Ski Pants or Snow Bibs? Best Option for Little Kids

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Published on Wednesday, November 07, 2012 14:38

Written by Off The Beaten Path TravelingMom

When I was a little kid, I had ski bibs -- kind of like overalls, over the shoulder straps -- when I went skiing. I hated them. Admittedly, we didn’t have high tech thermal-wear back then and I felt like I was wearing a million layers. I was stuffed like a Build-A-Bear. And worse, I had to take off my top layers in order to get my bibs down to go to the bathroom. And the bathroom floor was usually wet with melted snow. And as a little kid, in ski boots, trying to keep my bibs off the wet floor as I went to the bathroom -- well, it was challenging.

So I bought ski bibs for my kids.
Happy, Dry Skier (With Bibs)
Counterintuitive?

You know, kids fall down in the snow a lot. Or they just lay down in it and start rolling around. Snow gets into their clothes and makes them wet. Even with high tech thermal underwear. If they are wearing bibs, they get less wet. I know, I know. I just wrote about being stuffed. And yes, my kids also complain about wearing bibs. They wanted pants. Saw pants as a sort of big-boy/big-girl rite of passage.

They also drafged their ski clothes on the bathroom floor. But they never got wet inside their clothes from rolling in the snow. Ultimately, you want them to be comfortable: physically and psychically.

It’s a trade off.

This year they are wearing pants. It’s true that there is more mobility in pants. And pant wearers are more advanced skiers. Bunny slopers are the ones wearing bibs, more often than not. My kids see this as low status.

Me? I’m still looking for a retro, all-in-one ski suit. They’re back in style. The manufacturers just don’t know it yet.