9/12/11 – Why this winter’s jumpers are made for the Alps

One of my jumpers is pining for the Fjords

I’m no fashion expert, but I’ve detected a ski-chic theme to high-street clothing this winter. I’m talking Fair Isle meets Norwegian meets Austro-Swiss. The patterns this look involves appear not only on predictable garments such as hats, scarves and gloves, but on dresses, cardigans, wraps and jumpers – and on men’s as well as women’s wear.

Take a look at this lot:

http://tinyurl.com/5rtl9sw

http://tinyurl.com/cwp7gh3

http://tinyurl.com/bqnok26

This one is woolly and wintry

Yesterday evening I went late-night shopping in Guildford and the window of Gap, on the high street, reminded me of Aspen lodge scene from Dumb and Dumber.

As a long-time fan of these sorts of garments, I am joining in with enthusiasm. As I write, I’m wearing a striped cardie by Esprit that looks distinctly alpine, and recently I bought a long woollen top at Monsoon that has similar neat, striped patterns.

There's snow on my headband

It doesn’t stop at woollies. There is an implausiby huge choice of ear-muffs in Accessorize, which to me are a ski accessory. I wore a pair each winter aged eight to 12, both on and off the slopes, and rediscovered them in my thirties. I have two pairs, in rabbit fur, that I chanced upon in a gift shop in Devon. I often ski in them, either on their own or over a headband, but they don’t go well with goggles.

How hot is this hat?

Accessorize’s headbands looked disappointing, being un-lined, and I thought they’d probably “sag” quite quickly, and might not be that warm.

But their scarves and their gloves – including a massive choice of designs in fingerless form, with mitten fingers attached as a flap – were spot on.

In the Dale, at a restaurant in Hochgurgl, with guests of the original More Than Skiing

What’s annoying for me is that until a couple of months ago I had this winter’s perfect staple in my wardrobe – a Dale of Norway jumper. For the first time in the ten years I’ve owned it, it might have been vaguely cool.

But in a rare attack of “let’s get rid of everything I haven’t worn for a couple of years, and everything that doesn’t feel that flattering any more”, I bundled it off to charity. The other day I saw a man on the street in a Dale that looked just like it. It could well have been mine, and I have to admit it looked much better on him.

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5/8/11 – My his-and-hers collection, part two

It's a nice touch that his teensy rucksack matches her shoes and hat

Welcome to the second instalment of pictures from my his-and-hers library. If you’ve read part one (http://tinyurl.com/3pbzz37) you will know what it’s all about. Twin-suits roaming the slopes a deux, attracting a chuckle from people like me.

I was lucky enough one day when ski hosting for Inghams in Obergurgl (perhaps in 1997) to have my very own his-and-his in my group – a father and son in identical pale blue jackets. I remember them being very nice chaps and I think they had the plausible excuse that the coats were something to do with the family firm.

Matching Inghams guests, a father and son, around 1997

I wonder if hitting the slopes clad in his-and-herses makes couples more harmonious on ski holidays. Common is the sight of a bored husband waiting impatiently at the bottom while his wife slides nervously down.

Last winter a friend and I came across a classic on St Anton’s Rendl slopes: the husband fed up, planted in the middle of an icy red run and bellowing  unhelpful instructions at his poor near-beginner wife edging her way down. She would have been happier in ski school; he would have been happier on his own (and could probably have done with ski school himself).

A shame this Bogner-style pair didn't complete the look with identical trousers

There is an entertaining thread I found a few weeks ago on the Snowheads forum about skiing with ‘other halves’ – follow this link to read it http://tinyurl.com/3cesfpc. I am very much with the school that says be patient, encourage and wait for your slower loved-one – and it will pay off because you will eventually be able to enjoy skiing together.

Follow-my-leader, a great formula for patient couples

I met two couples who are brilliant examples of this approach this February in Fernie.

One is an expert skier who was repping there for the Ski Club of GB before me, whose wife only learnt in her 20s and can now easily tackle anything he can. It seemed to me his patient, kind and positive attitude had been a big factor.

Another couple I met were a complete beginner and an out-and-out expert living in a mobile home for the winter, with the express purpose of transforming her into a ski-fanatic. By the time I got there in February, she could ski virtually all Fernie’s off-piste runs – and many of them are seriously steep. Her husband-to-be got the balance just right between taking her down new slopes and letting her get her confidence on familiar ones.

Having said that, I also met a great family in which the mother stuck happily to the green runs near the base station and the father and sons ventured off to the steeps. All seemed perfectly happy to ski separately – there was no martyred husband being deprived of his fun and no bullied wife being told to turn on a patch of ice by a husband who had sailed on instead of giving her a patient lead down the tricky bits…

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