Stuff I know about skiing

When I was talking to my friend the other day about how many sets of skis we can fit in a guest ski locker at the hotel, asked where the boots would fit? I pointed out - probably a little condescendingly - that you're best to store your boots in your room or somewhere warm so they fit to your feet better in the morning. She was impressed by this little tidbit and said that she'd always found the worst bit of skiing was getting your boots to feel right. This made me realise that I've learned a lot of tidbits in my years skiing and it's probably these little nuggets of knowledge that have helped me become a fairly good skier, despite my self-deprecations to the contrary.

Firstly I'll go back to why you shouldn't store your ski boots in the cold wet locker. Ski boots are made of fairly hard plastics so they can clip firmly into your bindings and can resists you kicking the concrete stairs to get the snow off. When you leave hard plastic in a cold area it sets to whatever shape you left it in (probably wide open with clips all over the place as you struggled to get your sweaty foot out and to the hot tub as quickly as possible). Keeping your ski boots in a warmer area will leave the plastic more pliable and they'll fit to your feet better and more quickly. We all know that the more comfortable your boots, the more enjoyable your day.

So, we have our boots on and we buckle the clips up as tight as we can so that our feet don't move in them, right? Bad idea. Unless you walk straight outside and onto a black run, I don't see the point. I know where I live and everywhere I've skied in the world, the first thing when I step outside has either been a long upload to the top of the mountain, a walk to the lifts and runs or a short easy ski out to the bottom of the lifts. I buckle my clips to the loosest setting, tightening them a little before my warmup run and moving gradually up and up tightening as my skiing difficulty increases. Buckling your boots as tight as you can before you're even on snow will only end up in agony and short ski days.

I know I'm going to sound like a ski club nut with this last little nugget, but warming up is worth its weight in gold. Think about the parts of you that give out first when you're on the ski hill, your quads, your wrists, your calves, giving these guys some TLC before you ramp up to the big runs will help you last longer. Take the time to give them a stretch before you hit the slopes, in the lift lines, in the gondola. Even if you don't have the time for heavy ski conditioning before you hit the freshly groomed corduroy, giving your muscles some love with help them love you back.