Ski Base

My husband and I were vacationing at Vail and, being from Miami, found ourselves needing to rent some ski equipment prior to hitting the slopes. So glad we found this shop; in addition to great rental prices, Nick really took his time with us and made sure that our boots fit (as comfortably as it is possible for ski boots to fit!). Our skis and poles were also high quality and made for a fun day. Very personalized and friendly service.

I used this shop over opening weekend to rent skis, boots, poles and a helmet. The demo skis that they recommended were new and probably the best that I’ve ever tried (Black Pearls by Blizzard) and were perfect for the conditions on opening weekend. The service was really helpful and the prices are second to none. I’ll definitely be renting from this shop again.

Awesome family owned and operated business. Reserved online and skis and snowboard were ready when we got there.
Great, friendly service. Took their advice and showed up around 5:00 PM to pickup and avoid people dropping off. Would definitely recommend.

I’ve never bothered to leave my skis at home, but for this trip, I did just that. I made my reservations online and the prices were extremely reasonable to the point where I may not drag my skis again to Vail. As I’m looking for new skis to buy, I have been able to try out a number of different all mountain skis. The staff was excellent in steering me through several types of demos. They are very friendly, efficient, and very accommodating. I would definitely recommend and rent again from this organization. Refreshing to see great product and service without the Vail price.

Overall our group of 4 were very satisfied. Outside of busy times (8−9AM and 4−5PM) the service is excellent. During busy times the place is packed and somewhat chaotic but it appears to work. I would suggest for problem solving and if you have a lot of questions to avoid those times. Their online booking is convenient and seamless. Prices are very competitive. Selection of demo skis in selected lengths was good. One of us had a problem with binding settings but eventually got resolved. Only a 5 min walk from lionshead gondola… very convenient.

Well I have been using this shop and I have nothing but things to say about these people. Great ski shop, great people and with some of the best equipment in the area.
However that is not why left another review. I happened to see that my first review for this company did not show in the overall rating. Well that got me really upset, why do I bother to leave reviews if that do not count. Also how come out of all the reviews I have written this is the only one that does not show in the over all rating. So I called Unilocal and asked why that was so. I was told that it was their opinion and that my reviews must of not had enough relevance. I asked how that was possiable, I since I have way more reviews than the ones that are shown in the over all rating and some of the reviews are over 5 year old. I was told that is just the way it is.
SO I have a statement, Unilocal you do not have the right to censor my review, simply put.
With that said I started to look into this, I googled «why my reviews do not show on Unilocal». Well a snow covered mountain of information is what I found, all of which pointed to the finger at Unilocal as a low life company. In short form, Unilocal manipulates their reviews to show what they want, If a business wants their good reviews to show that you have to pay Unilocal,if you do not pay Unilocal then only the bad ones will show. –Unfair and unethical on Unilocal’s behalf!!!-. I had heard something about this before I got i started writing reviews, but I had no idea that I would one day be apart of Unilocal lie.
With that said, I will not be support a unethical company like Unilocal every again. What a wast of time.

I rented six sets of skis for my family over MLK Holiday weekend. The prices were very competitive. We picked up our skis the night before we started skiing and the staff was very good. The shop was run by the owner and someone who was possibly his son. They could have been a little more personable, however, it was a very busy weekend and they got us in and out quickly. The owner seemed to be onsite each time we went into the shop. This is a sign of a business owner that cares about his business and the customers it serves.
PROS…
Rental set up day before skiing
Location is 50 yards to the Lionshead gondola
Prices were couple $$$ less than everyone else
Demo equipment was in good shape
Overnight storage included ski boots (a lot of shops only hold your skis/​poles)
Refunded for early return for my wife and youngest who decided not to ski last day
Staff hustled to keep the crowd moving
Cons
SMILE a little more-​you live in beautiful Vail CO!

Great prices, gear and service.
I don’t know why people would give this place such awful reviews. In fact, in reading the bad reviews, they all seem to be because of a mistake the user did, and nothing to do with the store.
I just rented for a week from SkiBase, as did one of my travel mates. The gear was top notch, the prices were VERY Low compared to Vail, and the service was great. I had a problem with a boot on day one and they were super accommodating in getting me a new boot and quickly so I could get back on the mountain.
The location is amazing, a 4 minute walk from Lionshead gondola to a bench at SkiBase to get your shoes off. I have nothing but great things to say about this shop, the ownership and the staff working there. I will highly recommend this place to anyone looking for skiis in Vail. I will always rent there on all future trips. Thanks for a great job everyone.

I don’t get why Unilocal is only showing a few negative reviews?! I posted the following on Google+. Go there to see ALL reviews…
I booked a 6-​day demo package (skis and poles only) with Vail Ski Base on Thursday, January 8, 2015 for me and my son. We arrived at the store on Saturday evening, January 10, and met with Jay (owner) and Alex. They spent a lot of time with us to understand our skiing abilities and our skiing goals for the week. We are both advanced/​expert skiers and were looking for some top all-​mountain skis, so Jay suggested a few different skis to try the first day. He put me on some nearly brand-​new 2014 Volkl RTM 84’s and my son on some 2014 Volkl Kinks. Both sets were in excellent condition, and we had a great day on them.
After skiing that first day I decided to try another ski just because I could. The demo package comes with unlimited ski exchanges so why not? This time Kevin worked with me and suggested I try the 2015 Blizzard Bonafide. I took his suggestion and he got them set up that night so they would be ready in the morning. I was impressed with Kevin’s knowledge and how he took the time to ask me questions and suggest a ski that matched the snow conditions and terrain we would be skiing on the next day. We got 6″ of fresh powder that night so the wider base of the Bonafide looked like a good match. I asked him for some tips on where to ski to get some untracked runs and he gladly pointed us to some great terrain that most tourists don’t go into. We took his advice and headed directly to where he pointed us to. We skied untracked powder in that area for nearly an hour the next day before we saw another skier. Thanks Kevin!
The third day I decided to try one more ski and worked with Kevin again. This time he put me on some 2015 Atomic Automatic 102 skis, but I didn’t like them nearly as much as the Blizzards so I swapped them back out and rode the Blizzards for the rest of the week. My son skied the Links the first two days, but Kevin switched him over to the 2015 Volkl Bridge the third day. My son loved the skis and extra length that Kevin suggested, and ended up skiing on them the rest of the week.
I strongly recommend Vail Ski Base for anyone’s rental needs. They are courteous, friendly, and extremely knowledgeable. Make sure you book online before you go to get the best rental price in Vail. If you are skiing during holiday periods book as far in advance as possible. Thanks Jay, Alex, and Kevin for a great week. We’ll be back!

The best prices and great service. I got some friend in town including a 2 year old. They recommend the perfect skies for all very patient staff with a very demanding group. Thanks for that guys. Jay the owner made some recommendation not only on the equipment but with his local knowledge about food and fun. Thanks again highly recommended. Great experience.

After returning home to Australia I was contacted by Ski Base. They were very apologetic and have assured me that the have taken the necessary actions to ensure the safety of their customers by implementing changes to the way their equipment is setup and stored. I was very impressed as they definitely showed they cared by contacting me and refunding my money. These guys are genuine and are willing to go out of their way to help their customers.

I was worried about why this rental shop was HALF the price of others. Was the equipment old? Beat to shreds? Bait and switch? NONE of the above! They didn’t have the K2s I wanted, but put me on a brand new pair of Volkl Kenjas, which were much more appropriate for the amount of snow we had the week we were there. I had WAY more fun on the Kenjas — excellent call. About halfway through the week I stopped back in just to say thank you and apologized for giving them a hard time about the K2s. Go to this place — GREAT value, new equipment and a great owner who knows what he’s talking about. We will be back… except I liked the Kenjas so much, I bought them!

the place claims to be the cheapest around but i can’t confirm that since i didn’t shop around. the prices were decent so it wasn’t overpriced. the employees are all young males and one or two show their signs of immaturity through their lack of customer service but most were friendly and professional enough. there is one old man (around mid 50s).
i’m guessing the mid/​late 30s lady is the owner but she wasn’t friendly at all. she never greeted me on my multiple trips. she just stared at me. she was a little snappy with some of the other customers as well. just her style i guess.
they gave us refunds on some of the early returns so i really appreciated that.
overall, it’s not a bad place but friendliness goes a long way.

I agree with the other reviewer. Horrible customer service. The people here are not polite, find another shop to go to if you can.

Great prices, friendly staff although laid back (aka slow). Shop is not set up for any efficiency as patrons were tripping over each other in the cramped store. Location is great. Rental equipment was lost overnight multiple times, so getting the exact same gear is a gamble. My boots were very used and not comfortable, even by rental standards. I would rent again based on price alone.

Can NOT believe the horrible, horrible customer service at this place… and at Vail! We reserved rentals a month in advance because they had such good prices. Well… when we got there, they did not have rentals in our size. Worse – they gave my teenager a size bigger and told him it was his size. This is very dangerous and downright criminal on their part. Because of their incompetence in being able to honor their reservation, we had to pay «walk-​in» prices at three times the cost at another rental place of what we had planned. I emailed the owner/​manager and asked for an explanation and never got one. I intend to tell everyone in every review possible how horrible I think this place is. I think it’s a shame for Vail to allow such a rental place – it gives the resort a bad reputation as far as I’m concerned