Guest Contributor: Jason McGowin
Every year, as winter approaches, I run through my ski gear & apparel to determine what needs fixing or replacing. This is a really fun process for me!
But I have kids…
…and that means that I have to look through all of their gear too, to see what still fits, has not been destroyed, or lost.
This is not nearly as fun.
Finding the gear that I need for my ski trip north of the Artic Circle is easy. Finding mittens that will keep my kids’ hands warm all season long and still fit by the end of the season is not.
It’s always our hope to start this process before the first snow fall of the year, but usually it ends up happening the morning of the first snowfall of the year. Snow pants, jackets, mittens, and hats are pulled out, and we hold our breath hoping we find something that still fits, is not worn out, and not torn or ripped.
Then we try to figure out the “strategy” from there…
What to get? High-end, big-name ski jackets and pants?
Should we trust the cheaper snow gear from the mass retailers?
Inevitably, we have a source of hand-me-downs from parents with slightly older kids. Sometimes, we even score some gear made by well-known brands, which is awesome! We try to make sure that we have some nicer apparel for the kids, for those cold, long days of ski lessons, and then we buy some more “financially accessible” snow pants that will be designated to suffer the rigors of sledding and the school playground.
That is where Nikwax comes in.
All of our hand-me-downs are run through a cycle of Tech Wash and then TX.Direct Wash-In. Nikwax makes these ski garments seem like new, and it makes us feel better that we have found the best garments for our winter warriors. For any new gear we end up purchasing on-the-cheap, we start those items off with a treatment of Softshell Proof before their first use, and then we maintain their performance with Tech Wash, during the season.
Testimonial submitted by Jason McGowin, a Marketing guru, really cool dad, sponsored skier, and resident of Colorado.