Renting Skis This Winter? Here Are 6 Tips for a Smooth Experience From an Ex-Rental Employee
In the early days of my freelance photography career, I was still trying to make ends meet and picked up a second job that would give me some stable income. I chose working in rentals at a ski shop in Jackson Hole, where I got a free ski pass and a good friend was my boss.
I learned many things throughout this winter about ski tech, how to identify your customer, how not to get your fingers caught in a ski binding, and perhaps most importantly, how to help a guy trying to mansplain skiing to you check his ego.
People rent skis for all kinds of reasons—not wanting to fly with them, lost gear, etc, and it can be a great resource for getting out on the slopes. So, if you’re planning to rent skis this season and are a seasoned skier without much experience renting or someone who takes their one annual trip a year, and it’s not worth buying, here are a few tips on how to have the best ski rental experience possible.
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1. Be Patient
Picking skis that best suit your needs, fitting boots, and adjusting bindings are all things that take time. Odds are, the rental staff are moving as fast as they can to accommodate everyone’s needs, especially during a busy period. The very best thing you can do to make sure you have a good rental experience is to be patient. The more time you spend getting that set up dialed in, the better experience you’ll have on the slopes.
Photo: FPG/ Getty Images
2. If You Have a Big Party, Keep Them Together
If you’ve brought your whole family/bachelor party/girls’ trip/group to the rental shop to get their gear at the same time, there is nothing that makes the process more difficult than half of your group wandering off to look at goggles while your rental employee is just trying to make sure everyone’s boots fit.
Wait until you’ve got your rental gear all ready to go check out outerwear, gloves, or whatever other fun things have inevitably caught your eye (ski gear is too fun to look at!), and encourage those in your group not to wander off either. If you happen to be with a group of small children, this is even more important. Kiddos aren’t always great at keeping track of all their own gear, so the more you can keep track of them, the more your rental employee can help get them set up with everything they need.
Related: Planning Your Next Ski Trip: When To Book the Best Deals
3. Don’t Assume You Know More Than the Employees
When I was a rental tech, I often had folks who would show up asking for their DINS to be set to some number that didn’t make sense, or wearing three pairs of cotton socks and saying we’d fit their boots wrong. If you’re new to skiing, that’s okay! Just defer to the experts and ask all the questions you need.
On the flip side, a customer who can show you they know what they’re talking about and is able to say exactly what ski length or type or mondo point boot size they need (and what they say actually makes sense) is a dream and makes rental staff’s jobs easier. Employees won’t judge you for asking questions and trying to learn, but they won’t be very happy if you misrepresent your knowledge and then blame them if your gear doesn’t work.
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4. Reserve Your Skis in Advance
Sometimes, life hands you lemons or the airline loses your skis, and you can’t rent in advance. However, if you’ve been planning your ski trip for months, it’s easier for everyone if you reserve your rentals in advance so the shop knows how much inventory they’ll have and you don’t have to do a bunch of paperwork when you get there. Additionally, lots of shops have a small discount for folks renting in advance, so might as well save a buck or two!
Related: Ski Trips Don’t Have To Break the Bank: 5 Smart Ways To Save
5. If You’re a “Type III” Skier, Sign the Damage Waiver
Most ski shops have an “optional” damage waiver or fee, which means if you somehow ruin or cause decent damage to a pair of skis, you don’t have to pay for the price of the ski or the repair. It’s usually $10–$20, depending on the shop, which is a whole lot less than the cost of filling a core shot or paying for a pair of skis you broke. Maybe someone renting skis for their very first ever lesson doesn’t need a damage waiver. The odds are unlikely that they’d smash a rock hard enough to core shot a ski.
However, if you put “Type III” or “advanced” skier down on your rental form, do everyone a favor and pay the extra money. Rental folks know you don’t mean to put those dings in your ski bases and might even give you the benefit of the doubt if you promise you weren’t doing anything stupid when you took that edge out. But they will be the ones charging you if you don’t get damage insurance, so it’s better to be smart ahead of time.
Photo: Courtesy Arizona Snowbowl
6. Keep Track of Your Rental Equipment
When there are 20 pairs of the same rental skis on the rack outside the lodge, it is admittedly easy to forget which are yours. If you do grab the wrong pair, hopefully you realize it quickly and take them back. If not, it’s usually fairly easy for the shop to figure out who else’s skis you grabbed and try to get them back to the person, but it’s not always a quick process.
Most shops will put a label with your name on each piece of equipment. You should also take a mental note of the color, brand, and size of your skis, and any other information that will help you remember. Before you grab a pair off the rack, double-check the label and make sure they’re actually the right ski before you disappear with them.
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