1 super easy way to become a better skier or boarder

It’s completely understandable, drinking water when skiing seems like a faff that on the surface, doesn’t even really seem that relevant to how much enjoyment you'll get from your holiday.

If you’re a good skier, maybe you want to feel as free as possible on the slopes and not weighed down with kit like you're going on a camping trip.

Those newer to skiing already have enough to think about and if you're going to spend a couple of days falling over a lot, you probably don’t want to be falling on a lumpy rucksack.

In both cases, you're in a cold environment so it seems quite unlikely that you’ll be sweating much anyway, so no need to drink water, right? 

Wrong.

Sure, you might not end up with sweat running down your face, but you're skiing at altitude, wearing warm clothes, possibly feeling the effects of a few après drinks from the night before and probably being more active than usual. 

These factors alone may double the amount of fluid you need to drink. In addition, without a bottle of water or a mountain restaurant every half a mile means it’s easy to go a few hours without any fluid at all.  

When you're on the slopes, you're probably thinking you don’t need to have a drink and that’s probably because altitude also makes you feel less thirsty. You might think you’re well hydrated as you’re going to the toilet, but that’s just a natural cold-response of the body. So the potential downward spiral towards dehydration continues.
 

Not drinking enough and being dehydrated reduces your power, endurance capacity and your ability to adapt to temperature change. It makes exercise feel harder and significantly affects your general mood, ability to coordinate movements, process information, make good decisions and pay attention – all of which are fundamental to your safety on the slopes.

It’s been noted that the vast majority of accidents happen in the last 90 minutes of a skiing day. Dehydration may well be a significant factor in this statistic. 

While water is a good start, it's worth considering adding sodium/salt and carbohydrates to your fluid. The sodium will help the water absorb in your body, so it hydrates you more effectively, and adding carbohydrate will help fuel your day keeping you going for longer and getting in more runs.

You can get commercial powders for this, or just add some fruit juice and a couple of pinches of salt to your hydration pack. Tea, will add other nutrients and soup is an option to add nutrients, energy and protein to help your recovery day to day.

If you don't want to carry a water bottle around with you, a hydration pack is a simple solution. It’s a small bladder that you fill with fluid that either comes in a backpack or that can fit into an existing one. A small tube runs from the bladder along the shoulder strap of the back pack which you draw the water through. Just make sure you get an insulated tube for colder climates.

They're easy to use, cheap and won’t weigh you down, plus you can fit small things like sun cream, an energy bar and your phone in there too. Camelbak are one of the more well known brands, but many others are also available.

A good tip is to buy an insulated bladder so that you can fill it with a hot drink. Then you'll be hydrating and keeping warm any the same time. Make sure you wash out your hydration pack at the end of the day or it won’t be useable for long!

The question you need to ask yourself is, do you want to ski or board more, enjoy it more, be safer on the slopes and have an all-round better holiday? Most people would say 'yes' to all of these and if this is you then you need to make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day.

Research for the online coaching platform Training Peaks found that only about 5% of skiers and boarders drink while on the slopes with most just getting a drink at lunch.

Don’t be one of these statistics, use these tips to come up with a way that works for you to keep well hydrated on the slopes.

Happy holidays!

About the author: Joel Enoch is an award-winning triathlon coach for the Hartree JETS, 9-time GB age-group triathlete and Clif Bar’s Nutritional Ambassador in the UK.