Alpenglow Mountainsport

Umm, the address is wrong and nobody answers the phone… This sucks!

This place used to be great. I’ve heard through the grapevine however, that they’re now under new management, and it’s very, very apparent. I took some ski’s in to have mounted with Salomon STH16 bindings, a very popular, common binding. They told me to come back 2 days later and they would be ready. So, I go back 2 days later, give my name to the employee helping me, and he disappears for about 10 minutes. He comes back out and asks for my name again, then goes to the back again for maybe another five minutes. He comes back out, and tells me my skis aren’t ready, but if I want to wait for «5» minutes he’ll have them done. I’m worried about the speed at which they say it will take to mount my skis, but I figure they’re a shop, they’ve done it a million times, so I say no problem. He’s in the back ‘working’ on them, and calls the other employee back there to help him out. At this point I’m kind of concerned my new skis are getting all sorts of f*cked up but I stay calm. About 5 – 10 minutes more of me waiting and hearing the employees mumbling in the back, and the older employee comes out and asks me where I got my bindings, because he claims he’s never seen them before. Again, these are standard Salomon bindings I see everywhere I go, on lots of peoples skis, at plenty of shops around the country, etc. They explain to me they’ve never seen them so they actually can’t mount them after all. At this point I’ve been there for about an hour while they’re messing around with my skis not knowing what the hell they’re doing. I grabbed my stuff and got out of there as soon as possible. Definitely not the same shop it used to be. Stay clear.

Every once in a while, I have these really pleasant, productive shopping experiences that give me temporary faith in my fellow men and remind me what buying a product (or service) should be like. They always inspire me to share the love, because we all could certainly use more of them. And so, I present Alpenglow, a store (or at least an employee of the store) that made my day a few weeks ago, and quite possibly made many of my ski seasons to come.
I ended up at Alpenglow because of a buddy who works for Christy Sports (who apparently owns it.) I asked him for advice in buying new skis and boots, and he sent me to the store– specifically, to Joe. My friend promised me that Joe was full of 20 yrs worth of skiing wisdom and that it would be worth my while to make the drive from Denver.
And it was. It was incredible. Joe took me under his wing as soon as my bf and I entered the store. He exuded knowledge and helpfulness, and quickly proved his expertise. After measuring my feet, giving me a once over and asking me a few questions about my skiing style, he grabbed a pair of boots off of the sale table. It was like Cinderella’s slipper– the things fit perfectly. He also saved me a few hundred bucks, as I walked into the store more than ready to buy brand spankin’ new boots (which he assured me were of inferior quality to the less expensive, glove-​fitting pair he suggested.)
It didn’t stop there. After offering us a beer from the back (what service!) he had me walk around the store in my new boots. He fitted one boot with an insole and one without to show me the difference, which of course was huge. He then walked me through the insole molding process, and had me range around some more… at which point I discovered some hotspots. No problem– I described them to Joe, he took my insoles into the back and reshaped them, and I was ready to go. I’ve literally never, ever been so comfortable in ski boots or so happy with their purchase.
The rest of the staff was super cool and helpful as well. Their K2 guy talked me through the whole line of skis, working with me to figure out which pair was best for me. And through it all, the atmosphere was completely chilled out. No pressure, no pretense… it was like hanging out at a buddy’s house, except there was fun gear on all of the walls.
I can’t say enough about the service at Alpenglow. I felt so comfortable with their advice and their attitudes, I was completely calm about dropping many hundreds of dollars on ski stuff. If you’re looking for seriously expert opinions, this is the place to go… and you might even get a beer out of it. Ask for Joe!