Imagine walking into a shop and not only finding all 3 boots to try on in your exact size, but also a professional ski bum specializing in your little niche of the backcountry world who is there there to help point you in the right direction. Even for a full specialty ski touring store like Cripple Creek Backcountry, it was hard to always have all those pieces in place.
In 2018 we started moving more and more of our business to appointment-based. While we have always been open for quick, last minute gear purchases and fast turnaround shop work, bigger decisions like helping you choose your entire ski touring setup takes more time. We found that with a little notice, we could move a pair of boots from one of our other shops or schedule the perfect staff member to be there for you, even if it was outside our normal hours. We've received amazing feedback from our customers around the appointment experience, and before long we had equipped hundreds of ski tourers and splitboarders with their newest setups.
When Covid-19 hit the ski world in March, we began to lean on appointments harder than ever. They allowed us to control the flow of customers and staff so nobody was left waiting around for help. We began to follow up appointment requests with an immediate phone call which helped streamline the process further. Having this conversation about a skier's needs over the phone let us hone in on the right gear before the in-person appointment even began.
- Book an appointment and choose your location.
- We will follow it up with a call to fill out the form here.
- Once the research is done on the best gear for you we will have a video or in person meeting to dial in the final decisions.
- Lastly, we will mount the setup so it is ready for in-store pickup or shipping within the next 24 hours.
