Snowboard hire or buy
Snowboard hire is renting a complete snowboard setup, board and bindings together with boots and often a jacket and helmet, for a single day or a season, so you ride gear fitted to your height and skill without buying it. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand it costs between 18 and 28 GBP a day for a mid range set in the United Kingdom and between 35 and 60 NZD a day in New Zealand, and that is why it is the right call for a first season and the wrong one once you ride 20 days or more in a year.
Three questions decide most of this page: what a day of snowboard hire actually costs and what you receive for it, where to rent a snowboard when you are travelling, and how to judge whether to rent or buy and how to pick a rental board. A Snowboard buying guide answers the buying half in depth, and this page keeps the rent or buy decision, the costs and the rental picking. If you are still deciding whether to take up the sport at all, Learning to snowboard from zero covers the first lessons, and Snowboard gear from board to boots lists every piece of kit you will need, whether hired or owned. The one style that changes the rental maths is park racing, and What is snowboard cross explains the discipline and why its riders buy rather than rent.
What snowboard hire costs in the UK
Snowboard hire in the United Kingdom is priced by the day, and the day price is the number to anchor everything else on. A full mid range set, board, bindings and boots sized to you, runs 18 to 28 GBP per day at a mountain shop and 22 to 32 GBP per day on the slopes. Add a 30 to 50 GBP jacket and a 15 GBP helmet and a standard day of riding comes to 45 to 70 GBP in gear alone, before lift tickets, which the resorts charge separately. A full season pass at the UK resorts, Cairngorms, Glencoe and Nevis Range, runs 180 to 260 GBP, so the hire cost is a real share of a season, not a rounding error.
| Rental set | What it includes | Typical day price GBP |
|---|---|---|
| Board and boots only | Board and sized boots, you supply bindings | 12 to 18 |
| Mid range full set | Board, bindings and boots | 18 to 28 |
| Full set plus jacket and helmet | Everything, ready to ride | 45 to 70 |
| Season or multi day pass | Unlimited days or a capped block | 120 to 220 |
The day price holds across the UK mountains, but it drops the more days you commit to, which is why the multi day and season passes exist. A rider who plans 8 days in February is often better off on a block pass than on 8 separate day rates, so the decision is not only rent versus buy but also how many days you will actually ride.
What snowboard hire costs in New Zealand
Snowboard hire in New Zealand is priced in New Zealand dollars, and the day rate is higher than in the United Kingdom because the season is longer and the lift infrastructure is larger. In Queenstown, at Coronet Peak, The Champs, and around Cardrona and Treble Cone, a full mid range set runs 35 to 60 NZD a day and a full set with jacket and helmet runs 80 to 120 NZD a day. A lift ticket at The Champs, one of the Queenstown area lifts, costs 130 to 170 NZD for a day, so the gear is roughly half the daily cost of getting to the top. A season pass at those fields runs 1000 to 1500 NZD, which is the figure a local resident weighs against buying their own board.
Queenstown is the main snowboard hire market in the region, with shops in the town and at the bases of each mountain, and the day price is the same whether you rent in town or at the lift. The longer season, which runs from around June to late September, is what pushes the multi day and season hire prices up, since the mountains are open for more of the winter than any UK field.
Where to rent a snowboard near Jindabyne
Near Jindabyne the snowboard hire is concentrated in Thredbo, the mountain that sits just above the village, and the town shops carry the rest of the season. Jindabyne is the gateway town for the Snowy Mountains, and the rental market serves both Thredbo and Perisher, which is a short drive away. In Thredbo a mid range set runs 25 to 35 GBP equivalent in Australian dollars, that is 40 to 55 AUD a day, and a full set with jacket and helmet runs 90 to 130 AUD a day. A day lift at Thredbo is 110 to 150 AUD, so the same half the cost of the lift ratio holds as it does in Queenstown.
The difference between Jindabyne and the other two markets is the season length and the altitude. Thredbo is a high altitude resort, open from around June through to October, so it is one of the longer season fields in the southern hemisphere. That longer window is what makes a season hire pass, rather than a day by day booking, the sensible option for a resident, and what makes the day rate the sensible option for a visitor passing through the Snowy Mountains.
Rent or buy, the numbers
Whether to rent or buy comes down to how many days you will ride, and the break even point for a mid range board is 20 days in a season. A new mid range board with bindings and boots costs 500 to 800 GBP in the United Kingdom and 900 to 1400 NZD in New Zealand. If you rent a mid range full set at 25 GBP a day, 20 days is 500 GBP, which is the low end of a new set, so below 20 days a year you save money and risk by hiring, and above it you save by buying. A first season rider who rides 6 to 10 days should hire, a second year rider who rides 15 to 18 days is on the border, and a rider who plans 20 days or more should buy and get a Snowboard buying guide to choose the board.
- Hire if you ride under 20 days a year, travel to more than one mountain, or are still learning
- Buy if you ride 20 days or more, ride one mountain, or want a board tuned to your size and style
- Mixed if you buy the boots and rent the board, since boots are the piece most worth owning
The boots are the deciding detail in the mixed option, because a rented boot that does not fit is the fastest way to a painful day, while a bought boot that fits is comfortable whether the board under it is yours or the shop's. Most regular riders end up owning boots and a board and only hiring when they travel, and that pattern is the one the cost table above is built around.
How to choose a rental snowboard
To choose a rental snowboard well, size the board to your height and weight, not to your ego, and match the shape to where you will ride. A first or second year rider on a green or blue run wants a softer all mountain board, 150 to 158 cm for a rider of average height, which is forgiving when you are still finding your balance. A more confident rider wants a stiffer board, 152 to 160 cm, that holds an edge on a steeper run, and a park rider wants a short and stiff board, 140 to 150 cm, that flips easily in the half pipe and on the jumps. When you pick the rental, the shop should fit you in the boots first, then set the bindings to the boot and size the board to your weight, and you should walk in the boots before you strap in, because a board you cannot stand up in is a board you will not ride.
Fitting the boots before the board
Fitting the boots first matters because the boot is the one piece of the rental that you cannot change on the mountain. A boot that is too loose makes the board turn late, and a boot that is too tight cuts off your feet by the second lift. Ask for a boot in your size and one size down, stand in both, and choose the one that is snug at the toes when you stand straight and has a small gap when you flex your knees. The bindings then mount to that boot, and the board is sized to your weight, so getting the boot right on the day saves the whole rental.
Once the boots and board are set, the day rate you paid buys a setup that is ready to ride, and the only judgement left is whether the number of days you planned is enough to make renting the right call over buying. That is the whole rent or buy decision, and it is the one the cost table and the 20 day break even point are built to answer.