BootsnAll Travel Community

I need advice. I'm going to be in the southern hemisphere during their winter, and I desperately want to ski. Definitely in Chile, perhaps in New Zealand.

However, because these countries are part of my RTW trip, I can't carry my skis with me. Has anyone out there ever shipped their skis internationally? In general, are ski resorts willing to receive your skis and hold on to them for a day or so? I'd rather have my own equipment because, even with shipping costs, I'm willing to bet it's cheaper than renting every day.

This might be a completely impractical idea, but I thought I'd ask before I give up and rent.

In Bariloche, Argentina you can easily rent your gear for a day or a week. And comparably cheap as well.

Adrian

I am on my RTW right now and went skiing in Quebec, Canada. I decided not to bring my own gear or even bother shipping them as it was going to end up costing more than the rental for a week. There are packages for weekly or consecutive day for hiring your equipment in Chile and NZ. The only thing i regret not bringing is my ski pants and jkt. I think it's a personal choice and comfort. After the week ended i was pretty happy at the thought of not bothering about sending my skis home or checking it into oversize baggage and paying the extra money for it or it being damaged and not to mention lugging it around.

Good luck with skiing. I would try Wanaka or Mt Hutt for skiing in NZ. Queenstown often gets really crowded and over populated.

You would have to find a lodge or rental shop and communicate specifically with them as I doubt post offices would be too wrapped in skis arriving poste restante, but that would be an alternative to try, perhaps even cheaper if possible as it'll be the end transport costs to snow fields that'll inflate cost.

But I'd take the advice of Shaz to heart as ultimately, I'd think your unaccompanied luggage shipping costs (return) with insurance will ammount to a considerable sum.

Yeah, I looked into it and found it will be much, much cheaper just to rent equipment at my destination (Portillo, in Chile.) I'm probably going to mail myself an old jacket and gloves Post Restante; being that I am ALWAYS cold, I can't ski without them.

Thanks for the advice, y'all. And thanks, Shaz, for the advice on New Zealand skiing. I hadn't thought that far ahead -- I'm planning my RTW in stages -- but NZ is my next stop after Chile, and I'm sure I won't be ready for the season to end.

I had a ski stop in NZ on my RTW. I too did not want to carry ski gear. Unfortunately, many shipping agencies refuse to carry cargo over one meter long, so that pretty much rules out skis.

I was hoping to take advantage of a "season rental" in NZ, but found the concept has not caught on there. No one would do it for a reasonable price.

So.... I just bought some decent used skis in NZ. They were former rentals, but the Völkl P50s rode like pros. I scored some "last season new" boots and the total package came to about 800 NZD. At the end of the season I was able to sell them off for 500 NZD. The snow in 2005 sucked, so I basically broke even vs. renting. But if it had been a better snow year I would have saved a ton. Hope that helps. Oh, yeah, and check out Small Planet in Queenstown, NZ for used ski gear if you end up down there.