Tech n Gadgets Blog: The ultimate snowboarder's suitcase

SNOW WEEK: The very best possible kit you could take to the slopes
The ultimate snowboarder's suitcase. Cameras, Camcorders, Skiing And Snowboarding, Features, SnowWeek, 0

This is the ultimate snowboarder's suitcase. We're not talking about a bag to carry your snowboard in but the travel case full of the very best clothes and kit you could possibly choose. Naturally, the sky's the limit as far as budget goes here, so we've had a lot of fun putting together our very favourite snow items from Snow Week on Pocket-lint as well as plenty of extras including the bag to put them all in as well.

You won't find your board, your boots or your bindings here. Those are largely down to choice of riding style as much as anything else and they're not what you'd carry inside your main suitcase anyway. As for everything else though, we've got you covered. It's a long shopping list and, by the time you've got to the bottom, a seriously expensive one too - and that's even before you've paid for flights, accommodation and ski passes. Still, we can dream.?

Clothes

Vans Etienne Snow Jacket - ?159.99

There’s an awful lot out there in the way of snowboarding jackets and the good news is that most of it is pretty good. While Burton and Analogue have got some really nicely put together items in this category, it has to be the Vans Etienne Snow Jacket that gets our vote. Naturally, it’s fully waterproofed fabric and comes with a fixed hood, a waist gaiter jacket-to-pant interface so the wind and snow doesn’t creep in, cuff closures to do the same for your arms, critical taping over the zips to prevent cold air flowing through, a ski pass pocket but what really sold it was the audio interface to pump your beats through. If you’d rather something more sedate then the Analogue Asset and Burton Poacher would do you proud as well. BUY

Burton Access Snowboarding Pants - ?137.67

As worn by the professional team (say no more) the Burton Access Snowboarding pants are super thick at 10,000mm but super light too weighing half as much in grams. That’s 5kg to you. In a world of 90s skate fashion, these little gems are actually more skinny fit than anything else and, of course, remain both waterproof and breathable. They’ve got taped up seams to keep you toasty as well as a fully zippable fleece lining and handwarmer pockets too. Most importantly, as far as we’re concerned, there’s an audio pocket with a headphones port and, more intriguingly than anything else, something known as Ghetto Slits to bad out your styles. BUY

New Zealand Nature Silk Underwear - ?44.95

Yeah, that’s right. We’re telling you to go out an buy silk underwear. Strictly speaking, it’s the long stuff we’re suggesting - full legs and a long sleeve top. It’s your choice if you wish to wear a set of normal pants as well or would rather feel that soft sheen against you instead. We’re not judging. What are saying is that 100 per cent silk is a seriously good material at combating the cold and its amazingly lightweight as well. Trust us. It works. BUY

North Face Ice Cap Fleece - ?69

We’re not going to tell you that there’s some kind of ultimate fleece out there because there isn’t. As far as snowboarding goes, your fleece is going to be your middle layer, so it’s going to serve little function other than insulation and perhaps a drop of style at the end of the day. You’re not going to be accessing pockets or needing to feed headphones through it, so our best advice is just to pick the one you like the colour of or, better still, the one you already own. However, if you are heading down the shops, then we’d recommend the North Face Ice Cap fleece. It’s slim fitting, minimal, toasty and you come off a little like Commander Bond. BUY

Phd Medium Snowboard Socks - ?20.97

Most good boots will do the lion’s share of the insulation for you, so there’s little point in going with the super thick ski socks of old and we certainly wouldn’t bother a two pair solution either. Instead, pick yourself up a set of medium thickness socks with plenty of padding in the right places and a touch of ventilation too. The Phds, which you can get from Ellis Brigham, are as much up for the task as any other pair. They promise a 4 degree fit to make sure they stay where they should and mesh zones to let the hot air out on the tops. BUY

Warmthru G4 Heated Gloves - ?120

If you’re going somewhere seriously bitter, then even ordinary snow gloves aren’t going to cut it. Instead, shell out a whopping ?120 on a 2 x 3.7v Li-ion battery heated pair from Warmthru. It’s a fair bit of palaver we’ll grant you what with having to wear the two power packs up your arms, connecting them by cable to the heating units in your under-gloves and then having to wear the over-gloves on top as well but there ain’t no way that you’ll be anything less than toasty in them. What’s more, if the video isn’t lying, the batteries look to connect via a standard port, so they might well double for charging up your phone as well. BUY

GloveTips - ?20

Nothing’s more annoying than having to take your gloves on and off every time you want to look at your phone. With one’s pocket gadget serving as both communicator, locator and media player up on the slopes, it’s something that we need to access all too often. With capacitive touchscreens demanding the conductivity of your skin to operate, though, you’re stuck and at this point you might be wondering why we recommended the Warmthru G4s at all. Thankfully, help is very literally at hand in the form of GloveTips. GloveTips are a pack of metal studs that you can stick to the thumb and forefinger of any gloves to make them instantly touchscreen compatible. Just be careful to glue them in the right place. BUY

Oakley Custom A Frame Goggles - ?120

There are three reasons why the Oakley A Frames are the goggles to buy - anti-fogging technology, anti-fogging technology and anti-fogging technology. The reason we named it thrice is because the company has a triple protection system to combat what is one of the biggest irritations out there. They use special air flow control, coated materials and a dual lens for a thermal barrier. The other advantages to these bad boys are 100 per cent UV protection and the fact that you can have whatever you want stitched onto the band and etched onto the lens. BUY

Bern Baker Audio Helmet - ?85

The final piece in our audio snowboard wear chain has to be the Bern Baker audio helmet. It’s a good looking piece of kit - hard enough to find as it is - but the real bonus is that its got speakers integrated into the ear flaps of the removable lining. That then has a cable which you can connect to your jacket and then again to your trousers, if you wish, and to wherever it is that you’re stashing your media player. The end results is that you’ve minimised all the cable fuss and chances of getting disconnected when you least want to. BUY

Kit

Ortovox S1 Avalanche Transceiver - ?298.95

If you’re a serious snowboarder, then you’ll be hunting down that powder like Robert Downey Jr. Most of the good stuff is going to be off piste and that’s where the danger of avalanches starts to creep in. So, for that little piece of mind, invest in an S1 avalanche transceiver from Ortovox. You keep the thing strapped onto you and hope you never need it. If the worst does happen you can use it to send out a signal of where you are or, if you’re one of the lucky ones, you can use it to search for those attached to your buddies under the snow. It works to within 10cm of accuracy and is more or less guaranteed to save lives. BUY

GoPro HD Hero action cam & LCD BacPac - ?299

The GoPro HD Hero is hands down the best action camera around and now that the company has added a back LCD screen as well, it’s even better. It’s a 1080p camcorder at 30fps with a viewing angle of 127 degrees and a widescreen aspect of 16:9. It’ll also take 5MP stills as well. You can mount the thing on your helmet, your head or your board and take some ridiculously good footage of your riding adventure. So good, it even makes pootling down a green run look pretty special. BUY

Olympus TG-610 - ?250

Due out in March, this "virtually indestructible" camera is to offer that extra level of stills quality that the GoPro won’t be able to manage. It has tap control so that you can operate it easily enough in gloves, it’s freezeproof to -10 degrees C, shockproof up to a height of 1.5 metres and also fully waterproof to 5m. The toughness is the result of a sliding double lock mechanism that protects the battery, card slots and ports while an additional metal lens barrier safeguards the optical zoom lens. On top of the tank-like build quality, it has the ability to take 3D still images but the reason why it beats all the other toughcams out there is it just makes those blue alpine skies look stunning.

Motorola TLKR T6 walkie talkie - ?52.40

Roaming charges on your mobile phone are going to add up with all the calls you’ll be making to your buddies on the other side of the mountain. Instead, try a pair of walkie talkies and the ones we reckon are best equipped to do the job are the Motorola TLKR T6s. They come with a dual charging base, 16 hours of battery life, have a range of 8km and are small enough to fit in what will now be some pretty bulging pockets with all this gear. BUY

Therm-ic Thermicontrol Liionpack - ?230

Boot insulation is one thing but if you really want to ensure that your tootsies are toasty, then it’s time to buy the Therm-ic thermicontrol Li-ion heating solution. It comes with a couple of connected insoles that you pop under your feet, rechargeable Li-ion batteries to sit on the backs of your boots and a temperature a control dial for your jacket lapel. Set the heating as you need and you can guarantee you’ll not feel the frost and all without needing to wear two pairs of socks. They guarantee 18 hours of power on a single charge which should easily be enough for a day on the slopes plus a little apres ski as well. BUY

DryZone Boot Dryer - ?19.99

There are electric heating boot dryer devices out there but they’re not the sort of thing you want to be sticking in your suitcase. Instead, pick up a pair a from DryZone which work in much the same way as silica gel packs in gadget boxes rather than with power. The long sausages are packed with crystals that remove moisture from their surroundings which will include all the sweat and melted snow you’ve accumulated in your boots in the morning run. Have a bite to eat and a 20 minute snooze and you should be able to put your feet back into your gear without having any nasty, cold, wet surprise. It’ll probably work for your socks as well but no promises on the smell. BUY

Casio Pro Trek PRW-5000T watch - ?314.50

The Casio Pro Trek PRW-5000T is not only tough - offering scratch resistant glass, resistance to temperatures down to -10 and 100m waterproofing - but it’s also solar powered, with the background of the watch face as a solar cell. Round the right-hand side of the watch you’ll find three big buttons - big enough to press when wearing gloves - with access to a compass, barometer and altimeter, all ideal for those heading into the mountains without having to forgo those cool apres ski looks. BUY

You smartphone + spare battery - free

So long as you’ve got a modern smartphone of some kind, that will do. In that, you’ve basically got one of the most important pieces of kit of all. It’s going to work as a map, a media player and your form of communication. You can get all manner of different apps to help you out on the slopes. You’re going to be leaning on this thing hard, so make sure to buy a spare battery as well. If it’s of the non-removable kind, then the Mophie Juice Pack is probably your best bet.

Foreign PAYG SIM - ?10-30

Here’s where you need to hope your phone isn’t locked to a network. If it is, then there’s not much you can do about it. Otherwise, make sure to spend a few bob on a local PAYG SIM so that you can make phone calls and use all the data scoffing apps you like without picking up ?200 in roaming charges on your next mobile bill. BUY

Memory Map Adventurer 3500 GPS - ?380

Whether you can’t get a foreign SIM into your phone or you’d just rather have a device that’s dedicated to the job, then the Memory Map Adventurer 3500 is where it’s at as far as GPS goes. It’s got a nice big 3.5-inch high res touchscreen but enough protection and extra casing to make sure it won’t be smashed up if you happen to land it gadget first onto a mogul. It uses a fast lock GPS technology and you can download whatever maps you need for it which cover an excellent level of detail. On top of that you can transfer routes, plans and the details of your adventure onto the PC software and take a look exactly where you’ve been all day. BUY

iPad (64GB, Wi-Fi + 3G) - ?714

You can’t rely on Euro-TV for your entertainment. Apart from the adult department, the quality is just not going to be there even if you can understand it. Instead, make sure to pack your favourite tablet for consuming all your content while back in the chalet. There are, of course, other tablets out there but, for the time being, the iPad is simply the best. We’d tell you to take a laptop instead but that keyboard is just too much like work. BUY

Beats Pro by Dr Dre - ?330

It’s no good lying on your bed watching your iPad with your Bern Baker helmet on after a day out on the snow. You’re going to need some kind of headphones to enjoy your films and, if they’re not for mobile use, you may as well appreciate the richness of sound that comes with some nice big cans. So, what better and more stylistically appropriate model to use than the Beats Pro by Dr Dre? They even feature and second headphone jack so that someone else can listen, presuming you’ve been kind enough to share your screen with them. BUY

Wipeout Lens Cloth Piste Map - ?7.95

Technology is a wonderful thing but the fact that it’s cutting edge often comes hand in hand with the knoweldge that it’s going to fail on you some day. Fortunately, a lens cloth piste map takes care of that problem for you. The maker, Wipeout, sells maps from just about every ski region you could imagine printed onto a lens cloth. First of all, that’s better than a normal paper map because it won’t get soggy and tear and, second of all, it’s not quite all back up as it doubles as something you don’t actually have - a way of cleaning your goggles. Just make sure to buy the right map. BUY

Case

North Face Base Camp 90l Duffel Bag - ?90

Finally, you’ll need the eponymous suitcase which, for our purposes, is going to be a nice big duffel bag to stash all this kit into. There are plenty out there but few say quality, comfort and durability quite like the North Face Base Camp Duffel with its end, top and backpack style, apline cut straps; inner mesh pockets and waterproofing. If you think you’ll need something bigger, then there’s always the 140l version for an extra ?20. BUY