Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - For Sale

Buy and Sell Used Climbing Gear Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

insane gear prices! 14-May-2010 At 6:24:43 PM fiend

Message

If you shop around a bit freight isn't too expensive. From near Glasgow I sent one big box containing:
B3 boots, ice axes, helmet, two man tent, crampons, goggles, ice screws, bulldogs and warthogs, 60lt rucksack, 30lt rucksack, two thermorests, two msr stoves, and other bits n pieces.
cost, £230, including insurance to the value of £2500. took four days from door to door.
Might sound like a bit but I'm sure I saved more than that just by buying my boots over there and not here.

Thanks Wendy for giving me a few shops to try.

Hugh: all of my Uk prices are from companies that also don't import direct. Black Diamond is sold through First Ascent, Metolius goes through Beyond Hope, and so on. I deliberately left DMM out of my stats as I believe they're the only company still making climbing hardware in UK and therefore not paying import, or middle man fees. (Wild country do have a factory in England but when I visited last year, was told almost nothing is actually made there.

I do think its important to buy from local stores and not online from OS, as many climbing shops are labours of love, founded by climbers, and that's awesome and should be encouraged. Perhaps some kind of syndicate, or partnership -without going down the franchising path - would lead to cheaper freight, and those savings could be passed on.