Here are my tips on how to get ready for the first ski trip of the year.

Skis:

Chances are if you are anything like me your skis have been sitting in your ski bag since your last trip to the mountain. Before they will be ready for the slops you should take them to your local ski shop and have them tuned up. A tune up is just an adjustment of the bindings, waxing the bottom of the skis and sharpening the edges. The reason for adjusting the binding is to make sure they are in good working order and to make and adjustments for any changes in your weight. The edges of the skis must be sharp to make sure you can turn if you happen to hit some ice and you wax the bottom of the skis to fill in any scratches and to reduce the amount of friction on the snow.

Boots:

Even if your feet have stopped growing you still need to check your boots ever year, and every few years you should replace the foam inserts I your boots to make sure your boots are comfortable and fit properly. Improperly fitting boots can cause a broken ankle or at least some nasty blisters that could ruin your skit trip and hurt for days.

Ski Polls:

It is also very important to make sure that the bottoms of your ski polls are sharp so they can cut thru a thin layer of ice if needed. It is also good to make sure that you have the right size polls. Take the poll and turn it upside down, then place your fist around the end of the poll. Your arm should now be parallel to the ground of it is not you should get new polls. The purpose for polls is to help along with balance and ice. If you are trying to turn and start to slide on a patch of ice you can jam one side into the ice to help you complete your turn or to help stop.

Hands, Head and Eyes:

Keeping warm and dry is important to your health, so making sure your hands and head are covered is important. By alloying your hands to get wet and cold you could damage your hands and possibly get frostbite. A hat should cover your entire head and be made from a warm material to help keep the heat from escaping. If you are skiing and have no eye protection how will you be able to see where you are going? At the very least you must have a pair of sunglasses, but proper ski goggles are best just because they wrap all the way around your eyes and are pulled close to make sure no wind gets in your eyes allowing you to keep your eyes open at any speeds or weather conditions.

Thermal Underwear:

Thermal Underwear is made from two ply cotton with a box weave texture to help trap the body heat and deflect cold air from passing to the body.

Ski Pants:

Ski pants have not changed much in the last 20 years. They are made from insulated material designed to keep the wind away from the body, but the newer pants have fleece linings and pocket linings to warm up cold hands. The newest features I have seen on ski pants is actually a throwback from the 20's it’s the bomb drop butt flap, and if you are not sure what that means it is a flap in the back of the pants to make going to the bathroom easy without having to undo all the buckles and straps.

Janice Windsor love to play cards in online casinos. She loves to play gin rummy and poker. When she is not gambling in cyber space she loves to go skiing all over the world.