alot of the ski resorts have demo days... just a matter of trawling through individual sites to check eg verbier/ nendaz etc... also alot of the ski hire (in resorts) places have demo pairs too that you can take out.... so do some of the better ski sale/ hire shops here eg ski 137 in Versoix... I demo'd my pair of Nordica mach/speed machines   before buying from there...in fact season rental there is also good value and at the end of the season you can opt to buy by paying the difference in price (rental/purchase) for one pair if its easier (ie pay in 2 tranches rather than one go)

Thanks Charlie,

Guess I'll have to head up to Verbier and check out the shops.  Probably demo some drinking there too!

cheers, -s

As Charlie says, a lot of the shops let you try before you buy. I have experience of only one: Claude Penz in Le bettex, Saint Gervais.  They had a limited number of such skis, but I knew roughly what I wanted, tried 2 pairs during the day and came away having bought one of them.  Excellent service.  Failed to haggle the price down, but got a couple of vouchers for a free service and saved on the VAT by importing them back into CH.

I think it's always difficult to know how long to spend trying before buying - and probably took a bit of a risk doing it in just one day, but I've been very pleased with what I got.

http://www.claudepenz-sports.com/en/our-services.php

Bon ski

Stuart

Le Grand Bornand are having a demo on the weekend of the 4th of December, with free access to one run and test skis from the big manufacturers:

http://www.legrandbornand.com/hiver-winter/spotlights/the-event/4571-853,ski-force-winter-tour-ski-test.htm