Best ski rental shop in Niseko for demo quality skis?
I don't think I'm going to bring the QST 98s. I have a work trip on the front end and it's a lot of baggage to hump around.
Any tips appreciated.
Judging by the quality of demo skis in Niseko at 2 different shops (Rhythm and Niseko Snow Sports) I would say I haven’t found one yet. Currently on the ground here. This is from 3 different pairs of skis…Volkl Mantra M5, Volkl 90Eight, and Volkl Kendo 92.
What you get is 4-6 year old beat up stuff (although the Kendos are the exception; they’re old but in pretty good shape). The kind of skis that Powder7 would throw on their website as a 6.5-7 out of 10. The demo situation is not like the United States where you usually get current year models as a demo or “premium” rental.
All 3 pairs of skis had problems with their Marker demo bindings being badly adjusted where it was almost impossible to step into one ski. We had to find a bench with tools for two of them, and just skied another pair until the shop could look at them.
I would advise anyone going to Niseko to bring their own skis if at all possible because the demo situation in the Hirafu base - to put it bluntly - sucks.
