Bellow’s Ski & Board Shop

For what was an extremely busy Big Bear weekend (Feb 6 – 7), courtesy of El Nino, the shopkeepers here were unexpectedly friendly. The equipment they had was nearly brand new (their ski boot selection was better than the snowboard though) and the boards and skis didn’t look like rentals. This was only my second time snowboarding (the first being indoors, in Dubai) so I pretty much had no clue what I was doing. Some people complain about kids sizing people up for boots and whatnot, but the ones here were not only knowledgeable but professional. Maybe they had Benjamin Button’s disease, but they acted more like adults than most people on the mountain.
But I digress; being a very busy weekend, one of the older guys gave Bear Mountain a courtesy call for us to see if they had any lift tickets available, the news was good so we took off. After about another hour in traffic, we come to find out the ticket supply had been exhausted, with the same situation on Snow Summit. Bummed out, we called the shop and asked if we could get a refund, after some talking we get the tip that tickets are ‘never’ sold out for the afternoon runs, and our rentals are extended to 10pm, no charge. Long story short, everything turned out great. Returning the equipment was a breeze, no detailed inspections, no hidden charges. I’ll definitely try to rent here next time I’m in town.

Small shop that has ski, board, snow boot rentals & Big Bear lift tickets. This is my 1^st time where I rented from a shop that required me to pay additional money due to the lack of competency in adjusting our binding correctly. Our rentals from this shop cost us for boots+ ski’s each person was $ 14.
When we arrived at Snow Summit for the life of us (considering that my bf is an advanced skier) we couldn’t get our boots in. So we then had to pay additional $ 7 a person for Snow Summit’s shop for adjustments. The person working at Snow Summit shop said, that it’s common for offsite shops to hire kids who aren’t formally trained in school for adjustments like them & to be aware of that as well. However, the interesting part is the guy who did our initial bindings at this shop apparently worked for 10 years, so be aware if you rent if the person doing your binding went through formal schooling for it. This will save you from additional frustration & money.
When we returned our rentals & told the person who received our rentals about our situation, he gave us a comp for 2 ski rentals that would be good for next visit. From this experience alone, I am hesitant to return here again.