Pro Mountain Sports

Horrible customer service. I live out of the area and called with a question about a rope. The guy brushed me off and told me I needed to come into the shop. I live an hour away and wanted to find out if they even have what I am looking for, or if maybe I could get a recommendation and purchase over the phone to save a drive. He wouldn’t even let me explain, he just kept telling me I had to come into the shop. I purchased my previous rope from this store plus a bunch of other gear over the phone several years ago and had it shipped to my house — no issues. The guy couldn’t find me in the system, and acted like I was lying about it. If you want to retain customers you need to treat them like you value them, and without suspicion. The last customer may have done something to bother you, but you can’t assume that I’m doing the same thing and make me feel like a horrible person for asking a legitimate question. There are other places that don’t treat their customers like crap. I won’t be going back.

Most of my activities are backpacking/​hiking related. While this store caters primarily to climbers, this is one of the few stores in the Seattle area that carries Montbell (outerwear, sleeping bags), Rab layer 1 and layer 2 clothes, Western Mountaineering (jackets/​vests and sleeping bags) products. If I’m interested in one of these brands’ products, I’m coming to Pro Mountain Sports.
These brand products are not inexpensive. If I’m buying something from one of these companies, I usually want to look at it, browse, and think about my purchase beforehand. I don’t impulsively purchase $ 500 sleeping bags.
I’ve popped into Pro Mountain Sports a handful of times (once for a WM sleeping bag and once for a WM vest, among others). If I spend any amount of time in there trying things on, the store operator clearly becomes frustrated with me. I never request that he stands there while I try on jackets or look at sleeping bags. I expressly state that I’m not high maintenance and don’t have any immediate questions, but I know where to find him if I do (the store has a pretty small footprint). He still seems unhappy with me, even after that.
And *every* time I have been in there, he gives me a shpeal about how shopping local is important and if I want to support local small businesses I should shop there instead of Amazon… while staring at me pointedly. He probably suspects I’m just there to window shop and I’m going to leave and purchase somewhere on the Web for a better price. The tone in his voice sounds like he’s made up his mind that this is what I’m going to do and he’s trying to guilt me into purchasing at his store.
I always thought it was just in my head, until the last 2 visits when a friend came with. Each time, as soon as I got back in the car, my friend, unprompted, echoed my thoughts.
Great products (I love Montbell and WM) that are hard to find anywhere else, but customer service could be improved.

Absolutely terrible business practices, simply put the worst business experience I can recall.
I had reviewed their online catalog, and came in to the store to look at a tent, inspect the quality, and set it up to get an idea for the dimensions. Pretty standard stuff for a customer to do at any retail store I think.
I was shocked to hear the store operator tell me that there was a $ 30 fee to look at a tent, which would be credited back to me only if I bought the tent. I was stunned, who could possibly imagine that this is any way to do business? His actions told me that he didn’t value me as a customer, and also had no confidence in his ability to sell the merchandise.
This behaviour is the opposite of what I’ve come to expect from other high end outdoor goods retailers, which are happy to setup and allow the customer to interact with the merchandise. While other stores, including a now nationally prominent chain that started in a seattle garage (3 letters in the name) work hard to fit the client to the right gear, Pro Mountain Sports wants an admission fee just to look at the product.
I took my business to another local store, and plan to never return.

Used to like this store. Hate it now.
I“ve purchased things here before, because we love the icebreaker products. So when my son was done at the UW I decided to stop by instead of driving to REI or icebreaker downtown. When my son asked why we were going to this small little shop instead, we had a great talk about why we like to support small businesses, and shop local, etc.
While we were in the shop trying on the wool shirts (my son tried on only two) we went to try on a third. The guy didn’t have what we wanted in size medium, so we were going to try on a different style just to make sure. The man seemed put out that we wanted to take another shirt out of the box. «Are you actually going to BUY a shirt?» he said. Well, yes, that’s why we’re here! I said. «Well, I don’t believe you,» he says to me. He thinks we’ve driven to his store, parked the car, and shopped here just to find out what size we need so we can buy it elsewhere. (As if we couldn’t do that at any other store that sells this product.) He was rude, dismissive and insulting. Basically kicked us out. I told him we’d be happy to go spend elsewhere.
And we did. Bought not one but two shirts — the exact two and the same exact size we were about to purchase at pro mountain. And the folks were actually nice to us!
Kind of unbelievable. The upside of being treated like crap is that it was a teachable moment for my kid. After discussing the importance of supporting small local businesses on the way IN to the shop, on the way OUT we got to discuss the wide variety of jerks and unhappy people there are in the world, and the ways my son’s been treated for «shopping while being teenaged.» And for him to realize that rudeness knows no boundaries: «I can kind of understand why I get treated like this sometimes, you know, as a kid, but you’re a MOM. A mom with, you know, buying power!» We had a good laugh at that one.
Will never give pro mountain a penny ever again. Jim, if that’s his name, is a piss poor salesman and not a nice person, to say the least.

I finally made it out to this store. They keep strange hours and are closed on sunday and monday. That said, all is forgiven. They are an official MontBell retailer. Unlike feathered friends, Pro Mountain Sports doesn’t make sleeping bags, so they carry a few different brands.
These guys are all about ultra-​light. I’m kind of torn between the concept and reality. I’m all about a lighter load while on the trail, but I like my creature comforts. Also it get’s exponentially more expensive the lighter you go. How expensive? Well, a nice goosedown 1 pound sleeping bag can easily start out around $ 300. Some of the gear is worth it, while I’m still on the fence about other items.
Anyhow, finally got to try out the montbell synthetic super stretch bags. They’re incredible and a steal at the normal retail price. Just need to return my Sierra Designs flex bag that is a vastly inferior product. Will be returning to this shop a lot as they have a great selection of gear that larger retailers like REI don’t carry.

This shop is about gear, NOT marketing.
Jim knows his stuff and he knows the Cascades. This is one of the best local climbing shops around. Maybe ever…

They know their stuff and have most of the latest and greatest lightweight gear. The shop is small but they have one of the most informative websites out there. I wish they carried scarpa mountaineering boots but other than that its a great little store. Just had to deduct a point because I remember their return policy wasn’t as good as other places from what i recall.

They are a small outdoor /​mountaineering store located in the University District. While they have a limited selection they make up for it by choosing only what they know works, and works well. Prices are fair and the staff are knowledgeable and helpful.