For rent: hats, goggles and gloves

VAIL – It’s a huge powder day. You drive to the mountain, gather all your gear, and that’s when you realize it – you’ve forgotten something.Maybe it’s gloves, goggles or a hat. For Jerry Oliver of Edwards on Tuesday, it was his ski pants.”When I was busting out of work, I forgot my pants,” he said after his day skiing powder at Beaver Creek Mountain.

Like any resourceful local would, Oliver found a kind stranger working in a photo store to give him ski pants. For those who can’t find stuff to borrow – and don’t want to shell out money to buy new gear – some local ski shops offer rented clothing for the day, including jackets, pants, gloves, goggles, hats, poles and helmets.Gravity Jones Ski Werks in Vail Village rents gear and clothing for the day. Owner Adam Greenier said many times he rents clothing to visitors whose luggage has been lost by an airline.”They’ll come in so they can ski the first couple of days,” he said.Those customers often pay with vouchers from airlines, he said.Gravity Jones has daily rates for rentals like $14 for a jacket, $12 for pants, $6 for gloves. Greenier said they wash the rental clothes after every few uses.Kevin King, a snowboarder from Edwards, said he’s most likely to forget goggles and gloves.”If there wasn’t a place I could rent or borrow, I would probably buy them,” he said.Aalta Sports in Beaver Creek has ski jackets and pants to rent for the day. Manager Kyle Cowen said they also rent a lot of clothes to people who’ve lost their bags on plane trips.”We usually reserve them for people who lose their luggage,” he said.By the time peak season rolls around, Cowen said, he’ll direct people who forgot their gear to the sale rack, and save the rental gear for people who lost their luggage.

Tom Higgins of the American Ski Exchange rents jackets and pants but avoids renting other items like gloves and helmets that might become unsanitary, he said.”We don’t rent out helmets because of hygiene,” he said.He rents out jackets and pants mostly to business travelers as well as people who lost luggage, he said. As for people who forget stuff, they should just buy a replacement, Higgins said.”If you lose your goggles, pony up,” he said.Staff Writer Edward Stoner can be reached at 748-2929 or estoner@vaildaily.com.Vail Daily, Vail Colorado CO