

Thanks to  wfyurasko for the image.