True North – Northstar

Sanford was wonderful. I walked in with the top and strap having come off my ski pole.
They didn’t have the right size «screw’, BUT Sanford spent the time and creatively came up for a ‘fix’ for me. He also gave me great advice on ski helmets (I had crashed in my old one the day before) and we realized that the helmet that would best fit my needs wasn’t sold in the store. Rather than convince me to buy a helmet he sells, he advised me which to buy elsewhere.
Thank you.
Next time I am at Northstar I will be back.
And having read other reviewers, I’ll likely come here when I need new boots.

I walked in with ski boots sold to me by another Vail Resorts affiliated sport store. My boots were painful every day I used them and I hoped True North could help modify them. Instead boot fitters Jacob & Tricia saw right away that the boot was totally wrong for me and my custom foot beds were wrongly made. They insisted on making new foot beds. Then they got me into a much better boot and customized the shell right away. Jacob then credited me for my old boots under the performance guarantee and I actually got store credit to use on anything else. I was shocked by the service and convenience. I’ve never seen anything like it.
My new boots fit better on the first day in them than any boot I’ve ever worn. I’m truly impressed. I had SO many questions about boots because I’ve only had trouble with them and they took time to fully answer everything. So much patience for a customer who lives over 100 miles away. I plan to only trust them with boot purchases and fitting for my whole family.

Went into True North this weekend prepared to buy new ski boots since I was having trouble with my right boot being too tight. After careful evaluation Sanford decided they might be able to «save’ my current boots by raising the arches in the foot pad and ‘remolding’ (with heat) the toe area. It worked! Went away with comfortable boots (which I did don’t even buy there) at minimal cost! THANK You for making this work and the extremely helpful, friendly environment. FYI — they also have an extensive selection of lovely ski wear.

Have to say every time I go into this store the staff is awesome. Customer service is perfect, knowledge of the goods is impeccable in both skis and clothing. I was looking for something unique and the sales person offered to call other stores, seek out other options for me and that was so nice. I appreciated she offered to go beyond call of duty. They all seemed to love their jobs and loved the fact that it is the greatest place to be and work. Thank you for everything. Definitely will make this stop more often.

Very friendly staff. Came in for a simple repair and they took good care of me! My pole needed a strap, and even though they didn’t sell straps at the time, they were able to find one and put it on for me.

Bad customer service, should have gone to Burton.
I ran in to get a pair of socks and the store was not busy, this should have been quick. Grabbed my socks, stood waiting as the next customer to be rung up. But nope. Instead of ringing me up next, the cashier ignored me and went over to the guy who had literally just walked up to the goggles counter. She helped him find goggles, rang him up. Ok, fine whatever. I’ll be next I figured. Nope! Another guy literally walked into the store and to the googles counter. She again ignored me and went over to help him browse the goggles. At that point I actually said «don’t mean to be rude but I’ve been standing here for awhile, before any of these people even entered the store.» She shot me a super rude look and continued helping the guy. I was about to leave when the other cashier free’d up from training some guy on his GoPro and said he’d ring me. Later I was in the Burton store and they were so nice. Wish I had given them my money and as a season pass holder I will be up at Northstar often but won’t be shopping here.

My wife and I just purchased new skis from True North. We knew exactly what we wanted and had compared prices on the internet. True North was competitive with the best internet prices and special ordered the skis for us. We arrived at the resort, bought the skis, did the binding paperwork, and the skis were ready for us at 8:00 AM the next morning. No pressure helpful sales staff, a good collection of hard and soft ski goods, competitive on price, and very conveniently located right at the resort makes True North the place to shop.

I used to shop at Helly Hansen everytime we stay at Northstar Resort but they are no longer in the village (I’m disappointed) I thought I’d never find ski pants, I found a pair at True North, «spyder» I should’ve bought the matching sweater in magenta color, sigh. It depends how much you want to spend. I can’t say if the store is exp or not, it has name brand stuff.

Courteous efficient staff. They offered free waxing for first time on the slopes with season pass.

Terrible customer service. I was ready to throw down some serious cash. No thanks! The manager as her name tag says was the rudest person I ever encountered. You would think we were at Walmart. Even Walmart has nicer customer service. It’s a shame because we come here often and bring with us tons of people who I’d never suggest to shop at this store. I guess since they don’t have any competition they can act this way

Great selection, convenient, and wonderful folks!
As far as convenience, it doesn’t get any better. You buy your gear here, try it up the mountain, and if it doesn’t fit, you can bring it back immediately for adjustment, and then go back up the mountain again in no time.
Also importantly, they are owned by Vail, which also owns many other stores nationwide (like Any Mountain Bay Area). So if they don’t have a size here, they can check their sister stores and have it shipped over for free (mine was shipped from Colorado). Also, anything you buy here will be supported by any other Vail store nationwide.
The folks are wonderful and very knowledgable. If you are buying boots or skis or snowboards, ask for Ray Poage if he is in. He pretty much knows anything there is to know about boots, skis and boards that fit.
On boots specifically, he can even get them to fit you like they were made just for you. He worked on my boots as many times as needed to get them to fit just right (I happen to have the weirdest feet I know and have struggled through 5 different pairs of boots in 5 seasons … until now)

Very good, albeit expensive, selection. However, they have an ANNOYING policy to ask for your name and zip code at check-​out, before seeing your credit card (which has your frigging name on it).
Let’s assume they have a good reason for doing this: they should NICELY tell you why they are asking for this info (or make it clear that its optional).
Left a bad impression on my way out…

This is a great place to shop for clothes and gear for your stay in the area. Everything is pricey but it was cool to look through the store and see what was in style in the «fashion snow gear» scene. I love the jackets and the shoes. All high end brand names.
I really like the service. They workers were there to answer all your questions and also help you. Ended up buying a black white beany that went with my blouse. PRETTY!

Service was okay. It took about 20 minutes before someone noticed me. Keep in mind I was 1 of 3 people in the store! Decent prices on the hard goods, but the soft goods weren’t up my alley in price. 2 stars for the helpful soft goods personel, 0 stars for the hard goods guys. They were rude, unattentive, and didn’t have a straight answer for anything I asked. (i.e. «how does this ski handle in the crud?» «well, just like the rest I suppose.») Go somewhere else for your hard goods.

I ended up not buying anything from this place… .but it was worth it to walk in… talk to the people, and find out that they were friendly and honest enough to point me in another direction for what I was looking for.
I might head back there sometime, and if have a need for the kinda gear that they sell, I won’t feel bad about going in there and giving my business.

In my opinion, this is the best play to buy any type of ski gear if you are picky. They are quite good at fitting you with shoes, skis, and clothing. They also don’t push you to buy their inventory if they don’t have the right product for you. Most ski shops very near the ski lifts tend to be expensive. But this place is reasonable. They are very friendly and helpful. I had a very positive experience with them buying boots that fit just right. They also sent me to the right place for equipment for my kids.

A one stop shop for gear, clothing, eyewear, footwear and lifestyle clothing associated with winter sports. I think it’s the sister retail place to North Face (they’re interconnected). You can get anything from skis, to helmets, to sunblock all in the same place in a semi upscale environment. I’m guessing they’re surrounding the «technical gear» niche North Face has so that you can be completely decked out from head to toe whether you’re active or just lounging.