| Some of the ups and downs of hiring skis and boots | | | | The care you receive generally reflects the money |
| on your first ski holiday. Worrying about your first ski | | | | you spend, as in most things. The first day of a ski |
| holiday is bad enough without people asking you | | | | holiday is a crescendo of excitement and stress in |
| confusing questions such as where are you going | | | | equal measure. You probably got up very early, |
| to hire your skis?’ It’s a hard question | | | | negotiated a noisy airport, and haven’t eaten |
| to answer when you don’t really know what | | | | very much beyond your mini in-flight breakfast. To |
| skis do, or how you make them do it. | | | | walk into a chaotic ski shop where dudes with |
| I remember one beginner explaining that skiers walk | | | | goaties are too cool to speak to you because |
| stiffly because they’re wearing thickly padded | | | | you’re over the age of 25 and wearing the |
| clothes. She wasn’t the brightest icicle on the | | | | wrong sort of jacket, can be off-putting on an |
| eaves, admittedly, but until you actually try on a pair | | | | empty stomach. |
| of ski boots, which hold your feet and ankles safe | | | | The antidote is Snowberry, a smart shop, which |
| from twisting, you wouldn’t possibly know | | | | gives such good customer care you never want to |
| that they clamp your feet so tight it’s | | | | leave. You decide to buy some goggles because |
| impossible not to walk like a robot. | | | | they’ve been so kind. You leave your skis |
| Reading books and magazines in advance just makes | | | | there overnight so that they can look after you a |
| you anxious about possible pitfalls. Will it hurt when I | | | | little more. Such service comes at a price, but the |
| fall over? Adults fall so rarely in their day-to-day lives | | | | bedside manner is worth every penny. |
| that the prospect is a worry. How will I stand up | | | | A good shop will take the time to tell you how a ski |
| again? Will I die? Rational decision-making on the | | | | boot should feel, what it’s going to do for |
| technicalities of ski equipment is impossible. | | | | you, and even how to do it up properly. Susan Dun |
| One time-honoured way for dealing with the | | | | from Snowberry explained You do the top one |
| prospect is to ignore it until you arrive in the ski | | | | then the second one down, then flex forward into |
| resort and a smiling Rep helpfully points you in the | | | | the boot which pulls the heel back into the correct |
| direction of a ski shop, hands you some coupons you | | | | place, then tighten up the top two clips again, |
| probably paid for months earlier, and it’s all | | | | especially the second one. Then you fasten the two |
| arranged seamlessly while you simply stand, sit, bend | | | | over the top of the foot. The second clip, over the |
| your knees and fill in a form at the till. | | | | ankle, is the most important and should be pretty |
| Others prefer to plan their equipment hire as if their | | | | tight. The top one at the cuff and also the Velcro |
| holiday were an assault on Everest — only | | | | power strap if there is one, should be fairly tight too, |
| with extra budgeting. In the past it was perfectly | | | | to stop your calf moving in the boot as you bend. |
| natural for the ski shops in a resort to compare | | | | You shouldn’t tighten the two over the top |
| prices with one another - after all they were | | | | of the foot any more than you can fasten and |
| probably cousins - and set their prices accordingly, | | | | unfasten with one finger quite easily. If you do them |
| rendering shopping around futile. Nowadays the | | | | any tighter it will deform the shell of the boot and |
| enterprising Brit has put an end to such familial | | | | force your instep down which can cause a lot of pain. |
| conniving, and the bargain hunter will find his or her | | | | A lot of people do this because their boots are too |
| reward, usually in shops owned or part-owned by a | | | | big and they feel that their foot is moving too much |
| ski-lover from Aberdeen or Arundel who arrived to | | | | within the boot, but if they are having to do that |
| the Alps in his teens to wash dishes and never went | | | | then the correct way t o deal with it is to change |
| home. These days, internet deals offering two sets | | | | the size or shape of the boot for a model that more |
| of ski equipment for the price of one are undermining | | | | closely follows the contours of the foot so that the |
| the cosy cartels and keeping prices down. | | | | foot is held in place mainly by the shell and liner. |
| Val d’Isère, probably the most famous ski | | | | While some people can’t do up their upper |
| resort in France, has the whole range of ski shops | | | | clips until the lower ones are at least semi-tightened, |
| for the whole range of skiers, from bargain-hunter to | | | | this still has to be good advice for those trying on ski |
| technophile. There are shops owned by families who | | | | boots for the very first time. |
| go back generations to the farmers and shepherds | | | | Meanwhile, skis these days are works of art, all |
| of the tiny hamlet which this plush resort once was; | | | | graphics and rhetoric. When a ski bends, it turns, so |
| there are smarter shops set up in the last decade by | | | | the softer the ski, the easier it is to turn. A good ski |
| French and British partnerships who have studied the | | | | hire shop will know this and give you the right skis |
| market and aim to be the best, and there are new | | | | for your level. People who buy top-of-the-range |
| shops which are undercutting everyone, grabbing as | | | | racing skis after their third week will wonder why all |
| much of the market as they can, and enjoying the | | | | the fun has gone out of it. |
| returns while they last. | | | | |