How much does a ski service cost? | Is it worth doing it yourself?
The ski holiday is approaching, and the whole family's skis and snowboards should be prepared for the slopes. Anyone without their own ski service equipment at home must either go to the nearest sports store or take their equipment to a ski workshop while on holiday. For a family of four, this often means digging a little deeper into their pockets. But what exactly is done during ski servicing, how much does ski servicing actually cost, and isn't it more worthwhile to do it yourself in the long run?
We asked ourselves these questions and conducted extensive research comparing the prices of more than 50 ski service shops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We have compiled the following results for you.
Types of ski service
Basic ski service
- Grinding ski or snowboard edges - no custom angle, standard base structure grind and waxing.
Full ski service
- Grinding ski or snowboard edges - no custom angle, standard base structure grind, minor repairs to the base, waxing.
Some workshops also offer a special professional or racing service. This service may include grinding special racing structures into the bases or sharpening the edges to more acute angles (86°-88°).
(Of course, individual ski service shops may differ from this breakdown, but this is the standard at most of the shops we researched.)
How much does ski servicing cost in DE, AT and CH?
The prices for ski servicing in Germany and Austria average €30-35 for a basic ski service and €40-50 for a full ski service. A surcharge is generally charged for repairing more extensive damage to the base. For the professional service mentioned, you can expect to pay at least €50.
In Switzerland, ski servicing is the most expensive. At CHF 50 for a basic ski service, you have to pay significantly more here, and the full ski service also costs considerably more, averaging around CHF 60, than ski servicing in Germany and Austria.
The snowboarders among you have to invest significantly more in a board service at a shop. While in Germany the small service costs around €40 - 45, in Austria it is about €5 cheaper. The major service costs around €50 - 60 in Germany, while in Austria it costs around €45 - 50. If you have your board serviced in Switzerland, the small service costs an average of 50 - 60 SFR, while the major board service already costs around 60 - 70 SFR.
Depending on the location of the sports store or ski workshop, prices vary somewhat within the countries. While prices are often lower at larger sports stores in cities, ski workshops directly in ski resorts are usually more expensive.
Ski service costs for a family of four
Assuming a family of four in which the parents and one child ski and the second child snowboards, a small service for equipment serviced in Germany costs approximately €145. If a major service is carried out, the cost is approximately €210. Due to these high costs, many winter sports enthusiasts tend to have their equipment serviced only once per season. You can read about why this is a safety issue, especially when it comes to edge grinding, in our blog post Grinding Ski Edges - How Often? n. But even simply resharpening the edges costs money and involves effort. Even when it needs to be done particularly quickly due to urgency, it is customary to charge an additional fee for an overnight or express service.
For those who want an individual angle ground onto their edges, an additional fee is often charged as well, since reconfiguring the large machines requires extra work from the service staff. When business is busy, it may even happen that a request for a specific angle is rejected. You can read about which angle is best suited to which type of skier in our blog post Grinding Ski Edges - Which Angle? n.
Comparison of ski service costs
Below is a list of our basic tools, with which you can generally already carry out a minor service yourself. The electric edge sharpener can quickly and individually sharpen the edges of both skis and snowboards. With the grinding belts, you do not need any additional tools to prepare or finish the edges.
Tools for the minor service
| Area of application | Tools | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sharpening | ES 2000PLUS | 448 € |
| Waxing | Wax set | 79 € |
| Total | 527 € |
Our assembled wax set includes a waxing iron, a scraper blade and a universal wax, making you ideally equipped for different conditions.
Assuming that the family wants to have its equipment serviced once before and once during a ski holiday, the cost from a service provider is approximately €290 - 310. The purchase cost of the ski tuning tools we have listed totals €527. If the family goes on a ski holiday more than once per season, or skis more aggressively so that the equipment wears somewhat faster and needs to be serviced more often, the purchase of the ski service tools pays for itself after 1-2 seasons at the latest. (Depending on requirements and skiing style, additional grinding belts will of course still need to be purchased, but you can already get 10 for just €25!)
Tip: If you do not yet have a fixture for skis and boards, we recommend the ES2000 PLUS SC30 set, which additionally includes our in-house ski vise alongside the edge sharpener.
Tools for the major ski service
To repair minor damage to the bases, you need base repair material as well as a base scraper. These additional purchase costs for carrying out a major ski service amount to €30 more than for a minor service.
| Area of application | Tools | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sharpening | ES 2000PLUS | 448 € |
| Waxing | Wax set | 79 € |
| Touch-up | Base repair material | 6 € |
| base scraper | 35 € | |
| Total | 568 € |
By comparison, the family of four pays approximately €50 more for just one major service from a service provider.
If you have one major and one minor service performed per season, that adds up to approximately €370. After 2 seasons, the purchase costs have paid for themselves here as well.
Wear caused by ski servicing
Another point that should be compared is the wear of the base and edge material. On large service machines, approximately 0.2-0.3 mm is removed from ski and snowboard edges. The thickness of an industrially manufactured side edge is approximately 3 mm, with at least 1 mm required for safe skiing. Assuming the thickest side edge and the minimum material removal, a machine ski service on a large machine is possible approximately 6 -10 times before the edges become too thin and the skis or boards can no longer be used.
Since the material removed with the ES 2000PLUS is in the hundredths-of-a-millimetre range, the edges can therefore be sharpened with it at least 100 times before they become too thin. This means you can often refresh your edges even during your holiday without worrying about wear.
The same problem occurs with the base, which is usually ground during ski servicing, even though this is not necessary every time. This means that after several services, so much base material has been removed that the the ski loses its stability and camber. This also reduces safety and the enjoyment of skiing. When servicing skis yourself, the base is merely brushed off a little, so hardly any base material is removed.
Conclusion
Especially for families, groups of friends & holiday groups purchasing ski tuning tools often pays off purely for cost reasons after just one or two seasons. But purchasing them is also worthwhile for individuals when you consider the longer service life of the equipment.
The individual treatment, especially in the edge area, is another advantage for many people. Only a few ski service shops really make sure that customers receive the angle that suits them. In the worst case, a beginner's edges may be ground to a racing angle, making the skis unusable for them.
So, when you compare the cost of ski servicing plus the resulting loss in value of the skis and boards with the purchase cost of the tuning tools, doing it yourself pays off (depending on the number of skis and boards serviced). at the latest after 2-3 seasons.
