I'm starting to see ski gear showing up in various stores around town -- including some that might not be your first thought when it comes to skiing
- The outerwear racks at Sierra are starting to fill up with ski coats and snow pants. They're also a great source for base layers, including long underwear and socks. The also include hard goods, like skis, boots & snowboards. PROTIP: if there is a Sierra near you, use their free ship-to-store feature, then go try on your stuff at the shop. If it doesn't fit, or you don't like it, you can do the return right there. (I was at Sierra last night, and they had a huge rack of goggles.)
- TJMaxx and Marshalls (same corporate family as Sierra) have historically gotten some great hauls of outerwear that are very quietly put on the racks. If I should hear about it, I'll update you. If you regularly visit those stores and see them, let me know!
- Costco can also be a good source of some things: base layers, helmets, goggles, etc. Costco used to sell prepaid lift tickets, but I'm not seeing that anymore (I guess all the resorts now do that on their websites and can cut out the middleman).