Prior to our trip to Angel Fire, we reserved rentals from Snow Blaze. I selected it based on good reviews and great location. When making my online reservations in advance, I thought I was unable to complete the process...the computer would skip the last 2 steps and send me back to the original screen, appearing to have erased all of the info I had just entered. I made a second attempt and the same thing happened. I decided to wait and call during business hours. However, I noticed I received 2 email confirmations from Snow Blaze(despite never having completed the reservation process for either). I called the following day. The woman who answered the phone said they had been having trouble with new software and said she deleted one of my reservations.
My family arrived to a completely empty store just after 3pm (earliest time customers can pick up equipment for the following day). We could hear people talking somewhere in the building, but there was no way to notify them of our presence. I finally peeked behind the counter and realized the voices were coming from up a spiral staircase. I called out and a very friendly guy immediately came down to help us.
The first small issue was that our duplicate reservation had never been deleted. This seemed to confuse the worker somewhat, but he finally managed to delete it(he also complained about the new software). He began the process of fitting us with boots. At that point, another family arrived, then another, then another. The place was filling up fast and he was the only one working. I have never rented from a place with fewer than 3 workers. At a minimum, there should be 2...1 to fit boots and another to adjust skis and complete check-out process. Anyway, he was rushing around trying to get boots on everyone, then fitting those into skis. When it came to poles, he just pointed to a rack of them and said to "grab some". When people asked about the correct pole length, he was way too overwhelmed to offer any tips.(Same with any other questions anyone had for him). Apparently, he'd been setting customers loose on the poles for a while...the first 2 "pairs" I tried, didn't actually match. Eventually my family finally had everything we needed and we headed down the stairs to the best thing about this place...ski storage right across the street from the main lift!
When my daughter and I returned our equipment earlier than the rest of our group, my boots scanned as from another family and my daughter's skis had the same issue. The same guy was working. Still all alone. He must have mixed stuff up during all of the confusion on the first day. He said "he'd figure it out", but I had my doubts.
We were skiing with 2 other families. Both had similar experiences to ours, including entering an empty store and having to hunt for a (single)employee. As if all of this weren't bad enough, my sister-in-law was charged for a helmet. They never rented a helmet. (Every member of her family had their own prior to the trip).
The experience was very disappointing. However, the location is pretty tough to beat. If we ski in AF again, I'd give them another try. read more
