A Short Girl’s Incomplete Guide to Ski Bibs
I stand a proud 5' 1.25" (yes, the 0.25" matters). At that height, you might assume that I struggle to find pants.
You would be correct.
This problem is amplified in finding outdoor gear—most outdoor brands seem to assume that I am a glorious 5' 8", broad-shouldered mountain woman. Never mind that the mean height of American women is 5' 3.5". Don't get me wrong! I bet it's wonderful to have that much height when it comes to reaching up to lower the safety bar on a ski lift, but that's not me. And yes, I have in fact been on Italian ski lifts where I could not reach the safety bar.
I'm not 5'8", and I'm not 5'3.5" either, and finding pants is hard.
Let's Talk About Ski Bibs
For short people. Like me.
Let me start by saying that this is certainly an incomplete guide. I didn't review multiple options, and no brands are paying me to recommend their particular bibs. The items in this post are all things I bought with my money from my engineering job. I did do a lot of research before purchasing these, and I put a lot of thought into what features I wanted—and that's what I've captured below.
What to Look For In Ski Bibs
Here are some things to look for in your ski bibs, whether you're short or not:
- Check that the inseam is close to correct. Usually, this info can be found on the tech specs, but always double-check that it's actually reasonable for your legs. Your bibs should be an inch or two longer than your usual pants (ski boots give you some extra height), but they shouldn't be too far off from what you wear when you're not smashing pow. Or gently sliding down a nice slope on a beautiful mountain. Whichever.
- Here's something super important, but which you won't care about until it's way too late. Make sure there's a side zipper (or two side zippers) that unzips far enough down so you can use the bathroom without completely stripping. It's still not the easiest thing to do in the world, but I’ve found that if you unzip the side, shift a shoulder strap around your head and clip it on the other side, you can then move aside the bibs and pull down your base layer pants. This maneuver also has the advantage of keeping both of your bib straps accounted for...no need to perform contortions trying to dig out a loose bib strap trapped in the back of your jacket.
- Pro tip: before you perform these acrobatics in a small bathroom stall with an inevitability wet floor (why is the floor always wet in resort bathrooms??? I know it's 90% water, but I don't want to think about the other 10%), make sure the toilet is the one you intend to use and that it’s not, say, covered in pee from a previous visitor. Speaking from experience on this one. Trust me.
- Make sure the shoulder straps are crossed in the back so they stay on your shoulders more easily. We all have enough fun with bra straps falling off all day, let's not make our ski bibs have that problem too.
- Look for bibs that have high sides, front, and back for added warmth (and for keeping snow out of your pants when you inevitably wipe out down an icy slope in Valle Nevado and get what can only be described as ice burn on your sides and lower back and copious amounts of snow and ice down your pants and up your shirt. Yes, my base layer shirts were tucked into my pants; no, it didn’t help one little bit. Just me? Oh well. Again, just trust me on this.)
All that being said, here's what I wear, and I love them. They're not the cutest in the world, but they are warm (despite not being particularly insulated), and more importantly, they come in short sizes that are actually short. I wear a medium short: I like my bibs to be a bit looser so I can wear more layers underneath.
Outdoor Research
What If I Can't Stand the Thought of Bibs?
I understand. Well, not really. But I can still help.
If you absolutely can't stand the thought of bibs, give Obermeyer's pants a try. These pants were the first real snow pants I owned, and they're pretty great. They also come in short sizes, which is really nice, but the biggest downside is that they have a waistband, which is annoying on fall number 34 of the day (ok, I don't fall that often any more, but there was a time when I did). I'd use the velcro on the waistband to tighten the pants enough to "stay up" so I had full range of motion for my legs.
Obermeyer
Finally, if you're not ready to invest in nice gear just yet, I get it. It's a lot cheaper to use what you have until you're sure you like a sport enough to invest in good gear. Here's my very first weekend skiing, where I wore a pair of very on-sale ski pants my mom and I got when I was a kid to use for cold sailing days (honestly, that really only works if you're not going to get wet ever, which was rarely the case for me. Yes, I even ended up going "swimming" in these on a particularly cold Texas day.).
If you're a skier or snowboarder on the shorter side, I hope I've helped a little bit.
By the way, the height issue is also a challenge for hiking gear (not just pants—all of it), but that's a topic for a different day and a different post. For now, shoutout to Prana; check out their selection of short sizes for women's pants.
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