The best time of year to shop the sales on ski gear is the spring. Most ski shops and online stores will start to put all of their skiing equipment on sale around the presidents weekend holiday in February. This is one of the biggest weekends at most ski resorts and the beginning of the end of ski season for ski shops.
Of course with our help you can find deals all year long so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll send you the deals as they happen throughout the year.
When skiing equipment and jackets, etc. go on sale you need to act fast. Usually the vendor or shop has a limited quantity left so when you hear about a sale on a piece of gear you want, you should be ready. The spring sales are the best because usually you will find a great selection of the gear you need and the sizes and colors that you may want. The longer you wait the less selection you’ll find.
I like to create a list of gear I need for the season that I create sometime in the summer or early fall. This helps me get excited for the season and stay focused on the ski gear that I actually need so I don’t overspend. I use a tool called wunderlist and put all the equipment I need in that list. Then when I get an sale email from a store like Backcountry.com or REI (or JustSkiIt.com ;-)), I open up my list and do a quick search at that store for the piece of gear I’m looking for.
Be Patient and You’ll Find Your Gear On Sale
If you can be patient (I know it’s hard), you will end up saving more on your ski gear. At some point the gear you need will go on sale. As I mentioned before you should subscribe to our email list as I will consolidate all the sales from different shops into one email and you can check multiple shops for the best price or the piece of gear you need. But it is also good to subscribe to your favorite store’s email list.
Fall Ski Sales
Black Friday Ski Equipment Sales
Cyber Monday Ski Equipment Sales
Spring Demo Sales
In the spring most ski resort shops and local ski shops will put their demo fleet on sale. This is a great time to buy a pair of skis with bindings at a highly discounted price.
Pros:
- Usually you’ll save 40-50% on the pair of skis you want
- They will come with demo bindings that fit a wide range of boot sizes (sole lengths) so you, your friends and family members can also use the skis
- It is a compete setup so no need to buy skis and bindings separately.
Cons:
- The skis and bindings are used
- It’s hard to tell how hard they have been used other than just by looking at them and what condition they “look” like they are in. (sometimes the shop will have a record of how much they have been rented out so be sure to ask)
What to look for:
Be sure to look closely at the condition of the skis. Check the bases for any major repair work. Base welds, scratches on the edges etc. Make sure the skis have been tuned up or waxed. If they have not you can usually ask the ski shop to tune and wax them as a condition of purchase. Also check the condition of the bindings. Make sure they are not loose and show no signs of visible damage. If they look damaged, or they seem loose, do not buy them. You can also ask the shop to do a torque test before you buy the skis to make sure the bindings are performing as they should.