Epic Mountain Sports — Local services in Winter Park

DON’T RISK YOUR LIFE ON THEIR BIKES! On 17 September 2020, I reserved a hybrid bike from Epic Mountain Sports (Winter Park, Colorado). When I arrived on 18 September 2020, I looked at the bike, and it didn’t have any tread on the top of the tires and there was only tread on the side of the tires, so I asked to upgrade to a mountain bike. The staff informed me they didn’t have any mountain bikes available and said that this bike would be good enough for the Fraser RiverTrail, which I was planning on riding that day. Riding toward Winter Park the path was asphalt and cement. It was safe to ride on the hard surface. Coming back from Winter Park, Colorado, my friend and I rode toward Fraser on the Fraser River Trail. The trail had changed from asphalt to dirt and pebbles. Between mile marker 4 and 5, there is a turn near a picnic table. As I took this turn the tires skidded and I braked gradually. I then tried to release the brakes, but they didn’t release. The brake pads locked on both tires, and I was thrown to the ground. This was a mechanical failure of the bike. I have photos of the bike tires and brakes directly after the fall. My head hit the ground very hard and really “range my bell.” I had a head laceration that was 2-3 inches long and a rock imbedded in my head. I called Epic Mountain Sports and told them that their bike was faulty and caused me to be badly injured. Then I put the bike in the bushes and walked out ½ mile to the fire station. The accident resulted in 8 staples in my head, a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a Level 1 Liver laceration and broken rib #2. This accident resulted in an emergency visit to Granby, a 90-minute ride to the Trauma Center in Lakewood, CO, one night in the ICU and one night in the step down ward. Three weeks later I still have intense pain from my broken rib that prevents me from sleeping and enjoying life. I would caution anyone thinking of renting a bike from Epic Mountain Sports not to! The hybrid bike should never have been rented as a safe vehicle to ride on the Fraser River Trail. I am an experienced bike rider that rides 75-100 miles a week that is still suffering from the negligence of Epic Mountain Sports. Rent a bike from a company that cares about their patrons, as it is obvious from the voice mail received from them that their concern is only to make a buck! DON’T RISK YOUR LIFE ON...

UPDATE: We returned to EMS to have our boots, which we purchased elsewhere, custom fitted. We both had several issues with our boots causing nasty blisters etc and the issues needed to be addressed asap. Ricardo took a full 2.5 hours to examine our fit and suggest solutions. Ultimately be built custom footbeds for us. I was almost insisting on a punch, but his knowledge and experience were on serious display when he made an executive call to not do the punch, at least not until I had tried the boots with the footbeds. So we took the boots out again, and I cannot believe the difference!! Completely solved the issues, and a punch would have been such a bad move. Thank you so much Ricardo!!

Previous: We’d visited previously during the summer but this was our first time in winter. We rented two sets of touring kit — not every shop has decent touring gear, and Epic totally hooked us up. The tech who fitted us did an awesome job explaining the AT bindings to...

GREAT EXPERIENCE! I called Epic Mountain after one run because my boots were killling me and the very sweet receptionist told me she could get me in within 20 minutes. The boot fitter, Squirley D, fixed the issue with my boots in about a half hour and got me back on the mountain to try out the padding he added in. He told me to come back at the end of the day to get them glued in long term. This plan made it very easy for me to explain what I needed. He listened to all of the observations I had about the fit of my boots and made a perfect game plan to fix the issue. I highly recommend him as a boot fitter. He told me he is just staring out, but his listen-to-the-customer organic approach is great for people like me, who are working their first pair of ski boots. He definetely has a lot of experience under his belt and you can tell from his knowledge and recommendations. The store also has realllllly...