Ski hire with Intersport - What's new this season

Bringing your own skis or snowboards to resort can be a real faff, struggling with extra luggage and paying extra on some airlines to get your gear on board. Yes, there are benefits to bringing your own ski boots with you, but when ski hire in resort is cheaper and more convenient than bringing your gear by plane, why would you not hire in resort?

The average cost of bringing your skis with you on a plane is €100 return, whilst hiring from a handy shop close to your accommodation is on average €62 per week with Intersport, plus you get all the added benefits of daily servicing, a choice of skis that you can swap during the week and overnight storage. 

We hired skis from Intersport for a long weekend and were allowed to change skis once per day to give us the chance to try out some of the new season's range. You can do the same over the course of a week's holiday, unless you love the first skis you're given and want to ride them all week as one of my friends did. If conditions change though, it's great to be able to get some advice from the helpful staff in store and swap onto other skis more appropriate for ice / powder / hard-pack / freeride. 

I tried the Rossignol Famous 2 skis, which were perfect for my beginner level, on piste skiing. Not only were they totally fit for purpose they looked good too. My friend tried the Dynastar women's Intense 10's, which she was drawn to because of their newness and also the colours - it's very important to feel good on a nice looking pair of skis for us ladies! She's also a piste skier, and felt that these were perfect for intermediate level skiing. 

The men in our group switched between the Black Crows, Salomon QST 85's and the Rossignol Sky 7HD's, the latter of which was their hands down favourite. Each of the guys that tried them said they were great all rounders - nice and wide under the foot, fun to ski and could handle pretty much anything - on or off piste. 

Skis are available in either a women's or a men's version and there are plenty of other makes and models available in store. The Black Crows only have a limited life too, so once they've been hired out for 45 days, they're no longer rented out, so you know you're getting good quality equipment, plus they're all serviced and waxed every day, saving you the hassle of having to do it yourselves. 

New skis for this season are:

• Rossignol Sky 7HD Great all rounders and the men's favourite
• Black Crows Camox Great off piste skis
• Rossignol Experience 84
• Salomon QST 85 Great freeride skis
• Atomic Redster Great for carving and slalom
• Volkl Racetiger
• Dynastar Intesnse 10 Good intermediate skis
• Rossignol Famous 6 
• Salomon Myriad QST 85 
• Rossignol Soul 7
• Dynastar Speed Zone
• Head Shape XT
• Head Rebel

We hired our skis in Val Thorens at the Cheval Blanc store where the range above was available, although you may find the range varies slightly from store to store with last season's stock, but all stores should have this year's range above. 

Intersport offer ski hire in over 100 ski resorts and if you book ahead online you'll be able to save somewhere between 20-50% off the price of rental in store. There are also additional discount codes that they have every couple of weeks via their Facebook page, where you'll find additional discounts and/or offers on top of the already discounted online price.