About Race Werks

Race Werks is a ski racing shop in Boise, Idaho. We sell gear, wax and tuning tools to alpine racers, coaches and clubs, from a walk-in store on South Century Way and online across the United States.

We are the retail side of a tuning tool company

Race Werks is owned and operated by Sun Valley Ski Tools, and we work out of the same building. SVST has been making ski tuning equipment for the race world for years: bevel guides, edge bevelers, true bars, P-Tex tooling and the rest of the kit that ends up in World Cup race rooms. Race Werks is where that equipment, and everything else a racer needs, is sold to the public.

That relationship is the reason this shop exists and it shapes what we stock. We are not a general sporting goods store that happens to carry a wall of skis. We sell what alpine racers actually use, and when a tool on our shelf has an SVST label on it, it was designed by the company upstairs.

Our own brands

• Sun Valley Ski Tools (SVST): tuning tools, edge guides, bevelers, true bars and base repair equipment
• Race Werks: shop apparel and team gear
• RaceService 1: race wax, overlays and paste

Where this started

In 1991 Jim Vermillion was out of work and weighing two passions, skiing and fly fishing. Skiing won. He and Norma started a ski repair supply business out of their clinker brick garage in Caldwell, Idaho, in October 1992, the same month they bought their first computer.

That garage operation became Sun Valley Ski Tools. Over the three decades since, it grew into one of the established names in the ski industry for custom made tuning tools, the sort of equipment that ends up in World Cup race rooms. Jim and Norma built it on two things, customer service and technical know how, and met a good share of their customers face to face at trade shows or in the Boise shop.

Race Werks followed at the end of the 1990s, once SVST was established, as the retail side of the business. It is where racers can buy those tools directly, alongside everything else a race program goes through in a season.

What we carry

Around 770 products across ten departments: skis, boots and bindings, race suits and apparel, wax, armor, goggles and helmets, bags, ski poles, boot fitting and tuning equipment. Inventory is seasonal. We carry the deepest stock from autumn through the race season, and run thinner over the summer.

Brands currently on the shelf include Swix, Toko, Holmenkol, RODE and Wend for wax; SVST, Ski Man, Vallorbe and Diaface for tuning; POC, Sweet Protection, Uvex and Shred for helmets, goggles and armor; Leki, Komperdell and Swix for poles; Head, Nordica and Rossignol for skis and bags; Karbon, Spyder, Energiapura, Reusch, Hestra, Level, Swany and Kinco for apparel and gloves; plus Intuition, ZipFit, Bliz, Point6, Snow Eagle, Coaxsher, Ski Metrix, Dry Guy, StoreYourBoard and Kinco.

Who we sell to

How we work

• We sell the tools rather than the service, so we do not tune or repair skis here. What we can tell you is which tool does which job, because much of what we stock is designed in the same building
• Orders leave within two business days
• Returns accepted within 30 days of delivery. The full terms are on our shipping and returns page
• Racer pricing on team and volume orders is handled by phone

Find us

You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and our tuning guides cover edge bevel, wax selection and race day prep in more depth.