Good web sites to buy gear from?

[jaffy]

I jut picked up some tele's and need to get some poles too. Anyone got some sites they recommend buying from?

I've also heard about poles that can double as avalanche probes and was wondering if anyone's used them and what they think about them.

[sandbagger]

don't get the combo poles/probes. They suck, and you will hate yourself if your buddy's survival depends on their functionality. And your buddy would hate you too, except that he'd probably be dead. Sorry to be harsh, but the pole/probe combo works great until you actually need it. Buy a dedictaed probe.

As for online shops, there are many good ones.

Bent Gate is great, Sierra Trading Post, The Bcakcountry.net, Backcountry.com, there are plenty of others.

[El Flaco]

I'll second that anti-probe pole rant. Worthless. Get a dedicated probe pole, and make sure it's at least 8'. Adjustable poles are nice, just because climbing might be easier when they're longer. Not as probes.

Check mgear.com too- but if it's a $10 difference in your local shop vs. online, why not give the shop the business?

[jaffy]

Originally Posted by El Flaco

I'll second that anti-probe pole rant. Worthless. Get a dedicated probe pole, and make sure it's at least 8'. Adjustable poles are nice, just because climbing might be easier when they're longer. Not as probes.

Check mgear.com too- but if it's a $10 difference in your local shop vs. online, why not give the shop the business?

Thanks for the advice guys.

As far as getting them local, I did order them at the mountain shop first, but they didn't come when they were supposed to (they were backordered) and then when they did come I was out of town. Mountainshop left a message letting me know they were in then called and left another message a couple days later and said if I didn't pick them up they were going to sell them. I got back into town and checked my messages, but they were already sold. Rather than order them again and possibly keep having to rent poles, I just want to get it done.

[howlie]

Support a local shop. Miss-haps happen on line too.

[Don]

Prepay or put down a deposit. That way the gear is basically yours when it comes in. Shops will often get stuck with special orders if there is no deposit. It makes it into a no brainer for everyone. The shop knows you really want the gear, and you know that as soon as it's available- you can pick it up.

[stinginrivers]

Or order online from a local shop like bentgate.com which has it's store in Golden.

And yes as said before buy a real probe pole not the ski pole turns into a shitty probe pole things.

[sandbagger]

Originally Posted by Don

Prepay or put down a deposit. That way the gear is basically yours when it comes in. Shops will often get stuck with special orders if there is no deposit. It makes it into a no brainer for everyone. The shop knows you really want the gear, and you know that as soon as it's available- you can pick it up.

well, that's exactly it. Online shops aren't "better", they just get to charge you immediately and then send the gear out. To be pissed at a store for eventually selling gear that they ordered for you (on their dime) is silly. They called twice, and surely a phone call back to them would have sufficed to hold the gear. I don't blame them for selling the gear, and the OP shouldn't either.

But, as stinginrivers suggests, you can stay local by ordering from bentgate. Good folks there.

[jaffy]

Why does it seem like I'm suddenly the bad guy here?

I wasn't pissed, and I don't think I implied that at all. I like the mountain shop, and I like the people that work there. Notice my original post didn't mention them at all and my post elaborating why I was looking online had no negative comments either.

Originally the poles were supposed to take 4-5 days to come in - I ended up waiting 3 weeks and then they were sold because I was out of town for a weekend and I'm not the type of person who checks his messages when I'm gone. I would have been happy to pre-pay if it had been mentioned at all. Since it wasn't, I just assumed they preferred to do it that way. Rather than re-order and possibly wait another 3 weeks, I was just going to order online and not hassle with it.

FYI, I told the guy at the mountain shop that's what I was thinking of doing, and he put the poles on order anyway. He just asked me to call and cancel the order if I ended up getting the poles somewhere else. Turns out a friend of mine loaned me his poles and I ended up getting them from the mountain shop after all.

All that drama for a set of poles...