KITTING OUT FOR WINTER

28th December 2018 | Katie Bamber, Senior News Reporter

Last modified on August 23rd, 2021

Skiing is plenty expensive already. No need to look out even more things to spend money on. And with the price of ski gear so high…NEW

We find and test the best technical snowwear out there that costs the least amount of dollar…

This is something I’ve done without compromising the style, the quality or the comfort.

And it’s something I feel strongly about.

I’m shocked at how much ski and snowboard gear costs ‘nowadays’.

We’re not even talking equipment, i.e. boots, boards and planks.

High end, enviable ski jackets come in around £800 from brands that the locals on the mountains and the experts in the videos are sporting.

The ‘backcountry’ pants swing around the £350 mark at the top brands and mid-level goggles cost £150, mas o menos, which clouds my eyes no snow needed.

So notch all this up, not forgetting your socks and long johns which smart ones will sub in from the highstreet, and you’re looking at a total that’s really quite daunting.

For a sport that’s already more expensive than the average, and perhaps do for just one week a year, need we spend a month’s pay cheque on skiing before we get to the slopes?

Wed’ze, Decathlon. Image © PlanetSKI

No, is my short answer.

I’d head to a Decathlon superstore to check out ALL that’s on offer.

The French brand has put a lot in to it’s own snowsports brand Wed’ze, designing and producing quality and stylish and technical ski and snowboard clothing.

Technically, it’s sound.

The result? It lasted well, it looked good and it performed.

So this season I try the snowboarding kit.

Head to toe.

Base layer to outer shells.

For £320 – no skimping on quality or items – from socks to helmet, backpack and bum-protecting board pants.

Not that it has to be done like this, of course.

Getting everything from the same brand, though it’s great to know you can if you’re a first timer.

Pick and choose items, mix ’em with your other pieces, go in for a browse, though, and I’ll bet you come out with more than you thought.

(The 900 base layer range is possibly the best I’ve had and is top and bottom are super high performance – these are an easy buy).

Those prices!

I put the outfit through some different paces in the French resort of Serre Chevalier to see how it fared:

Snowboarding, fat biking, show shoeing, cross country skiing.

And tested it out under heavy snow, in cold temperatures and in glorious sunshine…

In short?

It’s the same answer from me as last year with the ski kit: It fits, it looks good and it performs.

So let’s get to it.

The gear. Here’s what I picked out:

Backpack Reverse 500 = £24.99
Women’s beige snowboard 500 trousers = £59.99
Women’s petrole snowboard 500 jacket = £79.99
900 base layer top = £19.99- 900 base layer bottom = £16.99
Gloves 900 purple = £29.99
Goggles G520i White = £54.99
Snowboard H-FS 300 helmet = £29.99
Socks 100 = £3.99

TOTAL = £320.91

Decathlon. Image © PlanetSKI

The trousers in this outfit have a great feature: they’re padded on the bum and on the knees.

Those seasoned snowboarders among you will know how important this is.

Sitting and kneeling on the snow, which you do a lot of when snowboarding, it’s important to have the extra insulation (and added padding for when you come down).

I tested these out in deep powder and in the wetter snow down in the valley.

The outcome? Dry.

Winning.

I also loved the beige pants on bottom, combined with the dark blue snowboarding jacket on top and had a few compliments on how smart, but snowboarder-y it looked.

Win, win.

Decathlon’s own brand snowboard gear. Image © PlanetSKI

The helmet I had last year is one of the best I’ve seen on the slopes.

Pale blue, it’s still feminine looking for when you’re all bundled up

Same safety approved. Much less money than most…

Wed’ze gear at lunch

I even chucked in the snowboarder’s hoodie, which was super stretch as well as warm, to give a spin during lunch breaks on the hill.

In fact, I was warm the entire time.

Temperatures dropped to -6 C and I didn’t feel it at all.

I wore the 900 skin-tight base layer, the hoodie and the petrole 500 jacket, which was all I needed.

The sunny day, and for showshoeing down in the valley, the skin and the jacket – equally as efficient.

Wed’ze. Image © PlanetSKI

The socks come in at £3.99 so there’s no excuse to stink out your chalet and recycle the same pair all week…

Though there’ll always be one.

My favourite piece this season were the gloves.

These I chose because they had a biker look, with leather and dark purple.

Real cool.

And handy…

I admit I have issues with gloves and usually go for mittens for extra warmth.

But even though I was snowboarding and was scrabbling round in the snow and with bindings more than usual, they stood up in the test.

Dry and warm, which I know is what most go for but oh-so-many fail to be…

Gloves were my top piece, for sure.

Check out the video, let us know if you have any questions (I tested this gear out in different conditions and was happy in it all, but if I’ve missed something out you have problems with then hit me up to hear more) and take a look at the online shop: