During the first 4 days of this road trip, I have been living in my ski clothes, taking them off only to slip into my night-wear at the motel at the end of the day.
I have been doing this on my day trips to the mountain for ever. I simply don't like having to chaqnge clothes more than necessary. I am going skiing, so ski clothes is all I need. I put them on in the morning, and I don't take them off unttil I return home. For those rare occasions when I get soaked wet due to the weather, I usually carry some spare clothing in my ski bag, but I hardly ever use itt.
In the past 4 years or so, especially since I have been doing more Spring SKiing, where I often get wet from the inside, from my own perspiration, I got into the habit of carrying my street clothes with me, and I now often do change somewhere at some secluded spot on the way back down from the mountain. I prefer showing my naked behind to the birds and the bees than to change clothes in some smelly restroom.
But, on this road trip, I wentt back to my old practice of living in my ski clothes. Several reasons. For one, I don't feel the need to change. I am pacing myself for the long journey, so I am trying not to break a sweat. Also, there is always an urgency to keep driving on. There are usually many hours of driving to the next destaintion, and I want to do most of the driving during the day time, ... so no time for changing clothes. I just remove my ski boots and my ski jacket, and I am ready for the road.
Even when I got somewhat wet from the drizzle at Snowbasin, the wetness was mainly on the outside of my clothing, and whatever wetness was on the outside of my ski pants had completely evaporated and dried out long before I reached my next motel. I was comfy.
Only on the fifth day of the trip, once I reached New Mexico, the temperature reached the 60s, and it was just too hot in the car to drive in my ski pants, so I was forced to change into my street clothes.
But putting on my ski clothes first thing in the morning is part of an overall routine of mine. The idea is that by the time I get to the ski area, I want to be ready to go skiing, and not fiddle with a dozen otther things in the parking lot. So, as soon as I wash my face and shave in the morning, I always put on sunscreen, regardless of the weather. Being part of my morning routine ensures that I'll never forget the sunscreen.
I also have a "final touch-up" routine on the first ride up. Unless there's a blizzard raging, I am usually too hot to zip up everything just for the long walk through the parking lot. So, I usually finish getting ready on the first chairlift ride. That's when I finally pull up all my zippers, and also reach into my pocket for some vaseline3 lotion with an SPF of 15, to protect my lips from both the sun and the wind.
And that's also when I usually put on my gloves for the first time. Up till that first ride up, my gloves are usually dangling from my ski jacket, where I found a way to attache them to one of my pocket zippers using one of those plastic loops used to hold a lift ticket.
When visiting a new ski area (or even an old one for me), I always ask for a trail map, and the best time to consult the map and plan the next run is on the chairlift. Too many people don't even start thinking about where they want to go next until they unload from the lift at the top. It may be cold and breezy at the top, but that's where they congregate to talk about where to go next. To me, that's a waste of precious time. There's more than enough time to consult the trail map during the ride up, and to talk to your ski buddies about it while still on the chair...
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