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What worried me most about when we were planning our winter getaway to Quebec, Canada besides the ski lifts, was the cold. I’m not a fan of the cold and can easily sleep under four to five layers of blankets and all in winter. Belgian winter. I thought I would freeze in Quebec, where temperatures easily drop to -30°C in winter.
I could have spent a lot of money buying special outdoor clothes, skiing gear and thermal underwear, but I didn’t. The reason for that was that I had never gone on a real snow trip and had no idea if I would ever want to repeat it. Spending all of that money didn’t seem smart at the time and I’m still glad with the decision I made.
That being said, I did take special clothes with me. I just borrowed most of them. Ski pants from my neighbor, fleece longsleeves from a friend and a whole bunch of clothes from Siemen’s mom. I didn’t want to buy a heap of things I might never use again, but I didn’t want to freeze my buttocks off either.
Snow boots from Siemen’s mom.
The only things I got specifically for this trip were Icebreaker ski socks, an Icebreaker long-sleeve base layer, an Icebreaker legging and Icebreaker glove liners. Part of those items I bought myself and part of them was a birthday gift from Siemen. My birthday was a month before our Canada trip, so that worked out well!
I didn’t use the glove liners a lot as I felt my hands were warmer wearing only the normal gloves I’d taken with me, but I barely took off the legging and the base layer. They were heaven. They kept me super warm and they really do take the sweat off of your skin when you’re being active so that you won’t cool down because of it afterwards.
I remember sweating SO hard during my snowboarding lesson at Stoneham (I was wearing way too many clothes), but when I got to our apartment to take a shower afterwards, I noticed how the Icebreaker base layer still smelled fresh while the fleece I was wearing over it, well, didn’t. Super cool technology.
The ski socks were great as well. I washed those out during the trip so I could wear them several times.
Ready to go!
Packed for Quebec
So, what did I end up taking for our 10-day trip to Quebec? Here’s a as-good-as complete list:
Medication
- zomig (for migraine attacks)
- immodium (against diarrhea)
- montelukast (against allergies)
- cetirizine (against allergies)
- motilium (against nausea)
- aleve (painkiller)
- symbicort (inhaler)
- birth control pil
- bandages
- special bandages against blisters
Clothes and accessories
- 4 light fleece sweaters
- 3 turlenecks
- 1 regular legging (that I didn’t wear until the flight back home)
- 1 Icebreaker Lightweight 200 g legging (that I wore almost every day)
- 1 Icebreaker lightweight Oasis Henley 200 g base layer + 4 other base layers
- ski gloves
- regular gloves
- Icebreaker 260g midweight glove liners (that I didn’t wear)
- 3 pairs of ski socks, including one pair of Icebreaker ski socks (the other pairs were borrowed)
- 5 pairs of hiking socks
- 2 pairs of regular thick socks (that I didn’t wear)
- 5 pairs of regular socks (that I didn’t wear until the flight back home)
- 2 pyjamas
- basic underwear and bras
- 1 bikini (to use in the hot tubs at Château Mont-Sainte-Anne)
- ski glasses (to hide my face when skiing for the first time)
- ski pants
- 1 jeans (that I wore over my Icebreaker leggings each day in Quebec City)
- 1 ski jacket
- 1 regular winter hat
- 1 super thick winter hat
- 2 hats you’d think robbers wear (didn’t use those)
- 1 fleece buff
- 3 regular long tops (only wore one of those on our flight days)
- snow boots (wore those all the time and even slipped them into snowshoes
- hiking shoes (that I didn’t wear)
Other stuff
- 3 packs of paper tissues
- my Pacsafe Citysafe travel handbag
- a notebook, two pens and a pencil
- a flight pillow
- laptop + charger
- camera + charger
- smartphone + charger
- USB-cables to connect all the electronics to each other
- 2 universal chargers
- small shower gels and small shampoos that I took with me from a hotel on another trip (yes, I’m that kind of person)
- facial creme
- after sun
- sun screen
- lip balm
- deodorant
- hair brush
- basic make-up and make-up remover
- toothpaste + tooth brush
- and probably some other basic bathroom items
That’s about it! Nothing spectacular on here, but now you have an idea of how I survived 10 very cold days in Quebec in winter.
Where to stay in Quebec, Canada
Planning a trip to Quebec? We stayed at the Hotel Château Bellevue in Quebec City, at the Hotels & Condos Stoneham in Stoneham and at the Château Mont-Sainte-Anne in Mont-Sainte-Anne.
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Our rental apartment in Old Quebec City
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Awesome post! I’m going to Canada for a whole year and like you i’m not a big fan of cold weather.. Those base layers seem like a smart thing to buy (and maybe the legging too, just in case) 🙂
Thanks Kelly!
That’s so cool, that you’re going there for a year! Will you be traveling around or setting up base somewhere?
I highly recommend the Icebreaker base layers. Maybe another brand will do as well, but they’re the only ones I have experience with and I have had nothing but positive experiences with the shirt and legging that I bought.
Well I’m going with my boyfriend on a Working Holiday and we’re hoping to stay in Vancouver for about 6 months and then we’ll see what what we can do next.
That sounds great!
Did you already fix a job?
No we don’t have a job yet but we do have some contacts to start with 🙂
That’s a beginning:)
So good to hear that you didn’t need to buy too much in the way of specialist clothing. I’d absolutely love to go to Canada and experience the Canadian winter, but I have visions of myself getting super cold and ending up wearing all my clothes at once. Not sure that I want to look like a miniature whale in a bobble hat in all of the photos!
That thermal layer stuff sounds great though. I think my parents bought something similar for their trip to Norway last winter. Amazing how much difference something like that can make to your personal comfort.
Haha, you’re haunted by the same visions I had 😀
Well, I did look the same in all of the photos and I was wearing a lot of layers each day. I really needed those layers when we were visiting Quebec City, but when we were skiing, cross-country skiing and, especially, snowboarding (I took a class) I was often dressed too warm.
That thermal layer stuff kicks ass. Honestly. I’m even thinking of looking into some extra gear so that I can take the bike to work in winter and then just change outfits at the office or something.
Can’t wait to go myself. Although I am hoping it won’t be as cold in October!!
Let me know how you like it!
Well, it wasn’t supposed to be that cold end of March either, but apparently they had a really harsh and long winter last year.
I know a couple of people who avoided Quebec because of the cold – I’ll need to share this post with them!! Thank you!
You definitely do!:)
That looks way to freezing for me, did you say -30? Oh dear! Brrrrr!
Yups:)
It’s actually pretty okay if you dress accordingly. The cold isn’t humid like it is in Belgium.