Ski jacket - $460 - holy moly! (price, clothing, online, expensive)

[shuke]

So shukey was bemoaning to the missus how much he missed skiing the other day. See, it was something I was getting into back around the time we got married. I tried to get the bride into skiing... she took a couple of lessons. But after getting knocked down by one of the handles on the tow rope on the bunny hill, she got fed up and went stomping off the hill, never to ski again. Which means I became skiing became somthing I used to enjoy.

So, anyhow. I was telling her how I was enjoying it and that I missed skiing, etc. And, much to my surprise, she said, "well... you should get back into it, then." GREAT! So shukey gets the green light to go load up on some ski equipment before the season officially kicks off, which is usually shortly after Thanksgiving. I ask my 7 year-old boy if he'd like to learn, too. Figgered this would be something we could get into together. The missus is taking the girls skating, after all, so I figured this could be something for my boy and me.

So I go to the ski shop... pick out a complete package for my kid. Skis, boots, gloves, helmet, goggles, etc. Fine. Then go start getting me set up with boots. Good sales guy... this was a real ski store, too, where the people there were really into skiing, so they knew what they were talking about.

Should have known when the sales guy asked me to try on a pair of "performance" boots.... not racing boots, or anything like that.. but they had some nifty features. Good boots. OK, you sold me on the boots.

Then he started in on the skis. Extolled the virtues of these Salomon X Wing 10 skis, how they were very intuitive and all. Now, I confirmation that this venture was going to run more $$ than anticipated when he said the skis were "only" $700. Just the skis. OK, whatever.

Set me up with helmet, jacket, bib pants, and gloves, too.

Rung it all up and the total was some $2,300 and change.

After paying for it, I figured I'd take a closer look at the receipt out in the car to see how all this crap tallied so high. One of the items was listed at some $460. Didn't recognize the name ("Orage Alaskan")... figured that must have been my boy's whole ski set or something. Then I got looking through the shopping bag that contained all the accessories. Saw a tag on my jacket that read "orage".

Humph. Could that jacket have actually cost $460? So I go online... to the Orage site (http://www.orageski.com/products/view/69 - broken link). Sure enough, they make a jacket the model name for which is "Alaskan". No price listed on the site, though.

So apparently these jackets go for $400+ ?!? Holy crap! I had no idea the jackets could go that high. I was figuring maybe $150 or something like that... for a really good one. Phew. I guess we'd better get some good skiing in this winter!

[BlueWillowPlate]

Skiing and snowboarding can be an expensive pastime.
Years ago when I was a kid in Colorado, poor yet devoted skiers would go down to Northface and get a kit to make their own warm weather clothing.
Savvy sewers could save a lot of bucks.
(Who could ever guess that Northface (let alone Timberland) would turn out to be popular within hiphop culture.)

[easternerDC]

I really like the Orage line. The jackets are expenseive though. I bought at a ski expo though from a local retailer who was trying to off load the previous seasons gear. That would be about the only way to get a jacket for even around $150, and even then that would be a steal!. Orage is a great technical jacket and has really good features. I have been really happy with mine.

My only expense this year is the lift tickets. We opted for our local hill (season pass = $350) as opposed to one of the SLC area resorts which are $800 each! YIKES!

[ProLogic]

I have this Columbia jacket.. I think its for skiing. I don't ski, I wear it to school makes me look like a boss. Retail was around $300, got it on sale for $150.