amount of wind in the whole
Engadine but its height counterbalances this by usually ensuring that
there is not a thaw, even at Christmas time.]

CLOTHING

Clothing should be light, smooth, warm, loose and, when buttoned up,
it should leave no gaps. It is better to wear several thin, warm
garments than one thick one, for the simple reason that going uphill
one wants to peel to the minimum; sitting on top of a mountain or
ridge in a wind, one wants to pile on everything one possesses, and
going downhill one wants a medium amount, all of which will button up
so that the snow cannot penetrate inside. Ordinary country clothes
will usually suffice for the first season, especially if they are of
smooth material which will shake off the snow.

Men usually wear smooth wool or cotton gaberdene coats, and trousers,
and a peaked "Guide's" cap. Their trousers either tuck inside the
uppers of their boots and should be sufficiently long to do so without
pulling out in a strained turn or fall, or they may be buttoned round
outside the boots or folded and tied on with Norwegian puttees or
swanks. Breeches and stockings may be worn, but long puttees should be
avoided as they constrict the muscles and stop the circulation, thus
tending to frost-bite, which is a serious danger at high altitudes.

Sweaters, unless worn under a coat when practising or running
downhill, are quite unsuitable as the snow gets into the stitches and
then melts, and the sweater becomes a sponge and often stretches till
it is more like a woman's coat-frock than anything it was before! A
Ski-ing suit should be well provided with pockets, all of which should
have flaps to button over and keep the snow out. Also to keep the
contents in. Money and other things carried loose are apt to fall out
in a downhill fall. Once this winter, when getting up from a fall, I
saw what looked like a useful leather boot-lace lying in the snow.
I picked it up and found it was the bootlace attached to two
stop-watches, which I had been using for a test. As one cannot tie
one's money up with a boot-lace, it is wise to carry it safely, and
cheat the goatherds, who may surely make a profitable living out of
the various treasures lost by Ski-ers, which appear on the slopes
after the snow melts.

Women need very much the same sort of clothing as men. Either trousers
or breeches, whichever they prefer. These should be made to measure in
order to fit well and be worn with braces t