How do you keep warm on the slopes?

I find the better I get at skiing the colder it becomes. Especially on piste you start to work less and suffer from more windchill. The same applies to a certain extent off piste but there is always a little more work to do to at least help keep warm.

I find that with good layers of technical clothing you can wear almost the same regardless of temperature and it seems to adjust to your demands a little.

My personal preference. is base layer of thermals top and bottom. Goretex shell ski trousers.

On top I wear a windstopper base layer over my normal base layer and then a thin fleece. Then a primaloft synthetic down jacket followed by a Goretex shell ski jacket.

If it's really cold I can add a fleece and if its warm I can loose the down jacket.

I did a night time ski tour on Wednesday night and going up I only needed a fleece and windstopper layer but at approaching -20 on top with windchill things got very quickly very cold and the down and goretex all came out of the back pack.

My ski clothing & comfort has evolved year in year out & for piste skiing I think I have finally got the layering balance about right. Basically after twenty years of skiing I treated myself to a really good insulated ski jacket & trousers (schoffel), a single base layer is enough for most days to keep warm. Always pack lightweight balaclava & use mitten style ski gloves & pack a pair of liner gloves just in case it's Baltic & one of those buff mufflers. I suppose it depends on how active or how hard you are having to work (depending on skiing ability, group lessons etc & having to hang about alot) to how many layers you will need.
I find on really cold days (wind chill) it is the face & neck that suffer the most, hence the balaclava & neck muffler. Helmet usually works well to keep the elements at bay.

I agree with Finn, a good quality jacket and salos with minimum layers seems to do the trick. We went up the Festkogl chair in Obergurgl last week just prior to it being closed due to high winds and snow. It was -9 in the village at 1930m and we were close to 3000m with a shere wind and snow blowing straight through us. God knows what the windchill factor was :roll: Needless to say, and in keeping with Ian and Tony's suggestion we did not hang around and skied like mad to get some shelter from the elements. It was the worst conditions I have ever skied in and being a smoker at altitude I was struggling for breath (must give up this year) As Finn said, I was fine apart from my face and neck. I unpacked my balaclava for the rest of the holiday and kept moving when possible.