We are spending a few days over New Years in Samoens in the Haut Savoie. The teenagers are skiing. As we are coming from Australia, they will rent skis and boots. We had planned on renting skiwear (jackets and pants) as well but I've just been checking rental websites and there is no mention of clothes.

We can rent them here, is it not customary to rent them in Europe? If this is the case, it would be very useful to know now so we can pick up some cheap end of season gear to take with us.

Having skied in a Europe a few times, I've never noticed any clothing rental shops (and they are pretty well non-existent in the US as well).

Interesting that they seem to be common in Australia... just out of curiousity, how much do they charge?

It's probably because we have such a short ski season. I just checked - pants and jacket costs about $60 for a week. All the ski rental shops also rent clothing. You can add gloves etc. I just assumed we could do the same in Europe.

Thanks for the info...

That was my guess as well... since we have a longer winter, I guess the assumptions is that most people already have winter gear.

Are you spending any time in England? There are some ski-wear hire places about.

Where I live about 30 miles from Bristol there are 2 places not far away. A few times we've rented salopettes/snowboard trousers for about 20 GBP for the week, plus a deposit. We do have our own jackets as we use them anyway in the winter months, but with ever-growing teens it makes more sense to rent rather than buy!

From a quick look at google it seems there are quite a few places in the London area, but that is irrelevant if you are not coming to England.

Good luck anyway and have a great time!

I wouldn't say they were nonexistent in the US, I ski and see them when I go to a big ski resort area, as well as in my hometown. I thought they were pretty common in the US. I used to rent clothes when I first started because I didn't want to invest in all the stuff and wasn't sure how well I'd like it. I think I bought a ski jacket/parka as you can wear that, but rented pants, as well as the equipment. Of course nowadays, you can get pants not too expensively if you get them on sale at end of season, and you don't want the real expensive stuff.

I don't remember what shops charge, but they make a lot of money from renting clothes, of course. At Lake Tahoe last year, I think shops were charging around $8-10 a day for parka and pants, for each (and of course, lots of people rent helmets).

Christina - thinking back, you may be right... I have seen them around the north shore of Tahoe.

On the east coast, I don't think I've ever seen any...

I was sure I rented clothing when we went on school ski trips in Michigan. So long ago now

The London option won't do for my daughter, however her friend is staying with her grandmother in London and joining us so that may be an option for her. I do have a couple of pairs of old ski pants and DH and I are buying jackets in Toronto en route so she should be fine. Bit of a bother carrying the pants, but DH is flying direct from SYD-PAR and meeting us for Xmas so he can bring the pants.

Sarvowinner,

I definitely rented clothing in the US a few years ago but we took our own to Italy and I can't remember seeing rental gear available.

You could rent gear from Sydney (but you would have to carry it there and back of course).

Can you ask the resort where youare staying?

If you do end up renting from home or buying in Canada - I suggest you pick up a few vacuum bags. There are two main brands in the States - Space Bags and Packmates. They are large plastic ziplok bag w/ an airlock and are great for bulky items like down jackets, ski wear, and thick sweaters.

http://www.packmate.com/rollbag/index.html
https://www.spacebag.com/travelbag/901765/

Thanks for all the info and advice. Renting in Sydney is out as we are travelling for 3 months.

We are renting a private chalet so I doubt they will be renting gear.

Great idea about the space bags - now if they could subtract weight as well as volume.......

Luckily it's just my daughter I have to worry about. The adults aren't skiing - just lots of apres (and pre) skiing

check the altitude (snow history) and weather may not be any snow