With one third of all skiers and riders on the mountain these days being on rental equipment, rental shops are seeing the crowds pour in more than ever before. So where do you stash your inventory of skis or boards? There are a variety of customizable racks to store all types of rental products in a space-efficient way without disrupting your shop's layout or décor. Here's a look at some of the new and noteworthy items.

New from Advanced Racking System is a Two Tier Hanging system. Four feet wide by 68 inches long, and between 10 and 11 feet high, it can fit up to 160 pairs of skis, adult or junior sizes. The rack has two sets of bars, one to hold the tips of the skis, and another to hold the body to prevent pairs from opening. "It allows rental shops to save a tremendous amount of space. We installed the first Two Tier Hanging System at Bear Creek, Pa., three years ago, and the popularity has been quickly growing," says Peter Hristovski of Advanced Racking.

In addition to creating extra space in rental shops, manufacturers have found that custom storage is exactly what many shops have been waiting for. For example, a new application from Advanced Racking this year was the installation of an 11-foot-long custom boot drying rack that was built underneath the customer counter. It shrinks the turnaround time on rental boots, maximizing rentals and adding to a shop's bottom line.

Wintersteiger's newest wrinkle for its EasyStore rack system is fully customizable front covers for the racks that provides, in effect, a wall-size poster area for marketing purposes. Many resorts use this option for a practical application: to display a large trail map. "EasyStore helps maintain a very clean and efficient look while holding the highest capacities of rental products in the tightest amount of space possible," says Ryan Eittreim of Winterstiger.

With shops looking for ways to expand without knocking down walls, Montana continues to save space with its sliding storage system. One example: Its vertical snowboard racks have adjustable holders for boards, which can be stored with or without mounted bindings. The racks can hold up 106 snowboards (without bindings) in an eight-foot section.

Sun Valley Ski Tools, which acquired Kwik Ski Products this past July, is now the distributor for Kwik's vending dryer, a coin-op boot and glove dryer for consumers to use in the lodge, and the Kwik turnout dryer, designed for rapid drying of clothing and outerwear-a useful option for resort employees who spend most of their time outside. SVST also carries Cyclone vending dryers as well as 24-pair boot drying racks, an efficient option for on-hill crews who need warm, dry equipment every day on the job.