boarding.” This ease includes the Easy Lock disc mounting system for bindings. Durability on the boards comes from rubberized tips and tails. K2: New and Updated. K2 Snow- boarding is introducing a redesigned binding, a new board, and updated boots to its dedicated rental lineup. Elevate Outdoor Collective global product line manager Megan Stark says, “Our team is most excited with the newly redesigned SR1 snowboard rental binding.” The SR1 features all-new toolless engagement and clip-discs to speed the setup process. The all-new Embassy Rental snowboard, built for the advanced to expert rider, comes with inline graphic design and key durability upgrades, including inte- grated carbon fiber stringers, a scratch-re- sistant top sheet, and extruded base. It joins the Gateway and Dreamsicle Rent- al in K2’s rental snowboard line. The Maysis, Raider, Vandal, and Haven boots have been updated to decrease wear and increase durability.
TOP, left to right: Burton Kids Rental Step On boot and Kids Progression boot; Nitro Access youth boot.
BOTTOM, left to right: Burton Step On binding; Nitro Team Rental Pro; Nidecker Rental boot.
are helping to educate our path forward with rentals,” DiMarco says. ROSSIGNOL: Updated EXP Line. Rossignol has completely updated the fleet-oriented EXP snowboard line with a snub-nosed tip and tail, more premium graphics, and simplified sizing (every 5 cm or 10 cm) in 20 sizes and four widths. The range includes the addition of a 70 cm youth size. The EXP3 Rail Series, introduced last season, streamlines the fitting/sizing of bindings and helps guests get on snow faster. Rossignol has also streamlined its rental bindings; just two sizes accommodate the whole range of adult boot sizing. “We’re trying to increase speed and setup for the cus- tomer—alpine is fast and efficient, snow- boarding is not,” says Hoefler. Rossi also introduced a new rental boot in 2023-24, which carries over this year. HEAD: Expanding Lines. Head is adding a new premium snowboard, the Gamechanger 4D, which Mayhew posi- tions as a “second price point, demo sport package board.” The Gamechanger features a snub-shaped tip and tail with a hybrid camber and complements the Flex and Flaka fleet lines. Head also filled in its youth rental line with the new Lyrent 4D Jr. binding, with new junior color coding that allows “seamlessness between adult and kids sizes,” Mayhew says. Head continues to offer the upgrad- ed FutureDisc mounting system (intro- duced in 2023-24 season as an update to the compatible SpeedDisc system),
which simplifies the mounting process for employees and speeds up the renting process for customers. NITRO: In-Line Look. Nitro aims to offer rental boards, boots, and bindings that are durable and functional but also look and feel like regular retail products. “We strive to offer not just entry-level boards, but also more advanced and some specialized models,” Nitro co-founder and president Tommy Delago says, such as park boards and rental-specific pow- der shapes. Nitro is offering two tiers of unisex boots, the Agent and the Rise, as well as the Access youth boot, plus a rent- al version of the best-selling in-line Team binding as the Team Rental Pro. ELAN: Focus on Service. Elan’s snowboard rental line is unchanged for 2024-25. It consists of the Explore R and Explore Plus R snowboard lines (jib rock- er versus all-terrain rocker), two Explore Junior board models, with one Rental boot offered in a size range of men’s 2–15, and accompanying bindings. Fresco says the brand is creating a new position ded- icated to maintaining relationships with rental clients and serving their needs. NIDECKER: Ease and Durability. Nidecker is making no changes to its rental program; it redesigned its rental boot for 2023-24. Hankerson says, “Our main focus with our rental options is to make things as easy and durable as pos- sible. We want our customers to spend less time dealing with equipment and more time enjoying the thrill of snow-
Cross-Country Rental
BY PETER OLIVER
The surge in interest in cross-country skiing spurred by the arrival of Covid in 2020 appears to have crested, and for rental buyers, that might actually be a good thing. For at least a couple of buy- ing cycles, inventory was hard to come by. That’s no longer true. Overall, cross-country is receding a bit,” says Cross Country Ski Areas Asso- ciation executive director Reese Brown. “Suppliers are finally catching up. For the first time in three years, they can refill orders.” Fischer’s Steve Reeder agrees. “Things have normalized in the supply chain,” he says. “We now have re-order capability.” For the most part, assembling a cross-country rental lineup is basically a matter of picking and choosing from a company’s retail catalog, after which suppliers apply a volume discount for rental buyers. According to Rossignol’s Kurt Hoefler, the company’s typical rent- al discount is 22 percent off the whole- sale price. » continued
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