Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Dear Dr. Ski,
I was recently at a function, mostly comprised of regular skiers.  During the formalities, one of the "top table" was very keen to describe his attire during one north american adventure, in rather a lot of detail. 
Although, at the time, I thought this a little superfluous to the main story, later, it got me thinking that I may not be fulfilling my true potential by not being properly clothed and equipped.
Apparently, it is very necessary, not only for ski clothes to be coordinated, but also it is important for accessries, such as back-packs, to be similarly matched to the clothes.  I am afraid to say that whilst I have jacket and trousers that are of fairly recent design and colour, my back-pack is a little older and clashes terribly with my jacket (and skis).
Will this fashion faux pas affect my skiing ability in any way?  I am concerned I may not be reaching my full potential when I'm not also looking the part.
Yours,
Will F Ewell

Dear Will F

As you can imagine I get loads of this sort of nonsense and I have to say that I usually treat it with contempt it deserves, however It occurred to me that I could use your particularly inept attempt at humour to explode some of the deranged ideas of many would be skiers. Firstly let me confirm that colour coordination has nothing whatsoever to do with mastery of the Slippery Art, just take a look at the motley crew to the right if you don't believe me. Occasionally you see this take extreme forms as in the case of the poor unfortunate in the picture below, what was he thinking?
What is important is that your clothing functions properly, being warm and dry does have a beneficial effect on your skiing, if you have holes in your gloves and insist on wearing the same old suit for 20 years anything can go wrong.
The same applies to boots and skis, you'd be amazed how many regular sliders boast that they've had their boots for 10 years or more or that they haven't had a ski service since 1962. Imagine if you turned up for a round of golf and your playing partner had a set of hickory shafts in the bag?
Having said that a new driver won't improve a crap swing and any amount of new ski gear won't turn you into Herman Maier, colour coordinated or not, keep your kit up to date and well serviced then get some expert tuition, it's money well spent.

Yours in anticipation

Dr Ski

Private lessons are available Swiss Francs only please.

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