Ski Equipment List

You can always tell an experienced ski mountaineer by their rucksack, especially on longer tours. A light rucksack means you will move faster and more efficiently, and on a long hut to hut tour, dropping a few kilos from your back can have a big effect.

Basically, drop all the luxuries and listen to the advice of your guide when it comes to clothing. Ditch the book, PJ’s and cuddly toy – go light and fast!

Clothing  – for both heat and sun protection as well as colder early morning starts...

Clothing will need to vary according to the time of year. Below is a suggestion for milder spring touring. In general you will want to avoid bulky downhill skiing jackets, mountaineering style layering is much more flexible and generally lighter

• Long sleeved thin thermal top
• Micro fleece
• Soft shell jacket / Goretex
• Insulated top – medium weight
• Soft shell trousers to fit ski boots
• Lightweight Goretex over trousers, for bad weather and warmth.
•  Head, Hands and Feet
• Buff – sun hat – warm hat (All three are fairly essential).
• Thin uphill gloves
• Warm downhill gloves (mitts?)
• Cat 3-4 sunglasses
• Goggles
• Sun tan cream and lip balm A high factor 50 is best.
• Helmet. (An optional item, but recommended)

Clothing – There are lots of gear shops in Chamonix, from cheap to posh for last minute purchases:

• Gaiters for mountaineering boots. Keeps the snow out and stops you catching your crampons.
• Thin liner socks and mid weight walking socks. Can prevent blisters if you have two layers, but not essential.
• Warm gloves for summit day, e.g Mountain Equipment guide glove or similar. Plus one pair of thinner fleece gloves for general walking.
• Warm hat, buff/neck gaiter and a sun hat.
• Waterproof jacket and trousers, lightweight is best. Ideally your jackets hood will go over a helmet.
• Trousers – Mid weight soft shell trousers are ideal, and normally wouldn’t require a thermal layer underneath, you can use the waterproof trousers if it’s windy above the Gouter hut. E.g. Arcteryx Beta pants. Thinner trousers can work, but you may need a thermal layer as well.
• Thermal top layer, thin long sleeved tops work best to keep the sun off.
• Mid weight top layer. Fleece or other synthetic.
• Lightweight down or mid weight synthetic over jacket. This needs to be able to go over all your other layers so you can add or remove it without having to take your waterproof or harness off.