Ski & Snowboard News / Five smart stocking stuffers for skiers and riders
Dec 04, 2024 10:36AM ● By Harriet Wallis
Automatic goggles. Some goggle lenses automatically adjust their tint in response to changing light conditions. The adaptable “photocromic” lenses are especially helpful when a sunny day turns cloudy or vice versa. Zac Larsen, co-owner of Lifthouse, demonstrates the color change using a flashlight.
Slide right in. Skiers who struggle to get their feet into their boots will appreciate a little can of Easy On boot spray. It helps skiers get into even the most difficult boots, and it's boot safe. One spray and you're in. Older skiers who have trouble flexing will appreciate this product.
Compact avalanche shovel. It's small, compact, sturdy and perfect to keep it in your car. You don't have to be in avalanche terrain to use it. If you slide off the road or get plowed in, you can dig yourself out. Better yet, you can help dig somebody else out. When I've been plowed in and am digging myself out, skiers and riders grab their shovels and help. The boring task takes on a party atmosphere.
Toasty tootsies. This luxury item is too big to stuff inside a Christmas stocking. Instead, it carries your great big ski boots and heats them on the way to the mountain. That means toasty warm boots. The bag plugs into your home's electric and another plug goes into your car's electric port. Cold boots are obsolete when carried in a heated bag.
Lifthouse has them.The products are available at Lifthouse, at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, and other ski shops. Lifthouse is family owned and specializes in customer service and fitting skiers with the right equipment for their needs. Co-owners Zac and Luke Larsen grew up in the ski industry and keep up with the industry's constantly changing evolutions.
Lifthouse has been an icon of the ski industry since the 1960s when David Larson, a Brighton ski instructor, bought the ski shop at the base of Brighton on the lower level of Millicent Lodge. Later, he moved the shop to its current location at the mouth of the canyon.
A see-through windshield. Don't risk driving blind. A certain mix of temperature and humidity cause windshields to glaze over as you climb in elevation up the mountain. The regular blue stuff in your reservoir will not clear the windshield. A jug of low temperature windshield washer with de-icer is a cheap solution to save your ski day and possibly your life. Look for a temperature rating of -25 or -30 on the jug. Stick a bow on it and it's wrapped. You might want to add a turkey baster to suck the basic blue fluid out of the reservoir so it can be replaced with low temperature fluid.
photos credit: Harriet Wallis
