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Going to be in Calgary with some time to burn. Where are some of the great places to go and spend some money on climbing gear?

photo61guy wrote:Going to be in Calgary with some time to burn. Where are some of the great places to go and spend some money on climbing gear?

I'm not sure if they have a local retail store, but contact Integral Designs http://www.integraldesigns.com/ to see if they still allow visits to their facilities. Depending on who you get on the line, they may have suggestions for gear stores besides.

Really only one worth a visit, MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop)...go on line to get their address, directions...it will look and feel exactly like REI....Canmore and Banff will be much more expensive to shop....Valhalla and Verticle Addiction in Canmore are horrible, service and price....exclusively here for the unaware climbing tourist $$$....Mountain Magic in Banff is much better, but still way too expensive..."Source" water bladder there costs $33 vs $12 at MEC, exact same thing except Deuter does the distribution instead of MEC. Keep in mind that if you are coming from the US, gear is much cheaper there. Very few manufactures, Mammut on ropes for example, will give you as good a deal in Canada. The premium on all boots, climbing shoes or running shoes is about 30% -35% across the board, where the exchange benefit is only 10%. Most clothes are the same way unless MEC is placing their name on them (they have negotiated certain deals with certain manufacturers to offer a knock off basically). There are several places where this inequitable pricing is blatant on line, Toyota vehicles, Oakley sunglasses....etc. Some of these web sites allow you to customize your item at .ca and com.....side by side....there you will see a marked premium charged Canadians, way over the 10% beneficial exchange rate. All electronics cost 25-40% more in Canada. Cheers.

Check out http://www.wickedgravity.com/ if you have time to spare and want to check out a small local shop with more charm. Very small and doesn't have much gear on stock, but since you said you "had time to burn"...

I am going to check out Spirit West near Mec as soon as I get a chance. Here is there website address http://shop.outdoorspirit.ca/store/. It looks like they carry stuff from Rab, Integral Designs and Mammut!

Joel,

Have fun in Calgary!!!!

I finally got around to checking out Spirit West the other day. I have to say this is the best store I have been to in a long while. lots of made in Canada products in stock as well as many that are made in the shop. I ordered an Integral Designs XPD 3 and a pair of Scarpa Phantom 6000 boots at a good price. They also had a really neat single wall tent that they make in the shop as well for around $450 or so.. I can't recommend this shop highly enough!