Group lessons are a lot less expensive, and every bit as effective, as individual lessons.
I’m 40, and went skiing for the first time in my life this past Sunday, so I definitely possess the expert qualifications needed to advise you…
Take a lesson. A group lesson will be well worth the money. I’m not sure how things work in Colorado, but here in Northern California most of the resorts offer a “learn to ski” package that includes equipment rental, lift ticket, and lessons for a pretty hefty discount. Some resorts will restrict you to only certain lifts, but you probably won’t want to be running the double black diamond runs anyway…
The lesson we took lasted an hour and a half, including about 45 minutes of work on the ‘bunny slope’ and a couple trips down one of the easier green runs. By the end I felt very comfortable on my skis, but being a bit older and wiser that I used to be I resisted the temptation to ‘push my limits’. The old bones don’t heal as fast as they used to.
As pretty much everyone else said, dress in layers, and make sure you wear good socks. If your feet are not comfortable, you will *not *enjoy yourself.
Good luck! You’ll have a blast!
I just returned Saturday from a week at Telluride, CO and still have skiing on the brain. It was about 40 degrees in town and near freezing midmountain.
GilaB mentioned a neck gator and I think it’s the most important piece of clothing a new skier may overlook. It’s very windy on the mountain and there’s no escaping it on the chairlifts. Block it from getting down your shirts with a gator.
I recommend carrying as little as possible. While in Telluride, my ski buddy fell onto something* in his pocket, bruised a rib/ribs and was out for the rest of the trip. I carry a ziplock bag with my DL, credit card, some cash and my phone (and sometimes a camera). I also bring a 500ml plastic bottle of water when I expect it to be warm out.
I self taught myself over the course of a couple seasons and it shows. I can get around but without proper lessons, my form is sloppy and I fell a lot during those early years. A lesson will give you confidence on the slopes. The contemporary parabolic sidecut skis are much easier to learn on than I old longboards so that helps.
*a liquor bottle.
since this is my thread, I am coming here to randomly bitch:
WHY THE HELL ARE SKI PANTS SO EXPENSIVE :mad: :mad: :mad:
Various reasons, from warmth to waterproofness and breathability.
Really, just get a good thick pair of fleece pants, throw them over some long johns, and pull on a pair of wind/water proof pants. Cheap and good enough.
Another vote on being careful with the non-skiing footwear.
You probably won’t need Sorels or anything, but beware of slippery boots or shoes. Things designed for the snow won’t have this problem, but I had a pair of wonderful Italian hiking boots that took me from BC to the Baltic, so comfortable and durable, but they had one glaring fault: introduce them to snow or ice and they did their best to approximate a frictionless surface. NOT good when you have to unexpectedly make your way through an early snowfall on the outskirts of Algonquin Park.
Pity the dog got to them one day when I was visiting friends.
Another ditto on the sunglasses or sungoggles as well. Get ones that protect against UV. Snow blindness is no picnic.
What prices are you seeing? Sears has ski pants at between $130 and $450. But winterwear in never cheap. Of course, a decent high-quality parka will run you at least $300. And snowmobile suits… $500 and up, up, up.
Er, I meant “between $130 and $60” there.
Modell’s has men’s ski bibs for $30 and up here . Doesn’t seem crazy expensive to me, but I’ve never actually bought ski pants.
I still ski in the pants my father bought for me a decade ago, when I was in high school. They’re teal, because he always wanted us to be in bright color pairings not worn by anybody else on the slopes, so he could tell who we were from a distance. (At the time, I had a medium-blue coat, black hat, and I think a bright purple gator. It’s distinctive.) At this point, I’m the only person on the mountain in teal, which hasn’t been cool since about 1995, but it does make me easily findable.
Oh, a good point. The danger isn’t so much in falling. The danger is in remaining upright and being out of control.
Ok, how strenuous is downhill skiing? I’m out of shape and currently at 600 feet, but I will be going this weekend. Should I bring oxygen and hire sherpas?
Very true, especially for a first attempt at skiing. Typo Knig wore rain pants over regular pants for his first attempt at skiing; they weren’t perfectly comfy but they were something he already had. Obviously they were layered over other stuff.
You could try buying gently-used pants off of eBay. Some of the cheaper brands however are sized ridiculously small; I bought a pair of XXL women’s bibs and they were much too small (OTOH a pair of XXL Columbias bought new were loose). The cheap XXLs fit a friend’s 13 year old quite well, and she’s not overweight.
You definitely want a waterproof outer layer. You will wind up sitting on the ground a lot!
As a beginner, I’d recommend NOT buying clothing that is specifically designed for skiing. There is so much good, cheap, multiuse sportswear out there. Buy a good pair of rainwear, or water resistant running pants, or splurge and get something gore-tex. Layer them over tights, longjohns, slacks, sweats, whatever. Just my opinion. But even if you never go skiing again, you’ll have a pair of rain pants you can use whenever you go out to do anything in inclement weather.
I’m about as out of shape as one can be without becoming physically attached to sofas or toilet seats (ew!), and I too live not that far above sea level, and I managed OK. You will be very tired at the end of the day and you will be sore the next day. All the slogging around at the bottom of the slope (lugging skis, clomping around in those heavy boots) is work. So is the downhill portion; surprisingly so as gravity is doing the bulk of the work - but you’re using muscles to keep yourself balanced, to turn, to brake, to get up when you fall…
It’s mostly worth it though, once you actually get going. I was actually disappointed that we had to cancel our ski weekend a few weeks ago (kid with slightly broken back, oh bother).
I second this approach. Expensive gear is great if you’re going to devoting a lot of time to skiing (I own 9 pair of skis 
) but it’s not needed. I find fleece to heavy/warm to actually ski in; I usually use a pair of runners tights under some bib ski pants or simply runner’s wind pants if I don’t expect to be getting very wet.