Be Excellent To Each Other

I am getting myself a treat sometime in the next month or so and a few things made the shortlist. The fridge freezer with ice dispenser and the dishwasher will have to wait because I can't really get something like that 'til we know what sort of space we'll have in our new kitchen.
That leaves a 50mm f/1.4 lens or some skiing/snowboarding lessons. I have spent most of the weekend flipping between looking at pictures on flickr taken with the aforementioned lens and looking at brilliantly colourful ski trousers.
I think I have decided I want to do skiing ( sorry lens) because it is something Jen has wanted me to learn to do for ages so we can go up North for weekends and it is something fun we can do together.
I've always liked the idea but felt it was too expensive to do because I'd have to learn so now is the perfect time for me to pay the expensive part so it is more accessible in future.
So, does anyone here do skiing or snowboarding? I think that I'll probably do a few lessons then we will have a weekend up in Glenshee or something.
Would I be right in assuming that well fitting boots are one of the most worthwhile things to buy for yourself initially? Does anyone have any good recommendations of places to shop?
I would also quite like to do snowboarding at some point, can you use the same boots?

Anyway, talk about wintersports here and I will keep you updated on what I do and how it goes
I'll even take a picture for you (on my kit lens )

I'd have some lessons on rentals first before you buy anything as it is very expensive. But once you get the feel the buy some, you cab get boots that are moulded to your feet which would be the most comfortable. As I never have any money I always use rentals and when I've been in the alps I don't really care about them scratching or whatever. You might be best going to the dry slope outside Edinburgh first and learning how to snowplough and feel comfortable on skis then going onto snow and realising that dry slopes are rubbish. But it'll probably be cheaper. Erm.... yeah.

Also snowboard boots are different to ski boots. Ski ones are generally more expensive as they are designed to stop your feet moving for your safety whereas snowboard boots are just giant shoes.

I've done a bit of skiing, and if you're learning I have one piece of advice: pay a little extra for a private tutor rather than going in a group. It'll be a lot more personal and you'll learn much, much more quickly. Then you can get to the real fun of choosing your own route and wandering off for the day.

Also: no, you can't use ski boots for snowboarding. The former are supposed to be solid and rigid, the latter soft and flexible. Different bindings, too.

Cheers guys, that's good to know. I am still trying to decide if I want to do snowboarding as well but if boots are cheaper then I think I would learn to ski and get boots for that and then at a later date I could do snowboarding once I'm confident on the snow.
We have an Xscape in Glasgow which has a snow slope so I'm weighing up the options. I could do lessons there to get me to the level where I can ski happily by myself, or I could go to a nearby dry ski slope and do lessons there. The dry ski slope is cheaper but as you say Nick, it isn't the real thing. I might just do a crash course at Xscape which would have me skiing in a day and then we could get up to Glenshee in January which gives me maximum snow time this season. I am happy to pay for the boots for Jen and I, they seem to be expensive while also contributing to making skiing as comfortable and fun as possible so while I can afford to pay for them I might as well do it. Otherwise I doubt we'd be treating ourselves to something like that until next Christmas.
Decisions decisions!
Jen is suggesting we just go up North and bypass the lessons, then I could get lessons on the mountain but I think I'm a bit nervous about...I think I'd like the safety of learning inside, right next to a Nando's

Those indoor centres are incredibly expensive to learn in, so I'd be inclined to agree with Jen and skip them. But only if you can get someone to teach you properly when you get on the mountain, as trying to figure it out alone isn't going to work.

Also, regardless of which you do first, you'll have to get lessons for both snowboarding and skiing; they are seriously nothing alike, so there's no 'getting the feel of the snow' that'll really be of any use. *points to broken ribs*

Yeah all I meant was that once I was confident on the snow I'd be a lot happier to do lessons for snowboarding on a mountain rather than wanting to do them at a place like Xscape or a dry slope. Currently I have never done anything like skiing so I would prefer to be taught to a level I was confident with before going skiing somewhere. The lessons on the mountain idea is workable because the tuition appears to be very good however the lessons are only about 90 minutes and then you're left to your own devices for the rest of the day. I don't think I'd like that because I'd probably just be sliding about on the nursery slope the whole day and not really doing much more than that! If I do lessons before we went, I could ski about with Jen once we were there and properly take advantage of being on a mountain. I'd imagine after learning at Xscape or a dry slope you'd be desperate to go and play on a bigger slope.
Then, if I decided to do snowboarding, we could do lessons on a mountain (together) and afterwards we could practice what we had learned and if we wanted to we could also go off and do some skiing. Rather than doing lessons but not doing enough in one go to be competent at it and not really getting the benefit of the mountain for the rest of the day.

Xscape is extortionate for lessons (especially since they want you to do loads!!!), cheaper to do them in Glenshee, the 'coe or Nevis (wherever you fancy going for the day really). Cheaper still to do them in Newmilns. The dry slope is alright & they'll teach you what you need to know, but the board obviously behaves differently on it. Cheaper again to hire the gear & get an experienced/patient friend to teach you, like what I did

TK Maxx in Glesga had Vans snowboard boots the last time I was in (Thursday) but there were none in my size


I know hee haw about skiing as it's a bit too similar to them fucking zoom boot things that kids like to get in your way at the park with

I really wouldn't buy anything til you've rented for a while. Ski boots can cost upwards of 500 quid and then you can be spending a hell of a lot more for a pair of skis where you'll probably be able to rent for about 50 or so there... Ive only done it by the week which is about 120 or so when I last did it. But year, learn how to do it first, the go to the mountains, the buy after about 2 seasons when you really know what you're doing. You're probably better off saving the money and spending a week in the alps for the price of boots for Jen. But do it. Skiing is the best. You can zoom down slopes weeeeeeeee

I would recommend not buying your own equipment for reasons already stated.
You can rent and see if its something you really want to invest in.

Also, I would recommend learning to snowboard first but thats personal preference.
Soft snowboard boots are way way comfier than rigid ski boots.
Many years ago I snowboarded using ski boots but I dont know if you still can.
Malabar suggested that the bindings are different, he is correct, but obviously its not unheard of to have hard boot bindings on a snowboard.

My CV - ski'd since I was 2 so I feel qualified to comment. Beginner snowboard but learning as I go.

Snowboarding is a bit... um, challenging. You don't make a lot of progress on your first day, and I wasn't sufficiently into it to go a second time. Skiing is definitely easier to begin with I think. YMMV

Anyway, it's a fun day out and good exercise! Watch out for the chairlifts, they are a mare to get the hang of.

I was parallel skiing with ease after my first day on the mountain. With snowboarding the best I achieved were injuries and a severe dent in my confidence. It may be different if you take up snowboarding with no skiing experience, though.

The chair- and button-lifts are an absolute 'mare on a board, but piss easy on skis.

Glad it wasn't just me being rubbish at it then

Tempted to get a set of cc skis for this weather. Of course that would guarantee it would never snow again..

You pair are rubbish It took me a morning of pissing around to get to grips with the basics.

A lot of people find snowboarding incredibly hard and spend 90% of their time on their arse or knees and will never get to the point where they are able to get on, never mind off, a lift. This is a possible argument for having at least one snowboarding lesson to see how you get on before committing yourself to time (and expense) on the slopes boarding. I was OK having done a lot of skateboarding which helped massively with the correct balance.
If you are going to have a lesson, don't waste your time on a dry slope. It's almost impossible to turn a snowboard on that stuff. Learning on snow is way easier.

I've always used hire stuff and found it to be good enough.

Hard boots are still used in some snowboard disciplines like slalom, but they are increasingly rare.

I found last feb when I went for a week, switched skis for snowboard half way thru and it just clicked. Still, having skid forever its challenging but i had a great time.
Lifts I found hit and miss. Getting off chairs is the worst for me

I tried snowboarding when it snowed in january in brum and couldnt get it going. Maybe the board was too big or whatever but I could only turn one way and then fall over. Skiing I just clicked with, I learnt how to plough on a dry slope and then within half a day of my first week on snow I was doing parrallel turns comfortably. It helps with having a good teacher too. But I'd still advise you having a go first on a smaller slope before you go to the mountains otherwise it'll seem too daunting and you won't feel comfortable stopping when you go a bit too fast.

I'm shit at both! But did find Snowboarding easier after I tried Skiing a few times.

Yeah I got to grips with snowboarding pretty quick but that was after years of skateboarding. I've tried skiing once but that was years ago on a dry slope and I pretty much hated every second of it. I'm sure up in the mountains and on proper snow it would be good fun, though.

My approach to learning to snowboard, was to rent whatever they had, ride the chair to the top of the mountain, strap on the board and go "right, how does this work then" Took me a couple of hours to get down the mountain first time, but it was a laugh. Especially considering I had never even skiied before either

First time I tried it was just round here on a borrowed board in about two inches of icy snow and just in normal shoes. Turns out it's much easier on a proper mountain in proper snow with proper boots

That's probably why I wasn't very good at it! I did the same too.

Oh man, I need to get my arse snowboarding again soon. About six months ago I went to our local snow dome place last thing on a Sunday night - of course the slope was pretty wrecked and I ended up losing control on a bit of compacted snow (ice, really), falling on my chest and breaking a rib. Really dented my confidence. I took some more lessons about a month ago but couldn't seem to get back to the standard I had previously managed to.

The instructor did at least tell me I was okay to go on the main slope by myself, but that I should go in a quieter time. In other words, during the day time on a weekday or first thing at the weekend. Both of those are pretty much impossible for me right now, as I've no annual leave left this year and my weekends are usually taken up with looking after Zioette/recovering from looking after Zioette.

What's worse is I bought my own boots just before breaking the rib, so they've been properly going to waste ever since.

My lovely plan last year of treating myself was scuppered by the horrific expense of buying and moving into our own house.
But! The desire to become a wintersports legend has remained strong and has had a surprise injection of realness from my parents who are getting me the 'learn snowboarding in a day' thing from Xscape for my birthday! Score!
Hoping to do it the last weekend of January but we'll see.

Good, sooner you do that the sooner you can join me up north. I need more folk to play wi'

I went sledging at Milton Keynes Xscape on Saturday. Using my son as a decoy, I wiped out one of the marshals

I once did the human Velcro thing. I got into the suit, did a big run up to the wall, lept into the air, and knocked down the marshall.

I had the mental image then of an aircraft firing off chaff or flares into the air.

He needs to start his engines.

Had my first lesson today! Chose skiing because I was watching the snowboarders and they were falling down lots, even the half decent ones. I want to be all speedy zoom zoom so thought skiing was better. Had a brilliant time, going for another lesson next week. They certainly take the piss a bit with the lessons and its slow progress considering I was picking it up first time, but we can't go to the mountain. Had booked for yesterday and it got cancelled due to no snow.
Think we might book a skiing holiday for next January.

Glad you finally went skiing Gilly! It does start off slow, but once you've got the grounding when you go out on a mountain for real you'll be a pro in half a day. You'd better start saving now though for next jan if you're going as ski trips are bloody expensive!

We've been looking online at a few packages, thinking about booking something in the next couple of months then paying it up. The deals for chalets and groups of 6+ are good but I don't think we know that many people who would want to go!
Plus I think that a week skiing together would be amazing, having quiet night of a couple of drinks abs chilling in bed with a DVD.
Has anyone booked a wintersports holiday before and able to recommend either a travel agent/company or a resort?
I would love to go somewhere like Whistler but think maybe we should just go to Europe for our first time since its cheaper. We'd be going in January so shouldn't be an issue getting the snow.

I've only been with Uni so I don't know about booking, but more always = cheaper.
I'd love to go to Whistler too, but I'd say alps first, or even bulgaria (cheaper) maybe for a first try. You're probably looking at minimum £700per person for a weeks skiing wherever you go. But well worth doing, really good fun holidays ski ones!

I went to Val D'Isere in... '07 or '08...at the end of January. It was fucking amazing, despite the fact I was getting over a knee injury that meant the skiing was seriously cut short. We booked with Neilson and had a self catering apartment, it was about £1100 ea for 7 nights, plus all equipment hire and tuition, as it was my first time skiing. It you go to the Alps, to one of the main ski areas, you can get lift passes that give you access to lifts all over that ski region. Val D'Isere is on the Espace Killy so we could right over the mountain and into Tignes in the neighbouring valley. It was an immense area. Generally, the bigger and better the resort, the better and more varied the apres ski and non-skiing related activities but they're expensive, ice driving in an Audi cost almost €200. So I went karting instead which was about €80 and unbelievably fun. Food and drink is also expensive, a vodka and coke there cost me €8.50

Then I took the boys to Bulgaria. It was £1600 for the three of us, half board, including tuition and equipment hire for a week. It was cheaper, food and drink wise than the Alps but it had loads of pushy sales people in the street and eastern European men can be cunts. The activities were more limited, just the usual like ski-doo tours and tubing. The group of people I was snowboarding with were ace, so we hung out with them a lot. It was a great holiday and the ski runs were fine for what we needed and plenty long enough, although nothing compared to variety of the ones in France.

Val D'Isere is a tempting prospect, I would like to go there. I can't believe how much I enjoyed skiing, I don't know why more people don't do it! It's so much fun, you get to slide down a mountain looking a cool!

I live in a snow paradise and I haven't been able to go here yet... its always a hassle going to mountains as transport isn't great and expensive, that's probably why not too many do it.

Whistler's lovely, but it sure as hell ain't cheap, especially when you consider the cost of flights.

Second lesson today. Was fifteen minutes late because I got the time wrong by 45 minutes
Was brilliant though, I was the only student and she was a really good teacher, each time I went down the slope she came with me, either giving me tips on my posture and stance or skiing backwards in front of me to adjust my ski position and stuff, it was great.
Need to have completed the first four levels to go on that slope alone and today I passed 2 and 3, mainly because my instructor was awesome and kept me in for her next class, taking me up the top of the main slope for another hour
Felt like I was going at a million miles an hour at one point and was amazed I didn't fall over, it was brilliant.
I did fall over twice overall though, once I somehow managed to fall off the lift halfway up and recovered by sort of flipping over onto the slope and then sliding down a wee bit with my bum just above the skis, until I managed to spring up into standing position and ski back down the hill. The other time I was literally just standing at the top of the slope and somehow managed to just tip right over
Can't wait to go back, although probably won't be 'til next month now.