Thermals Advice Please !

Hi there

I am taking my family to Saas Fee in Feburary for our first trip and i am confused as to the best type of thermals to buy.

Our girls are 11 and 8 years old.

My freind recommended Helly Hanson Sport thermals but they seem pretty expensive ?

Please can someone recommend me a "best" and also a "budget" option ?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Regards

borischelski wrote:Hi there

I am taking my family to Saas Fee in Feburary for our first trip and i am confused as to the best type of thermals to buy.

Our girls are 11 and 8 years old.

My freind recommended Helly Hanson Sport thermals but they seem pretty expensive ?

Please can someone recommend me a "best" and also a "budget" option ?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Regards

Welcome to J2ski :D Thermals are pretty important items of clothing, and inferior kit can ruin anyones' enjoyment of their holiday. Best kit is reckoned to be Icebreaker. Mid range is HH. Budget option is Trespass/Dare2B/Aldi etc.

If you are after a bargain, especially with growing children, and are in the UK, get along to a TK Maxx soon. I picked up some Falke thermals from there recently, for one third of the full retail price.

I've used various HH, Icebreaker, Schoeffel, Musto base layers for various sports and all have done the job. If you want budget I think Aldi are doing a ski wear promo this week.

How about TK Maxx? There's lots of support on here for their range.

For me, the essential factor that I look for is that the base layer has wicking qualities. Otherwise, you'll end up with soaking underlayers by the end of the day.

For the little 'uns I think I'd go for a cheaper option especially as they're likely to grow out of them quickly.

bandit wrote:
Welcome to J2ski :D Thermals are pretty important items of clothing, and inferior kit can ruin anyones' enjoyment of their holiday. Best kit is reckoned to be Icebreaker. Mid range is HH. Budget option is Trespass/Dare2B/Aldi etc.

If you are after a bargain, especially with growing children, and are in the UK, get along to a TK Maxx soon. I picked up some Falke thermals from there recently, for one third of the full retail price.

I have some of extremely expensive X-bionic stuff and it's only just OK. The very best I have right now are a set I bought from Aldi which are absolutely fantastic, 20 chf each for top and leggings, however that's the mens stuff, the womens version was fairly poor. There's no reason at all this stuff shouldn't be as cheap as chips, the stuff Aldi has is as good as it gets. Mostly anything's good as long as it's not cotton really.

The best stuff I have had (tried under armour, cheap stuff (believe it or not) and just standard thermals) are silk thermals.. won't buy anything else now for sure.

ise wrote:
I have some of extremely expensive X-bionic stuff and it's only just OK. The very best I have right now are a set I bought from Aldi which are absolutely fantastic, 20 chf each for top and leggings, however that's the mens stuff, the womens version was fairly poor. There's no reason at all this stuff shouldn't be as cheap as chips, the stuff Aldi has is as good as it gets. Mostly anything's good as long as it's not cotton really.

This is true. You really won't notice much difference performance wise between a cheap fleece top and one costing ten times as much. Where there is a difference, is in cut, comfort (low profile seams) and manufacturing quality.


borischelski, as ise says, avoid cotton, but if you look around, you should be able to find synthetic (polyester)tops as a first layer and fleece tops and bottoms for a second layer. These don't have to be from a sports store. Even some fashion clothes will work well. If in doubt about a material's suitability, see how much it weighs as it comes out of the washing machine wet. If it feels heavy and holds water, then it is unsuitable for outdoor sports.

Much also depends on the insulation in your outer jacket and pants. Uninsulated ski pants may require two pairs of fleece pants underneath.

Only one thing is worse than being too warm skiing; and that is being too cold.

Trencher

I recently purchased some blizzard base layer sets from skiwear4less for £8 a set plus £4 delivery rrp £60 (so they say), they are decent quality, you could try marks and spencer as there base layers are quite expensive but very good quality!

Primark sell ladies thermals. no idea on quality though