Hire vs buying

A snowHead

Just doing the figures as some end of season sales seem to have started.

There really is not much in it, IMHO, if you are skiing around 9 days a year, anything more over 5 years and it appears cheaper to buy.

However if you get stung more than once for ski carriage charge and also service more than once a year it bumps the cost of buying up

so:

1080 sale price £207
S810 Ti 1080 Ski Bindings £98
yearly service £25
yearly flight surcharge £30

over 5 years £580

rental day £13
9 days a year £117

5 years £585

but if you get stung twice for carriage and service twice a year, but manage two weeks skiing....

1080 sale price £207
S810 Ti 1080 Ski Bindings £98
yearly service £50
yearly flight surcharge £60

over 5 years £855

rental day £13
12 days a year £156

5 years £780

A snowHead

Pros of having own skis

No hassle in resort
Get "used" to the same ski

cons

getting stung for ski carriage
not necessarily always the best ski for the snow/ice that day
hassle of lugging skis around airports

pros of renting

can always get latest models
can ski the right ski for the conditions that day

cons of renting

hassle of renting
ski may not be in best condition
may not get the ski you want
hassle

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

gregh, as I found this year, you can sell your own skis on ebay for more than half the origonal value after four/five years too.

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really?

digs out his XScreams............

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Oh, the other thing is - don't ski in europe then you don't get stung with carriage charges.

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I'd love to WTFH, but with a 5 and a 2 year old, the US/Canada won't be for a few years. Have skied lots in Colorado, a weekend in Utah, the odd day east coast and 10 days in Jackson Hole, so would love to go back!

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gregh,
Agree with all of that but I still hire and travel light. Most decent resorts
have a good selection and it is good to try out different skis and tailor the hire for the
conditions.

I budget £100:00 per trip, (7 days) and that is expensive but as I haven't found my perfect ski
I guess this will continue.

One thing I never understand is people hiring and skiing whatever the shop gives them...!!!!!
I always have a short list and tell the guy what I want and can't remember the last 'bad' ski I was on.
And sometimes they do know better and you are delighted with their choice which is how I ended
up on Stockli's a while back before I had heard of them over here.

After all it is free

gregh, there is more to it than figures!

Having your own kit means that you get used to it and get it adjusted just the way you like it and you are always ready to maximise your time on the slopes. If you must talk figures, getting in an extra half day here and there has a very beneficial effect on the per on snow hour (POSH) cost of a trip.

I think hiring probably does work better for skiers. One big advantage is that any boot fits any binding allowing you to own your own comfy boots and use any old skis. Unfortunately, for boarders its more complicated. I remember once thinking I'd forgoe the hassle of lugging my board all the way to Canada for a week on business for the sake of a weekend riding. When I got there I found that all the rental boards in the resort used step-in bindings. After wasting half a day going form shop to shop I eventually found one that agreed to let me demo some regular bindings with a rental board. I now always take my full kit and its worth the hassle.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Note that this only really applies to the UK. For example, for myself living in Vancouver, ski's/boards cost less to buy but more/the same to rent. Furthermore, you never have to pay carriage fees. And you get to ski more days per year. So it ends up being WAY cheaper buying, and of course has the other advantages such as less hassle, get used to the equiptment, etc.
The advantage to renting if you live in Canada is that if you go for high performance rentals, you get to try alot of new skis, and can always use this year's models. Plus you don't have to worry about the durability of the equiptment.

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I think that's what ice perv was saying ise, ie your own bindings will be better than hire bindings.

I go through phases but I'm not too bothered either way. I've mostly used my own equipment but I went a few years on hire skis when the carving equipment first appeared. Like JT, I'd have a short wish list but would occasionally try something else.

I liked the variety of trying new skis and found it interesting to see how they coped with different conditions. I think hiring skis improved my technique since it helped me focus more on what the different skis were doing.

But then a pair of K2s called to me one day in a sale...

You know it makes sense.

Sounds like its easier to get a selection of quality skis to hire than boards. I can just imagine the laughter if I were to walk into a hire shop with a shortlist of boards I'd like to try!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

I've had my own boots for years but my snowblades were the first skis I bought (or had bought for me) last year. I don't tend to ski more than two weeks a year, can't be bothered with the hassle of lugging them through crowded airports and while having hire skis stolen is unlikely to be pleasant, it's probably less traumatic than losing your own.

Another point in favour of hiring - the 25 quid it cost me to fix the blades after skiing over a single (sharp!) rock I didn't see above La Tania - hire skis and rocky pistes are made for each other Twisted Evil

A snowHead

For me the sums work out as follows-

Bandit B2s, bindings and poles = £525.

I've not ever had to pay ski carriage yet (touch wood), but say £30 each trip.
Service every week @ £25.

Ski hire is £90 per week for advanced skis.

I manage 4-5 weeks skiing a year, so the yearly cost of renting would be £360 to £450. The yearly cost of carriage and service would be between £220 and £275. Therefore the yearly saving for my initial investment is £140 to £175.

If I ski for five weeks a year, after three years my skis have paid for themselves, if I only manage four weeks a year, then it takes me nearly four years to pay for them. If I manage to continue to get away without paying for ski carriage, then it is a lot quicker, similarly it is quicker if some of those holidays are two week trips to North America.

When they are your own skis they do tend to be in better nick than hire skis, and it is great to just get to wherever you are going and not have to fight in the rental queue. However carting skis through the airport can be a bit of a pain in the back bottom.

An added bonus, is that when I am home, my skis and I can have a little cuddle whenever I'm missing the snow. Shocked

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I agree with Kramer's last point. You can argue the pure finances either way (owning isn't always cheaper, although it often is). The real difference to me is that I get real utility out of owning my own skis. They're like a friend that has shaed many adventures with me, they sit in the hallway and I smile every day as I walk past them. And, in nasty conditions or on a difficult piste, there is the assurance that they've had one owner, who's looked after them, and that they're then there to look after me!

Maybe I'm just sad, and missing the snow already (3 weeks and counting till next trip! snowHead

); but to me, it's the reason that why, even if owning skis was more expensive, I'd always have my own!

On a slightly more serious point, I know exactly what they will grip and exactly how hard I can push them. If you were driving fast in difficult conditions, would you rather drive your own car, or one you've just picked up from Hertz.

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Kramer, total agreement. Although my skis do get neglected over the summer as my boots have pride of place on my pillow...

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Kramer, you can also reduce the servicing charges by doing it yourself. I haven't paid for a service in abut 3 years. (and haven't paid for carriage in maybe 6 years)

So, my Heads were £340, my Pistols £400ish.
At 3 weeks a year, using your maths, they pay for themselves in 3 years (assuming I only rent one pair at a time).
Now, if you ever ski Alta, and want to rent a GOOD pair of powder skis on a powder day, you can forget about it, so I can hit the slopes with the right gear.

That also negates the fact that when you change your skis you can sell the old ones. It actually means my Head skis will have paid for themselves in under 2 weeks of skiing. My Pistols were not replacements, but my first powder skis, so they will take 5 weeks to pay for.

David Murdoch, when my skis start to feel neglected, I just take them up to MK in the summer (the slope is normally quiet then). They love me even more for doing that.

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just ordered 2 pairs of 1080s from Nevisport in their sale, decided occasionally I pop up to scotland for a day or two, and with the kids getting older we may start going in school hols, so will be less choice of skis

Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

omg gregh i saw a pair of 1080s today on sale, i nearly bought it! but i needed the money for ski jacket, so didnt get it..sigh

After all it is free

If you are likely to be driving down to the alps, the ferries or tunnel charge for ski carriage, so another twist to it all. I prefer to take my own as you know what you are going to get. The bindings are set up for me etc

I'd rather have my own kit and certainly wouldn't wait 5 years to replace it!

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Markw, they only charge for ski carriage in the same way that they charge for roof racks, so to save money, when you get to the ferry/train terminal, make sure the skis are inside the car.

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I've just booked a holiday with Ski Val, going to Tignes, carriage for both ways is £15 total. This makes the yearly cost between £160 and £200, making my yearly saving between £200 and £250, which makes it between just over two years and two and a half years respectively to pay for themselves.

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I bought my B2's (and a pair for Vic) in La Tania (Ski Higher - Twinner) for €549 including bindings & poles (and in Vic's case a base repair 2 days later), that worked out around £390 each. Since then we've only had to pay ski carriage on one trip (Crystal - £19), the others have been free (Simply Ski) or we went by train. We've serviced them 3 times at €35 a time, call it 4 times as they need another now.

That adds up to 549+140 = €689 - about £480 plus Crystal carriage gives about £500. We've done 7½ weeks on them. Hire costs for that period would have been about €800 - £560. We are up already.

Minus points: the hassle of carrying them around, particularly across Paris.

That said, I've long been an advocate of hiring skis. If you ski for only 2 or 3 weeks a year I think that remains the best option. However, ski hire shops are not always what they should be and sometimes you cannot hire decent skis - I.E. St Martin de Belleville, last year, end of March.

Help!!

Hire vs buying

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