Is It Better to Buy Skis or Rent Skis?

26th March 2024

Last modified on March 30th, 2024

To Buy or not To Buy?

Rent is the Question.

Does one buy a lovely new pair of skis and bindings in the UK and cart them around Europe (or further) by planes, trains and automobiles with all the cost and damage risk that entails?

Or is it simpler these days to rent in resort and get access to the latest must-have equipment – even if in the long run it may cost more and involve some waiting around in ski hire shops?

When PlanetSKI’s Simon Wilson found out his daughter Miriam was buying her first pair of skis this month, we decided to put each theory to the test.

Miriam is a medical student at Bristol University and on the student ski team there.

Ahead of an upcoming University ski week, father and daughter fitted in a quick advance trip to France to test out the buying vs renting arguments.

Here are their stories:

Miriam’s Story

Rent or buy? Image c/o PlanetSKI

Owning my own skis has been a dream for a while now, especially since coming to university, joining the ski society and seeing everyone with their own very cool skis.

My meagre UK student loan definitely doesn’t cover buying a brand-new pair, so for the past year and a bit I’ve been scouring Ebay and Facebook marketplace hoping to stumble across a good deal.

Along the way I’ve discovered the ruthless nature of Ebay bidding wars, had several failed bidding attempts and some slightly dodgy encounters with online sellers.

Finally, I found a pair of Nordica Santa Ana all-mountain skis in great condition on Facebook Marketplace and somehow, using my rather poor negotiation skills, managed to bargain them down to £250 plus poles and a bag.

Thank you, Will from Facebook!

Also, the topsheet design and colours match my ski outfit, which in my mind makes them even cheaper – girl math! (That’s a Gen Z reference for all you over 50s PlanetSKI readers).

All in all, a pretty good deal I have to say – maybe even meant to be.

By chance, the bindings were even set to the perfect length and dins already.

With ski rental on average about £100 a week I’m hoping these will pay themselves back within 3 trips.

Flying with the skis was quite stressful I have to admit, many awful and slightly irrational scenarios were going through my head: the skis getting lost, somehow getting snapped in half in transit, someone stealing them off the baggage carousel…

Luckily EasyJet pulled through and they arrived in one piece, bar some minor scratches on the poles.

On arrival in La Plagne it was a luxury not to have to faff around myself in the rental shops.

Though with my dad renting, as usual, I did still have to hang around and annoyingly wait for him.

With some tricky snow conditions over the weekend, a mix of hard pistes, ice, slush, crusty moguls – pretty much everything you can think of, I certainly put the skis to the test, and I have to say they performed beautifully.

I’m super excited to take them on my next trip to Tignes with Bristol University Snowsports Society and am praying they don’t get stolen at aprés…

Rent or buy? Image c/o PlanetSKI

Simon’s Story

Rent or buy? Image c/o PlanetSKI

Owning a pair of skis?

Forget it!

Seen that movie and not going there again.

That is not to say I didn’t love with a passion the skis that I have owned over the years.

My first pair of K2s were a triumph of 1980s American design – the ski equivalent of John McEnroe’s Afro hairstyle and red headband at Wimbledon.

They lasted a few years – until in my youthful exuberance I did one daredevil piste jump too many and one of them simply snapped in half.

Next up for me in the 1990s were a pair of 207cm Dynamic VR 27 giant slalom skis.

Yes you read that correctly – 207cm.

Those were the days when we were encouraged to buy skis 10-15cm taller than us.

These skis lasted for years until a lazy airport baggage worker left them dragging behind his luggage cart and neatly filed off both tips when they arrived in Cologne where I was living at the time.

However, with the insurance money I got from British Airways I bought my favourite ever skis – a pair of first-generation Salomon X-Screams, the yellow ones with the little metal tubes on the top supposed to help damp out vibrations.

Man, I loved those skis – but by this time we were living in the USA and the cost and hassle of shipping skis to and fro across the Atlantic, or on a four-hour flight from the East Coast to the Rockies, was prohibitive.

So ever since then I have been a ski rental man – and I love it.

Each trip brings an opportunity to try out something new, the latest size or shape or just a cool new ski design that you’ve seen in a magazine.

About a decade ago, I first came across Black Crows skis for hire around France and I became a bit obsessed – trying out each new model on subsequent trips in recent years.

So renting is the way forward for me.

No more worries about my own planks snapping in half, or ski tips being filed off at German airports.

If Miriam wants to buy her own skis, that’s fine, but there will be no parental subsidies.

On this recent trip, all the benefits of renting were on show.

The excellent chaps at Intersport in Belle Plagne were on hand on day one and showed me a couple of options before I settled on some Salomon Stance 84s.

Now these are rather dull-looking skis that I would never think of buying.

But for the conditions we had – as Miriam described – they were ideal, cutting through crud and slush lower down while gliding and carving nicely on the harder upper pistes.

And at the end of the trip, I just handed them back.

No lugging back to Geneva and fighting through terminal crowds.

And add in the cost.

Miriam’s skis cost nearly £40 each way to fly out with EasyJet – that would almost pay for the rental itself.

I do hope her skis survive the upcoming trip to Tignes, but if they don’t – well, as all the best dads say:  “Don’t Say I Didn’t Tell You So.”

PlanetSKI Discount Code for Ski Hire with Intersport

Intersport has over 700 ski hire shops across the Alps.

With the special “PlanetSKI” discount code you can rent award-winning skis & snowboards at knock-down prices.

Book via www.intersportrent.com 

UPDATE:

There has been some reaction from readers over on the PlanetSKI Facebook page.

Feel free to add your thoughts.

William Miller – NOBODY loves Rentals and Yes I did spend 1983-84 as the Rental Manager of Hunter Mountain NY. Buy skis as soon as you decide that Skiing is something that you like to do, you won’t regret it.

Ivor Fried – Hiring skis can be like a game of roulette: you may be lucky or not. Even when you get good hire equipment, it can take time to adapt and find the limits of the new equipment. Of course, hire equipment can also be disappointing and / or badly prepared. Another factor is that I prefer my own lightweight poles with wide baskets to any the hire shops provide! Given the overall cost of ski trips, I’m prepared to pay out a little more to have my own kit.

Mark Coomber – Buy. And, budget permitting) consider two different pairs: • one more off-piste orientated (100mm+ under foot with lots of rocker) • another more piste / all-mountain type (up to 80mm underfoot and with more metal in its construction.

Caroline Frank-Madden – Rent. I have been ski ing for 45 years and never bought. Ski’s and boots I hire are always up to date products and I have never had any issues.

Judith Wren – At a minimum- get a ski lock for your skis for the apres! There’s been lots of kit ‘going missing’ whilst owners socialise – Better still leave them in Your locker

Tim Taylor – We’ve just sold our skis as so peed off with the hassle at airportsand the quality of hire skis now and choice is amazing.

Tracey Hill – We have always owned our skis. I love ‘knowing ‘ my equipment, they are like good friends. Have tried demo’s and rented in the US when transportation was an issue and was fun to try others out but much prefer returning to the kit I know and love.

Frank Atherton – Also, so much depends on how you get to resort. When I lived in the UK I drove many times to the Alps with friends, so no ski carriage costs there. When I lived in Canada, the same scenario. Now I live in Spain, Andorra, the Spanish Pryanees & Sierra Nevada all within easy driving distance. Why pay 100’s of Euro for something I’ll never own?

Frank Atherton – on the other hand, if you go to ski for a couple of days, every few years and you stay more in the apreski than on the slope, rental is a better option.

Tracey Hill – We have always owned our skis. I love ‘knowing ‘ my equipment, they are like good friends. Have tried demo’s and rented in the US when transportation was an issue and was fun to try others out but much prefer returning to the kit I know and love.

Stella Coton – I rented for the first time in 30 years – fell on day one, ski’s didn’t come off and now have 6-9 months of rehab ahead of me due to injuries- boy do I regret not taking my skis with me – the £80 carriage was a small price to pay in comparison.

Andy Gorrie – Marry your boots, date your skis.