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Posted

I'm looking for a good shop to buy backcountry safety equipment and telemark gear in the Seattle area. Here's the catch.

 

They have to have all three of the following:

A good selection

Friendly, knowledgable service

Fair prices

 

For one or more reasons this rules out:

Marmot

Feathered Friends

REI

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Posted

REI all the way. They always have what I want, the salespeople are friendly, don't hound you, know what they're doing, and the prices are the best around. Plus the don't cater to gapers and they don't sell any North Face junk. wink.gif

Seriously, though, what's wrong with marmot and FF? I like them both. Sure, they don't have as good a return policy as Returnable Equipment Inventory, but in my limited experience Marmot and FF are awesome.

Posted

In my not-quite-so-limited experience they both suck. They often don't know anything about the gear they carry, they continue to carry and rave about gear that has proven to be unrealiable (i.e. G3 skins which have been discontinued), and they don't always have the friendliest service, which is a must for local indendent shops like FF to survive (althought they have been). Perhaps REI is the only way. Maybe FF or Marmot have been able to cut it here, but if they were in Salt Lake City, or Denver, or any other mountain town, they would've been driven out already.

Posted

Proski on Aurora (or in N. Bend), owned by Martin Volken is a good bet. They know their shit when it comes to skiing way better than any "general" outdoor shop, were super friendly the 2 times I was there (totally no sales push), and have good stuff. Only downside is that they don't have quite as much selection of backcountry boards, bindings, etc. as some places (they do a lot of downhill stuff), but they do stock everything - beacons, shovels, probes, etc. They also rent beacons for cheap.

 

Check 'em out.

Posted

Marmot's got the best selection of AT, Tele gear and snow safety equipment in the state.

 

You'll find helpful AND lame service in any store.

 

Martins really anti telemark.

Posted
In my not-quite-so-limited experience they both suck. They often don't know anything about the gear they carry, they continue to carry and rave about gear that has proven to be unrealiable (i.e. G3 skins which have been discontinued), and they don't always have the friendliest service, which is a must for local indendent shops like FF to survive (althought they have been). Perhaps REI is the only way. Maybe FF or Marmot have been able to cut it here, but if they were in Salt Lake City, or Denver, or any other mountain town, they would've been driven out already.

 

[bold mine]

I thought they had been not shipped because they had a problem with this batch of glue... Kinda like Assension did a few years ago. I guess you do need somewhere that knows what they are talking about. tongue.gif Or maybe I am talking out of my moon.gif

Posted

As far as I know G3 ain't making skins anymore because their glue kept peeling. After the first year, they claimed to fix the problem. Marmot sold me the second year's model, after the salesperson raved about how great they were, then my first day out touring a huge patch of glue peeled from one side of the skin to the other.

Posted

Crappy dude! frown.gif Did they give you new ones? Or reglue them at least?

 

The g3 website still has them, page updated dec 21. confused.gif

 

I've always stuck (ha!) to Ascension myself. I am almost superstitious about what skins I use. Even when the G3 tail fix system came along, I just put it on my Ascensions.

Posted

Inside track from BD rep says the same glue dudes that were cooking up that bad batch of Ascension glue wound up working the G3 skin shop; maybe that's just hype. We certainly don't have those on sale, the company cancellled shipments of them a month before xmas.

The new Voile hardwires? We'vew got them, but wait until next year, there may be a new voile releasable unit widely available that will render the old Voile plunger obsolete.

And we have the new O2 replacements. The inside story on that recall was 10% of the plastic risers and tail hooks being improperly cured by the manufacturing vendor; New structure, and a new approach to the curing process for the reissued 02 binding.

W'eve got lots of Fritschi Freeride AT bindings in stock still.

Posted

I'd take a short drive south to The Mountain Shop in Portland. From my experience they know what they're talkin about. None of this "I work in agear shop I'm god" attitude. I'm sure one of the CC'ers in PDX could get you the phone number and you could call and see if they have what you're looking for. Plus no tax and some great drinking facilities. bigdrink.gif

Posted

Snoboy, I've had 2 pairs of ascentions that have had crappy glue peeling from one side to the other. I still have the second pair and plan to take them back to MEC shortly. the guy i'm returning them to asks employe: "well uuuhhhh have you been uuuhhh pulling them apart when it was like cold?" Stefan: Uuuhhhh ya, it usually is when I ski Geek_em8.gif"

Posted

my advice is to contact black diamond directly. I had two pairs of bad ascensions (glue came off in chunks on my skis). They treated me like royalty, advance replacing the skins immediately and asking constantly if I was satisfied. BD may be the Microsoft of the climbing world, but they treat their customers very well from my experience. Now if they would just stop releasing bindings on the market that have not been beta-tested.... hahaha.gif

Posted (edited)

I know at least two dozen skiers who have used ascension skins exclusively (including myself) and never had problems with them (but don't buy seconds). I don't know if there's any data out there to corroborate, but I'd guess that they are the most reliable skin.

 

However, I considered it a bad thing when BD bought ascension and the clipfix tail definitely performs poorly compared to the old Euro Kit due to the changing length of skins as the get cold/warm or wet/dry.

 

A friend of mine bought the BCA skins this year and wound up putting new ascension glue on them the first day he used them because they didn't stick well.

Edited by E-rock

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