RECOMMENDED GEAR

We give everything we have on board on our motorhome ski trips a massive hammering so we’re confident that everything that survived has a Winterised quality seal. We recommend this stuff without any doubts as to it’s suitability and you’ll find that a lot of the stuff isn’t the most expensive gear. Our objective is always to make sure we’re recommending the best stuff for the job – regardless of brand or price.

We are also fortunate enough to be asked to test a lot of ski kit and camper equipment. This stuff also gets a battering so if you want to check out our reviews on this gear and equipment slide on over to the Product Reviews page.

Tried and tested by Winterised

No holds barred reviews on everything we get our mitts on from gloves & socks to motorhomes & winter tyres!

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“THEY’RE NOT LIKE SLIPPERS”. YES THEY BLOODY ARE – APEX SKI BOOTS

…and other first world problems. If you love skiing and hate boots or simply need to do a lot of walking, read on.

Essential Motorhome Ski Kit: Karcher Window Vac

I can’t remember being this excited about anything since the first Dyson handheld thingy that completely revolutionised dog and stair ownership. The Karcher window vac is awesome. We accidentally brought a Karcher window vac with us – it was very much on the ‘nice to have’ list but got bumped when we panic bought the whole of PC World in the last days before we left on our Winterised adventure. More concerned about out tech needs whilst on our radical sabbatical and my ability to ‘digital nomad’, than the practicalities of living in a motorhome as sub-zero temperatures, getting hold of this domestic gadget somewhat appeased us and convinced us we were fully prepared for life on the road. The less said about that, the better. Gadget Envy Forget the brand spanking new motorhome we’re cruising about in. Our Karcher has been the envy of all our fellow winter travellers. We’ve got a pimp screen cover (kindly lent to us by Van Comfort who saved us from buying the wrong tool for the job when we initially approached them for advice) which keeps the screen clear and heat in – but the habitation area is a different matter altogether. It doesn’t matter how […]

WHY YOU DON’T NEED A SNOW SHOVEL

We spent hours researching snow shovels before making what was not an insignificant purchase in the lead up to our motorhome ski adventure in the Alps – and you might be surprised to learn, it wasn’t a snow shovel because… you don’t need a snow shovel.

GAS IT DISCOUNT: SUPPORTING UK SERVICES PERSONNEL

GAS IT Discount: Many of you in the motorhome, campervan and #VanLife community may qualify for the Defence Discount Services or Blue Light Discount schemes

Sorel Glacier XTs Winter Boots vs The Rest

Before we went motorhome skiing, we considered snow boots to be a luxury / fashion item. In fact, on my last first trip before Winterised came into being, I took a pair of winter leather riding boots. They are waterproof and warm-ish and the worst I was going to put them through was a 5 minute trudge from an aprés bar to a restaurant. That’s how skiing holidays used to be for me. Fast forward to ‘new me’ who skis from a mobile chalet and I decided to reconsider my footwear. This post is going to go through a lot of information, but the short version is that having researched snow boots for months before choosing, and then battering several different pairs on our short list in real life testing, we are fully in the ‘you get what you pay for’ camp. Our ‘forever’ boots are Sorel Glacier XTs (click here to see them on Amazon) and they are the most expensive snow boot we tried. We have never once doubted the value of that investment. We know that these aren’t necessarily within everyone’s budget (upwards of 100 bucks – there are men’s, women’s and kids versions) and there are […]

“IF IT’S GOT TYRES OR TESTICLES, IT’S GOING TO GIVE YOU TROUBLE”

Winter tyres are essential for motorhome skiing trips regardless of the law.

REVIEW: VAN COMFORT SILVER SCREEN (FIAT DUCATO 2007+)

This is an essential for motorhome skiing. If you’re in a 7.5t A-Class, a coachbuilt motorhome, a van conversion or a camper – you need a screen cover.

REVIEW: WED’ZE 900 SKI SOCKS (ADULT)

These are the top of the range Wed’ze ski socks and unless you have very poor circulation, are as much as you need to keep your tootsies.

REVIEW: WOMEN’S KEEN WINTERTERRA BOOTS

The Keen Winterterra boots are a hardy and worthy competitor to their Canadian rivals Sorel. Waterproof, all leather upper and toastie as heck.

APEX SKI BOOTS – LADIES XPL REVIEW

The Apex ladies XPL looks more like something you might find yourself wearing after severe injury than a state of the art ski boot.

DO I NEED WINTER TYRES?

The answer to the question ‘do I need winter tyres?’ is yes, you do need winter tyres and if you opt out then you’re a bit of a wally.

MOTORHOME WIFI VS THE WINTER

Search Google – you’ll find a lot of reviews and user guides to various motorhome wifi products and solutions to getting internet reception on the road.

Top 5 Road Trip Planning Resources

Here are the top 5 road trip planning resources we got our paws on before we started to put together our winter 2017/18 road trip to the Alps. In no particular order…

Do I Need To Take a Generator on a Motorhome or Campervan Skiing Trip?

For our first season in the mountains and to our surprise, our motorhome didn’t come equipped with any solar panels so with only a few weeks to go before departure, and a lot going on in preparation for leaving, we hastily investigated whether we’d need a generator for our motorhome skiing trip.

YOU’RE NOT AN ICE ROAD TRUCKER AND YOU DO NEED WINTER TYRES

We’ll be frank, we weren’t 100% sure that you do need winter tyres or that they were necessary for this trip.

Introducing The Skicnic – Saving Cash on the Mountain

15 Awesome Gifts for Campervan Skiers and Snomads If you’re here looking for guide books and melamine crockery, you’re going to be disappointed. This is stuff for true snomads and is all about the mountain picnic AKA the Skicnic. We’ve all spent a mint on mediocre tartiflette and soggy lasagne. We’ve all caved into a €10 beer at 2000m and given ourselves a bombardino bill induced heart attack whilst admiring the view from a south facing terrace. Enough of this nonsense! We’re here to solve all your problems and give you the tools to be the BEST gift giver for the mountain lover in your life. In fact, you don’t even need a van to appreciate this stuff – whether you’re up for a splurge or looking to save, we’ve put together a mega list of Skicnic tips and stuff for every skier or boarder. Here’s what we’re covering: Couloir Coffee Breaks Telecabine Tipples Snowdrift Skicnics You can click on any of the images or titles for an Amazon link. Couloir Coffee Breaks It’s not even funny how much coffee can cost on the mountain and if you get drawn into some sort of ‘round’, you might even find […]

REVIEW: SPEAR & JACKSON GRAIN (SNOW) SHOVEL

Whether it’s shovelling powder and making paths or hacking your wheels out of ice puddles, a plastic snow shovel isn’t going to cut it. You need an agricultural grain shovel.

REVIEW: QUECHUA SH500 SNOWSHOES

Reluctant to give up our days on the hill to a glorified walk – we made a pretty big mistake. We did not get snow shoes – and we should have.

KIT RESTORATION: NIKWAX REVIEW – TECH WASH AND TX-DIRECT

Can British household name ‘Nikwax‘ restore relegated but beloved garments and catapult them back into the premier league of ski gear?

HONDA EU20i GENERATOR

We have nothing bad to say about the Honda EU20i generator – primarily because had we not had it, we would have been taking a very early bath on our first motorhome ski adventure.

HELLY HANSEN MAROI SKI JACKET (WOMEN’S)

Helly Hansen kit is for you if you want classic pieces – If you’re the girl (or guy) who spends big on some seriously nice ‘staple’ and timeless items.

5 Useful Things You Didn’t Know You Needed For Your Motorhome Ski Adventure

We covered basic motorhome ski essential kit in our blog titled ‘Our Zero BS Motorhome Ski Check List’ (now renamed 15 Essential Items You Need for Your Motorhome Skiing Trip) which caused consternation with some in the motorhome community. Why? Because we think there are a number of things that people call ‘essential kit’ that’s total nonsense. Our feelings haven’t changed on the topic of glue guns and inflatable mattresses and if you want to read about some of the other daft things people think you should take, check it out here. As a follow up from that blog, and inspired by someone more organised than we are (Wandering Bird – follow her), there are a few things that we have on our motorhome ski road trip that might not immediately spring to mind and you may find useful. Some of them we came across purely by accident, some of them were strategic purchases – all of them are invaluable to us – here they are and we’ve included a few options that were in our short list. Here are our 5 Useful Things You Didn’t Know You Needed For Your Motorhome Ski Adventure: Draining Mat Jet Boil Assorted Bungee Chords A Sledge […]

10 BEST SKI AND SNOWBOARD END OF SEASON SALES

There are a whopping great fist of reasons to buy your gear for next year in the ski and snowboard end of season sales – in fact, for many of us, it’s the principle reason we have a ‘gear problem’.

Getting fit for a motorhome skiing holiday

There’s tonnes of information on the internet about getting fit for a skiing holiday. There is absolutely nothing on getting in shape for a motorhome skiing holiday.

INTERMEDIATE SKIS – TRIED AND TESTED BY INTERMEDIATE SKIERS

Intermediate skis – tried and tested by intermediate skiers.

Beginners Guide to vlogging kit – what you need, and what you don’t.

As soon as YouTube celebrities starting showing up on the red carpet at film premiers ‘Vlogging’ became a real word. It’s an actually thing and you can be one. All you need is your face and a video camera. But how do you start? Here’s our beginners guide to vlogging kit.

WED’ZE SKI MITTENS REVIEW

We’re mitten converts. Having gone through a 20 year period of firmly believing that, like Mini Milk lollies, mittens are banned from the age of 12, it was exciting to learn that mittens are back – and all the grown ups are rocking them.

END OF SEASON COMPETITION!

THE SEXIEST PRIZE GIVEAWAY YOU WILL EVER FIND ON THE INTERNET! (Thetford competition for bog and cassette stuff!)

REVIEW: LANDROVER EXPLORE SMART PHONE

I love the Landrover Explore smart phone. There, I said it. Why? Because I have come to realise I only have three basic requirements from a ‘mobile’.

FALL-LINE SKIING SUBSCRIPTION OFFER

Two seasons for the price of one. Fall-Line subscription offer for the Winterized Tribe.

TOP 5 MUST-HAVE SKI GADGETS

Snow sports are heavily gear oriented and ski gadgets are part of every self-respecting snow-bum’s kit list. You can even convince yourself that a ski holiday is completely impossible without the latest NASA spec technical equipment. Nevermind that people have been getting about on planks of wood without bluetooth-piste-side-manufacturer-support for centuries.

REVIEW: KARCHER WINDOW VAC (WV2)

Our review of the Karcher Window Vac. Motorhome skiing essential.

15 Essential Items You Need for Your Motorhome Skiing Trip

Lots of people have asked us what we’ve taken on our motorhome ski adventure – our natural instinct for over planning meant that we researched this extensively before we left, tried to get the best deals on everything we needed, and this is what we lived with on a daily basis. So what are the 15 essential items you need for your motorhome skiing trip? It’s worth noting, there is a finite amount of space in a motorhome or campervan… which means you need to choose every item wisely. This list is based on the fact that we did not have an external garage and we didn’t want to carry a single thing that we didn’t consider essential – life in a motorhome is cosy enough without too many ‘in case of emergency’ items. Some of the lists we’ve read seem bonkers – unless you’re travelling in a 7.5t RV, we have no idea where you keep all this stuff, let alone why you need it. Add to that the monumental expense and suddenly your adventure becomes comparable in cost to a 10 day all-in catered chalet experience for 20! We thought we might regret some of the things we […]

AUTOGLYM ULTIMATE SCREENWASH -45ºC

Autoglym embarrass the competition.

Begged, Borrowed and Stolen

Some of this gear we bought, some we were loaned, some we were given and some we begged. All of it gets the same beasting on the road and all of our reviews are impartial with no interference from the manufacturers or PR people. Some of these reviews include affiliate links. If you don’t know what they are, they are links you can click that take you to places you can buy the product online and if you do, we get a little commission – it doesn’t cost you anymore.

NOTE: If you know we used something and it’s not on the list*, you can assume it’s crap or at least there’s something better out there for the job. After all, our Mum’s taught us, if you haven’t got something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. We have however offered our feedback directly in most relevant cases.

* although these take some time so if you’re looking for something specific that isn’t here yet, drop us a message and we’ll tell you if it’s going up.