Crystal Ski Shop — Local services in Boulder

I needed to get my current skis waxed near the end of the season in April, 2025, but my current ski shop was no longer working on skis. So, I tried Crystal Ski Shop. I remembered Crystal as a good rental shop, but I had not needed rentals for decades. I found that they are now a good full-service ski shop.

Before this, the friend I ski with was getting new skis and boots, and I had done a little research on new skis. I found 2025 Volkl M7 Mantras highly recommended. They also suited my friends style of skiing. Becoming interested in skis myself had tried a pair of 177 cm Volkl M7s and liked them as well, but they were a little long and heavy for me. Trying a pair of 170 cm 2024 Volkl M6s confirmed that they were the right size, and the 2025 M7s were an even better ski. The problem was that my current ski shop had no 170 cm Volkl M7s in stock.

I asked Crystal if they had any 170 cm Volkl M7s, and they did. The price was reasonably discounted because it was the end of the 2024-2025 season. Knowing that M7s were in high demand, I grabbed them.

When I brought in my boots to mount the bindings, Crystal told me that the tip of the toe and end of the heel were too worn down to be pass the specs. When I got the boots seven years before, I had gotten a spare pair of toe and heel soles. So, I took the boots home and was able to replace the heel soles (with a lot of work). I gave up on replacing the toe soles. When I brought the boots back to Crystal, they told me that the toe soles also had to be replaced for safety and they would do it. They did a great job replacing the toe soles. (They also had better tools and more experience than I did.) They did not even charge me for replacing the toe soles.

I was very impressed by the professionalism and work of Crystal Ski Shop, and I have a new...

Update: Out of the blue, I got a call from the owner. He asked about the situation, and he apologized about how the incident was handled. He heard my side of the story and how I would have liked the problem handled by his team. Long story short, He offered to give me a refund. So now I guess I will have to go back to renting our equipment with him. Fair is fair. Thank you for caring, Justin B. See you next season, I bet things will go smoother.

I am never ever renting skis here again!!! BEWARE! I rented Skis for the season for my 12 year old daughter. I rented mine in Christy Sports as usual. I wanted to try out the local shop.

When I got the skis for my daughter, they were pretty old and banged up. They had seen better days for sure. I asked for newer ones, and they said I was too late into the season. And it was fine, UNTILL… when we went to return them they inspected them to the fullest and found a crack, they brought in another lady and she even said they were damaged and I was going to have to pay (but I swear on my life) she was looking at the wrong side of the ski. Then the other guy showed her the actual side with the mini crack. Long story short, they charged me 110 dollars. I asked them how many seasons they had used them and how much they were new. They never answered.

I am not one to fight. So I paid and kept the skis without bindings. Obviously, they kept those. To remind me never to do business with money hungry establishments that take advantage of their customers.

Then I went to Christy Sports to return mine. The nicest guy came out smiling and said to leave them on the counter. I asked if they needed anything else and if he needed to check them. He said “no my friend, you are done, thanks”. Shout out to...

We've rented from Crystal before and had good experiences. However, today, we rented two skis/boots and when we got to Eldora, the boots WOULD NOT fit in the bindings. The bindings were too small for the boot by a LOT.

So, we hiked the skis and boots to the Eldora shop and before we told them where we got the skis from, they asked if we rented them from Crystals, implying that happens regularly. The Eldora staff indicated that the bindings weren't adjusted AT ALL - they had to set everything.

Even after Eldora adjusted the bindings, the skis kept coming off. Happened about 10 times.

So they ruined a pretty good day which is already expensive.

When we returned the skis, they showed that they aren't great at customer service either. I asked for a refund based on our experience. They offered only a free rental for the future. In my mind, I kept thinking about what the Eldora staff said and frankly I didn't want to give them a chance to ruin the next ski day.

What I don't get with shops who take this attitude is that they are willing to give up a repeat customer AND they are willing to have me tell everyone about my bad experience for $20. That makes no sense...

Update: Received a nice call from management who made a sincere apology and offered to send a refund. This was much appreciated and I'm really glad to see that Crystal DOES care about providing good customer service.

Too bad that the ruined ski day and the initial lack of empathy still leaves a bad taste...