Trip to Whistler 2019

Gday guys
After some advice on travelling to Whistler in January.

1. Is it worth taking all your own gear over, or are there places with good hire gear available. Only asking as we will be travelling for 2 weeks prior to landing in Whistler.

2. If there is a store with good hire gear who is the best person to make contact with. 

3. I would look to organise my kids some private lessons, as some you guys have lived and worked in Whistler, can you recommend an instructor who would be interested.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

1. If you are tight on space, i would at least bring my own boots. There are plenty of rental places, but at the end of the day its rental gear.
2. I would try to stay away from the Vail Rental shops coz they can be hit and miss and their gear is pretty well used most of the time. Maybe stick to the smaller guys, Coastal Culture and Black Tie Rentals (comes to your door fittings no shop)
3. Vail/ Whistler Blackcomb has a great kids program. How old are your children and are they looking to get some specialized training?

Yeah, stay away from the Vail Rental Stores unless you’re staying at 4 Seasons Hotel. Their ski concierge is operated by Vail and gets brand new equipment every season (but can be very costly). If you’re renting for longer than 7-8 days it’s cheaper to buy your own gear haha. High-performance equipment can be rented from Showcase Snowboards or Can-Ski (all locations). If it was me, I’d definitely travel with at least my snowboard boots and perhaps bindings if you have the room. I worked as a Rental Technician, we’ve been known to discount polite customers. Just sayin’

Hi Guy’s

Thanks for your help, appreciate it greatly.

Definitely some good places to rent from, the privately owned businesses like Coastal Culture will probably give you fairer prices/service and maintain their gear a lot better. Will probably try to work out a family deal as well because they’re not owned by the resort (so no corporate greed). They’re not in the main village though, they’re located in Creekside. But they’re reviews speak for themselves online.

Alternatively you could look into luggage forwarding services if you take your own gear and contact your accommodation and ask if the luggage could be stored there until your arrival.

I worked a season back in 16/17 for Summit Sport (the former owners now own Coastal Culture). Summit is now owned by the Vail/WB but still have a good crew that have worked there for many years. But being Vail owned, the rental costs could have increased since I worked there.

Ski lessons, can’t go past the lessons offered by the mountain/resort. They always hire good instructors.