Five gear no-no's when nordic skiing

This past weekend was the Canadian Birkebeiner ski festival. http://www.canadianbirkie.com/ Five race distances attracted about 1500 skiers of all abilites.
I was in the 31km event, and an exciting part of the day was eavesdropping on skiers talk about their choice of clothing before the race. "Oh how many layers are you wearing?, and ten minutes before the gun, "I'm not sure what to put on."
There were some items of clothing I saw in the barn before the race that still baffle me.
So I've compiled a list, and remember most folks were out in minus 8 degree celsius weather for 3-6 hours.
1. cotton, head to toe sweatpant matterial. (It's not the '70's anymore)
2. leather, no not chaps just 30 year old mittens.
3. shorts, yup, shorts????
4. treated cotton, as in welding pants and matching coat.
5.down. great for apres ski, but lousy on the trail.

I looked high and low for denim, but I came up emty this year, the only thing worse than dungarees for skiing is lulu lemon flair pants. Give your head a shake ladies.

I wish sometimes I could ski with a camera to capture the insanity, but nordic skiing is hard enough.