Ski service costs | Is it worth doing it yourself?
The ski holiday is coming up and the whole family's skis and snowboards should be prepared for the slopes. If you don't have your own equipment for ski servicing at home, you either have to drive to the nearest sports shop or take your equipment to the ski repair shop while on holiday. For a family of four, this often means digging a little deeper into your wallet. But what exactly is done during a ski servicing, how much does a ski servicing actually cost, and is it not worth doing it yourself in the long run?
We asked ourselves these questions and conducted extensive research in which we compared the prices of over 50 ski service shops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We have compiled the following results for you.
Ski service types
Small ski service
- Grinding ski edges or snowboard edges – without desired angle, standard, structural grinding of the base and waxing.
Great ski service
- Grinding ski edges or snowboard edges – without desired angle, standard structural grinding of the base, minor repairs to the base, waxing.
Some workshops also offer a special professional or racing service. This service can include grinding special racing structures into the pads or sharper edge angles (86°-88°).
(Of course, individual ski service shops may have deviations from this distribution, but this is the standard in the majority of the shops researched.)
Ski service prices
The prices for ski servicing in Germany and Austria are on average €30-35 for a small ski servicing and €40-50 for a large ski servicing. If there is major damage to the base, an additional charge is generally made for repairs. For the professional service mentioned above, you can expect a price starting at least €50.
Ski servicing is most expensive in Switzerland. At 50 Swiss francs for a small ski servicing, you have to pay significantly more here, and even a large ski servicing costs an average of around 60 Swiss francs, which is much more than the ski servicing in Germany and Austria.
Snowboarders among you have to invest significantly more for a board service in the shop. While in Germany a small service costs around €40-45, in Austria it costs around €5 less. A large service in Germany costs around €50-60, in Austria it costs around €45-50. If you have your board fixed in Switzerland, a small service costs an average of CHF50-60, and for a large board service you pay around CHF60-70.
Depending on the location of the sports shop or ski workshop, prices vary slightly within the country. While prices are often lower in larger sports shops in cities, ski workshops directly in ski resorts are usually more expensive.
Ski service costs
If we assume a family of four, in which the parents and one child ski and the second child snowboards, this results in a small service carried out in Germany costing around €145. If a large service is carried out, the cost is around €210. Due to these high costs, many winter sports enthusiasts tend to have their equipment repaired only once per season. Why this is a safety problem, especially when sharpening edges, can be found in our blog post Sharpening ski edges - How often? We read. But also, Simply re-grinding the edges costs money and involves effort. Even if it has to be done particularly quickly due to urgency, it is usual for an additional fee to be charged for an overnight or express service.
For those who would like to have an individual angle ground onto their edges, there is often an additional fee, as moving the large machines means more work for the servicemen. If there is a lot of activity, it can even happen that the request for a specific angle is refused. Which angle is best suited for which type of ride can be found in our blog post grinding ski edges – which angle? We read again.
Compare ski service costs
Below you will find a list of basic tools that you can generally use to carry out a small service yourself. With the electric edge grinder, you can quickly and individually grind the edges on both skis and snowboards. Thanks to the sanding belts, you don't need any other tools to prepare or finish the edges.
Tools for small service
| scope | Tools | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Grind | ES2000PLUS | 398 € |
| Grow | Wax set | 78 € |
| sum | 476 € |
Our assembled wax set includes a wax iron, a scraper and a universal wax, which means you are perfectly equipped for a variety of situations.
If we assume that the family wants to have their equipment adjusted once before and once during a skiing holiday, the costs to the service provider are around €290 - €310. The total purchase costs of the ski tuning tools we have listed are €476. If the family goes on a skiing holiday more than once per season, or is more sporty, so that the material wears out a little faster and should be adjusted more often, The purchase of ski service tools pays for itself after 1–2 seasons at the latest. (Depending on your needs and skiing style, you will of course also need to buy sanding belts, but you can get 10 of them here from just €25!)
Tip: If you don't have a ski and board attachment yet, we recommend the ES 2000 PLUS professional set, which includes a ski clamp in addition to the edge grinder.
Tools for major ski service
To repair small damage to the bases, you will need base repair material and a base remover. These additional costs for a major ski service amount to €30 more than for a minor service.
| Scope | Tools | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Grind | ES 2000PLUS | 398 € |
| Grow | Wax set | 78 € |
| Repair | Surface repair material | 5€ |
| Pad puller | 25 € | |
| sum | 506 € |
In comparison, a family of four pays around €50 more for a large service from the service provider alone.
If you have one large and one small service carried out per season, the total will be around €370. After two seasons, the purchase costs will have paid for themselves.
Wear and tear due to ski service
Another point that should be compared is the Wear of the base and edge material . On large service machines, the wear of the ski and snowboard edges is about 0.2-0.3 mm. The thickness of an industrially manufactured side edge is 1.6–1.8 mm, with at least 0.5 mm required for safe riding. Assuming the thickest side edge and the minimum wear, a Mechanical ski service on a large machine is possible about 6 times before the edges become too thin and the skis or boards are no longer rideable.
Since the removal rate with the ES 2000 is in the hundredths of a millimeter range, the edges can therefore They should be sanded at least 100 times before they become too thin. This means you can often freshen up your edges while you are on holiday without having to worry about them wearing out.
The same problem occurs with the base, which is usually ground during ski service, although this is not always necessary. This means that after a few services, the base material is so worn down that the Skis lose their stability and tension. Safety and driving pleasure are also lost. When you service your skis yourself, the base is simply brushed off a little, which means that hardly any of the base is removed.
Conclusion
Especially for families, groups of friends & holiday groups, The purchase of ski tuning tools is often worthwhile after just one or two seasons purely for cost reasons. But it is also worthwhile for individuals if they longer service life of the equipment.
The individual processing, especially in the edge area, is another advantage for many. Only a few ski service shops really make sure that customers get the angle that suits them. In the worst case, a beginner will have a racing angle ground onto the edges, meaning that the skis are no longer usable for them.
If you compare the ski service costs plus the resulting loss in value of the skis and boards with the purchase costs of the tuning tools, it is worth doing it yourself (depending on the number of skis and boards prepared) after 2–3 seasons at the latest.