How to pick a resort, read a ski pass price list, choose your skis and stay safe on and off the piste.
How to read your DIN value from the ISO 11088 chart for your weight, height, age, skier type and boot sole length, what each of these factors changes, and when a ski service should check your bindings.
We check what the vignettes cost on the way in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Then we explain where winter tyres and snow chains are required, and finally the Austrian motorway sections that are charged separately.
What age to start at, whether to sign your child up for ski school, how to choose skis, boots and clothing, what helmet laws apply in Poland, Italy and Austria, and what to pack before the first trip.
Anyone going skiing in the Alps for the first time usually starts by asking about dates and ends with a packing list. In between come the journey, the ski pass, the choice between hiring and taking your own skis, piste colours in the Alps and in Poland, altitude and sun; we cover them in that order.
We give the ten rules of the International Ski Federation (FIS) in our own rendering of the official text, and under each one we add an explanation based on the FIS commentary. The rules themselves are not law, so further on we describe what applies on the slopes in Poland, Italy and Austria.
Where to start? With a tape measure and a simple test that shows whether a helmet fits properly. Then we move on to the EN 1077 standard and MIPS, when to replace a helmet, which lens category to choose and how to match goggles to your helmet. We have left the helmet laws in Poland, Italy and Austria until the very end.
Here are the answers to the questions that come up before every season: when to wax your skis and at what angle to sharpen the edges. We also explain how to repair the base, what to take to a ski service and what you can do yourself, when to have your bindings checked and how to store skis from spring to winter.
