Recommendations for ski shops in Washington DC

April 12, 2012 4:33 PM

Tell me the names and locations of the best ski shops in Washington DC.

A colleague is travelling to Washington DC next week, and wants to buy some skis and snowshoes while he's there. Where should he go?

He wants telemark skis in particular, and won't have access to a car to get around.

posted by girlgenius to Shopping (7 answers total)

Why does your colleague want to buy skis in DC? From experience, I can say that the outdoorsy shops in the greater DC area carry equipment only for activities that can be practiced in the greater DC area. (My activity was not one of them -- a source of great frustration to me.) Skiing is not one of them. Now, your friend might, if he calls every single outdoors shop in the area, find a shop that sells a few skis. However, he'd be better off waiting until he travels to an area where skiing is practiced and buying skis there. The salespeople in those areas will be more knowledgeable (and thus able to help him), the prices lower, and the selection broader.
posted by Nx at 5:36 PM on April 12, 2012

Agree with Nx.
That said, the only ski shop in the area that I know of (there are probably more, just that I don't know about) is Ski Chalet out in Arlington in Falls Church, Chantilly, and Gaithersburg. There's probably some way to use public transportation (metro+bus, I'd guess) to get to the Falls Church one, anyways.
posted by inigo2 at 6:46 PM on April 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

There are only a handful of ski shops in the Washington DC metro area, and I honestly don't think any of them are going to stock snowshoes or telemark skis. There's a remote possibility that one of the outdoor sporting goods stores like REI might stock snowshoes during the winter, but certainly not in April. The only thing the local snow is good for is mucking up traffic and snowball fights.
posted by drlith at 7:20 PM on April 12, 2012

This is a good question for the forums at DC Ski.
posted by mmascolino at 8:34 PM on April 12, 2012

Response by poster: Nx, I'm in Australia and so is my colleague. He is travelling to DC only on this trip - he wants to buy skis in America because (like most things) there's a better, cheaper range likely to be available.
posted by girlgenius at 9:08 PM on April 12, 2012

Is your friend in town long enough that he can order something online and have it delivered in the US? There are a bunch of specialist ski shops online as well as larger outfits like REI.
posted by asphericalcow at 12:07 AM on April 13, 2012

I've gone to the Baltimore Ski Warehouse before. Cheap and decent used quality stuff.
posted by waylaid at 9:40 PM on April 16, 2012