Everything you need between the airport and the après, and nothing you don’t.
We’ll be the ones to say it: the packing is half the fun. The other half is the first run of the morning, obviously, but there is something deeply satisfying about laying out the perfect base layer, the right goggles and a jumper you’ll actually want to be photographed in.
The tricky part is that ski kit has never been more confusing. Technical brands now look like fashion brands, fashion houses now make proper ski kit, and somewhere in the middle sits a £20 pair of socks that matters more than any of it.
So we did the legwork. We tested the samples, compared the specs and sorted the essentials from the extras, from the merino you’ll wear under everything to the trunk you’ll pack it all into. Here’s what made the cut.
What to pack for a ski trip, at a glance:
- Best investment piece: Moncler Grenoble Armoniques Ski Jacket
- Best base layer: Base 2 Peak Lookout Set
- Best for flat-light days: Giro Revolt Pro Goggles
- Best après boot: Moon Boot Icon High
- Best for the spa: Eres Asia Swimsuit
- Best for him: Keela Men’s Glencoe Jacket
- Best for your skin: Pure Altitude SkiCare
- Best for cold hands: Goldbergh Leather-Faux Fur Lady Gloves
- Best après knit: Johnstons of Elgin Mabel Aran Cable Cashmere Jumper
- Best SPF: Sisley Sunleÿa Anti-Ageing Sun Care SPF50+
Moncler Grenoble Armoniques Hooded Shearling-Trimmed Down Ski Jacket, Moncler Grenoble
Best for: The once-in-a-decade investment
Price: £2,020
Why we love it: Come on, it’s Moncler Grenoble! The performance line has been dressing the most glamorous chairlifts in the Alps for years, and the Armoniques shows why. It’s a short, properly warm down jacket in black, with a detachable shearling trim that turns the hood into a frame for your face. Take the trim off for a hard morning on the piste, then clip it back on for lunch on the terrace. Yes, it’s a lot of money. It will also outlive every other jacket in your wardrobe.
Henry Extreme Men’s Down Padded Jacket, Mountain Warehouse
Best for: Serious warmth on a sensible budget
Price: £99.99 (RRP £169.99)
Why we love it: Not every layer needs a designer label. The Henry Extreme is packed with 700 fill-power down and lab-tested to -30°C, with a water-repellent finish for snowy evenings walking back from the village. We wore the navy over a fleece on a bitterly cold chairlift and didn’t regret it once. Exceptional value. No, really.
EMS Stratus Men’s Hooded Packable Down Jacket, Eastern Mountain Sports
Best for: Stuffing into a carry-on
Price: £99.99 (RRP £199.99)
Why we love it: This is the jacket for the travel day. It packs into its own stuff bag, so it lives in your hand luggage until the transfer coach doors open onto a car park at minus eight. The 700 fill-power down is RDS-certified, it’s made without intentionally added PFAS, and the mustard colour is impossible to lose in a crowded boot room.
London Ski Co, Chelsea
Best for: A proper fitting before you fly
Address: 55 King’s Road, London
Why we love it: If you’d rather try before you buy (and with skiwear, you should), this designer boutique on the King’s Road is the place. The rails carry Goldbergh, Toni Sailer and Capranea alongside other big alpine names, and the team will help with whatever’s missing, from ski pants to knitwear. Book in a month before you go and walk out finished.
Diana Ski Fuseau Pants, Fusalp
Best for: That Seventies Courchevel silhouette
Price: £390
Why we love it: Fusalp has been making ski clothes in Annecy since 1952, and the fuseau is its signature. The Diana is cut close to lengthen the leg, in windproof stretch softshell with a soft black fleece lining. Pre-shaped knees make it comfortable in the turns, and the zipped hip pockets fit a lift pass. Wear it with a fitted knit and a big jacket. Stunning.
Lookout Set, Base 2 Peak
Best for: Base layers you’ll want to wear to dinner
Price: From $110 for the leggings
Why we love it: Founded by lifelong skier Sarah Vanica, Base 2 Peak swaps scratchy thermals for performance micro-chenille. It’s soft, light and wicking, and it regulates temperature without adding bulk under your ski pants. The leggings have a high-waisted, shapewear-inspired fit with a plush lining. We wore the set all day on the mountain, then straight to the hot chocolate stop. A polished alternative to thermals. Hear, hear.
Ribbed Base Layer Set in Cream, My Sunday Ski
Best for: The chalet morning outfit
Price: £95
Why we love it: My Sunday Ski brings a fashion-house sense of style to the slopes, and this ribbed set is the easiest way in. A high-necked top with thumb holes, and high-rise leggings with a logo waistband, in a creamy colour that looks great by the fire. It’s quick-drying and odour-resistant too, which matters more than you’d think on day five.
Women’s LIFA Merino KnitEvo Half-Zip, Helly Hansen
Best for: Hard-working skiers
Price: £130
Why we love it: Helly Hansen’s newest base layer combines merino with the brand’s LIFA fibres, knitted with body mapping: breathable mesh where you sweat, loftier insulation where you get cold. The half-zip lets you vent on the climb and zip up at the top. The anti-chafe chin guard shows the designers have spent time on actual mountains.
Schild Merino Wool Sweater, Perfect Moment
Best for: Après-ski photos
Price: £295
Why we love it: The best-seller from the Chamonix-born brand, and fair enough. It’s a fitted merino turtleneck with “SKI” knitted across the chest, warm enough to wear under a shell and cute enough to wear on its own afterwards. Pair it with ski pants on the mountain or with tailored trousers in the evening. We know, it’s a tough job etc.
Revolt Pro Goggles, Giro
Best for: Flat-light days
Price: £220
Why we love it: ZEISS optics give real clarity in grey, snowy conditions, and Giro’s EXV technology widens the field of view. The magnetic Quick Change system makes swapping lenses easy, even in gloves. They’re fog-free and fit over glasses, so they’re a great gift for the skier who always wants first tracks.
Chrome Visor Ski Helmet, KASK
Best for: No more goggle tan
Price: £430
Why we love it: The Italian brand worked with REDA on this helmet, so the padding, ear flaps and chin strap are all merino. The integrated visor replaces goggles, works over glasses and tilts up when you stop for lunch. The glossy shell with chrome details is sleek in a way most helmets simply aren’t.
Glacier 01 Sunglasses, Vuarnet
Best for: Lunch on a sunny terrace
Price: From €580
Why we love it: Vuarnet’s glacier glasses are true mountain icons, made by the French optician since the Fifties. The Glacier 01 is acetate and beta titanium with authentic mineral lenses, plus removable side shields for altitude glare. Wear them with the shields on the glacier and off at the table. Trust us when we say you’ll get asked about them.
Classic Beanie, Loro Piana
Best for: Helmet hair emergencies
Price: £495
Why we love it: Rib-knitted in Italy from baby cashmere, this is the softest thing you’ll put on your head all year. The turn-up keeps its shape and the Natural Melange goes with everything. Pull it on as the helmet comes off and nobody will ever know. A quiet luxury in the truest sense.
Leather-Faux Fur Lady Gloves, Goldbergh
Best for: Glamour on the chairlift
Price: £229
Why we love it: Goldbergh was founded by women, for women, and it shows in the details. These are cut from soft goatskin with an embossed logo and a plush faux fur trim, padded with lightweight PrimaLoft and fully waterproof and windproof. They even come with their own travel bag, which is exactly the sort of thing we appreciate at 8am in a crowded boot room.
Women’s Flight Deck M Goggles, Oakley
Best for: Smaller faces
Price: £182
Why we love it: Most goggles are designed around a man’s face, and anyone who has skied with a gap at the bridge of her nose knows the result: cold air and fogged lenses. The Flight Deck M is the mid-sized version of Oakley’s bestseller, with the same rimless lens and wide field of view, but proportioned for a smaller face and a neat fit under the helmet.
Merino Wool Pom-Pom Beanie, Perfect Moment
Best for: The village after the lifts close
Price: £100
Why we love it: Yes, there’s already a beanie on this list. But there is the hat you wear under your hood and the hat you wear for the photo, and this is the second one. Extra-fine merino, a logo knitted into the ribbed front and a pom-pom on top. Pure Seventies chalet, in the best way.
Après, spa and chalet
Icon High Nylon Boots, Moon Boot
Best for: The walk from the boot room to the bar terrace
Price: £170
Why we love it: Inspired by the 1969 Moon landing, the original Moon Boot is still the après boot. It’s water-repellent nylon on a grippy tread, and ambidextrous, so you can’t put them on the wrong feet, even at the end of a long day. Cosy, iconic and only slightly ridiculous, which might be our ideal combination, to be honest.
Teddy High Suede Snow Boots, Inuikii
Best for: Icy village streets
Price: £280
Why we love it: If the Moon Boots are for the boot room, these are for the evening walk to dinner. Inuikii, whose name translates as “the beauty of the cold”, makes snow boots that look like they belong in a boutique rather than a ski hire shop. This pair combines a suede upper with a cosy teddy finish, and they work just as well back home in January.
Mabel Red Aran Cable Cashmere Jumper, Johnstons of Elgin
Best for: Fireside evenings
Price: £875
Why we love it: Johnstons of Elgin has been making cloth in Scotland since 1797, and this is the jumper we would pack before anything else. A chunky Aran cable in a deep, festive red, it’s the knit you pull on the second you’re out of your ski kit, and it looks just as good at the dinner table as it does curled up by the fire. An investment, yes, but one that will outlast many ski seasons.
Cashmere Arran Ferguson Scarf, Begg x Co
Best for: Wrapping up for the walk home
Price: £275
Why we love it: Begg x Co first created the Arran in the 1970s, and it’s still spun from pure cashmere at the brand’s Scottish mill. The magic is in the finish: hand-harvested Italian teasels are brushed across the surface to give it that soft, rippled texture. Wear it on the gondola in the morning, then over your coat at night.
Women’s Cable Cashmere House Socks, N.Peal
Best for: The moment the ski boots come off
Price: £85
Why we love it: Few things feel better than peeling off ski boots and slipping into cashmere. N.Peal’s cable-knit house socks are made from a two-ply organic cashmere blend, with a touch of nylon so they last, and they’re warm without being bulky. Pack two pairs. One for the chalet, one for the flight home.
Brand-plaque Re-Nylon and Saffiano-leather Belt Bag, Prada
Best for: Hands-free days
Price: £1,180
Why we love it: Lift pass, phone, lip balm, a card for lunch on the mountain: everything you need, and nothing more. Prada’s belt bag pairs its signature Re-Nylon, made from regenerated nylon, with Saffiano leather and the enamelled triangle logo. At 21cm wide, with an adjustable belt and two zip pockets, it sits neatly over a ski jacket or a cashmere jumper.
Asia Swimsuit, Eres
Best for: The chalet hot tub and the hotel spa
Price: £350
Why we love it: Don’t forget the spa. After a day on the mountain, an outdoor pool in the snow is the reward. Eres’s Asia is a classic one-piece in the house’s Peau Douce fabric, with a waist panel that sculpts and keeps its shape after every sauna. Pack it in your hand luggage, just in case the cases are late.
SkiCare collection, Pure Altitude
Best for: Skin that’s had a day of wind, cold and UV
Why we love it: Pure Altitude, the skincare brand of Maisons et Hôtels Sibuet (yes, the Les Fermes de Marie people in Megève), launches six limited-edition Alpine essentials this winter. They’re made with edelweiss, arnica and gentian. Our must-haves are the Bol d’Air Pur Sun Care for high-altitude UV, the Gourmandise des Alpes lip balm, and the SOS Arnica Baume des Montagnes for tired legs. The collection arrives in December 2026, just in time for the first trip of the season.
Sunleÿa Anti-Ageing Sun Care SPF50+, Sisley Paris
Best for: High-altitude sun
Price: £225
Why we love it: The sun is stronger at altitude, and fresh snow bounces it straight back at your face, so this is not the week to skip SPF. Sisley’s Sunleÿa gives very high SPF50+ protection with an anti-ageing formula that targets wrinkles, loss of firmness and dark spots. It’s water-, sweat- and heat-resistant and doesn’t sting the eyes, which matters when you’re behind goggles all day.
The Lip Balm, La Mer
Best for: Wind-chapped lips
Price: £65
Why we love it: Cold wind and dry mountain air are brutal on lips. La Mer’s balm is made with the brand’s famous Miracle Broth and a cool hint of mint, and it leaves lips soft and nourished rather than sticky. Keep it in your jacket pocket, or in that Prada belt bag.
The Hand Treatment, Augustinus Bader
Best for: Hands after a day in gloves
Price: £47
Why we love it: Hands are usually the last thing we think about, and the first to suffer in the cold. Augustinus Bader’s Hand Treatment brings the brand’s TFC8 technology to a rich but fast-absorbing cream that soothes dry, chapped skin. Apply a generous layer before bed in the chalet and wake up to noticeably softer hands.
The luggage
Original Trunk Plus, RIMOWA
Best for: Fitting all of the above
Price: £1,770
Why we love it: Ski kit is bulky, and the Trunk Plus was designed for it. It holds 105 litres, enough for two weeks or more, with a compression Flex Divider to keep your jumpers tidy. It rolls on RIMOWA’s Multiwheel System and comes with a lifetime guarantee. The grooved aluminium will pick up dents over the years, and that’s part of the charm.
Le Pliage Xtra M Backpack, Longchamp
Best for: The flight and the transfer
Price: £510
Why we love it: The trunk takes care of the kit; this takes care of everything else. Le Pliage Xtra gives Longchamp’s origami-inspired classic a smart leather makeover, made in France, with an exterior zip pocket and room inside for your passport, headphones, a book and that extra cashmere layer. It goes from the plane to the chalet to the village without ever looking like a travel bag.
