Sharpshooter Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 Enjoy your local stuff for as long as you can. Inevitably it will most likely not last. Then again, nothing does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrJockitch Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 That is a real shame. Any Canadian alternatives? Local shops mostly I would imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 11 hours ago, Maniwaki Canuck said: Joined in 1974 to buy a winter tent for Garibaldi Park. Sad day for me, but like others have said, MEC moved a long way from where it started. Still buying ultralight gear to get my aging ass out on the trail, but from cottage manufacturers, not these guys. who would you recommend thats local or Canadian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Am.Ironman Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 I have a MEC gift card with a balance remaining... should I be spending it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maniwaki Canuck Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 10 minutes ago, Robert Long said: who would you recommend thats local or Canadian? I wish I knew of some that are local. Zpacks, Mountain Laurel Designs and Hyperlight Mountain Gear are the ones I've been buying from. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 4 minutes ago, Maniwaki Canuck said: I wish I knew of some that are local. Zpacks, Mountain Laurel Designs and Hyperlight Mountain Gear are the ones I've been buying from. neat thanks. I hope this sends some business to the smaller guys. We ordered some new skis through Coast Outdoors in north van last year and they were great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maniwaki Canuck Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 2 minutes ago, Robert Long said: neat thanks. I hope this sends some business to the smaller guys. We ordered some new skis through Coast Outdoors in north van last year and they were great. Very much agree with your perspective here. Big revolutions in materials going on with packs and tents right now and it's all driven by little guys. Thinking harder on it, there is one BC (Revelstoke) guys who's doing innovative design stuff: https://durstongear.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 The funny thing is had MEC not gone away from outstanding customer service, that would be the one thing that seperates them from their competitors. Once they started skimping on customer service, they were just like any other retailer. I know the North Van store in the old location was great. Once they moved to a bigger, glitzier location. They seemed to have 1/2 the staff. And the phones there were ringing off the hook, and staff was too busy to even attend to the customers, let alone answer the phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 1 minute ago, Maniwaki Canuck said: Very much agree with your perspective here. Big revolutions in materials going on with packs and tents right now and it's all driven by little guys. Thinking harder on it, there is one BC (Revelstoke) guys who's doing innovative design stuff: https://durstongear.com/ thanks the pack info is great, we've been looking for lighter gear for nordic backcountry skiing and my knees aren't aging like wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maniwaki Canuck Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 42 minutes ago, Robert Long said: thanks the pack info is great, we've been looking for lighter gear for nordic backcountry skiing and my knees aren't aging like wine. Oh my god, mine are held together with duct tape these days and back-country skiing has something to do with it. For that, I'd be looking at pyramid-style tents from Mountain Laurel Designs and Hyperlight Mountain Gear. Durston's tent is great, but that style doesn't do so well in the snow. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarcore Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 19 hours ago, Warhippy said: my stove and gas....still need them from Mec I have 3 stoves and can fortunately get gas for all 3 locally at a place that matches MEC in price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Durston Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 (edited) On 9/15/2020 at 10:36 AM, Maniwaki Canuck said: For [backcountry skiing], I'd be looking at pyramid-style tents from Mountain Laurel Designs and Hyperlight Mountain Gear. Durston's tent is great, but that style doesn't do so well in the snow. A point of clarification here: The X-Mid tent is far better in the snow than single pole pyramid style tents (e.g. MLD, HMG). Mostly that is due to the wall slopes. Single pole pyramids generally have shallower wall slopes in the 40-50 degree range, which is too shallow to shed snow well. When it accumulates enough it will slide on those tents, but not all the way off so it accumulates on the tent around the base, which reduces interior space and adds immense load to the tents fabrics and structure. Conversely, the X-Mid tents and other dual trekking pole shelters (e.g. Black Diamond Beta Light) have much better snow performance because the steeper wall slopes are in the range of 55-60 degrees. Thus, snow sheds much more readily and the steeper slopes allow the weight of that snow to slide almost entirely onto the ground, rather than onto the bottom of the fabric, so they don't lose substantial space and the load on the tent is far reduced. This is why, for example, the Black Diamond Beta Light is so much better in the snow than their Mega Light. The X-Mid in particular is arguably the best shape for snow shedding because every panel is right in that sweet spot of 56-59 degrees. That's carefully designed to be steep enough to give reliable snow shedding, without going excessively steep and compromising wind performance. The other facet of this is the materials. MLD and HMG use nylon and DCF, which are both problematic for snow shedding. Nylon absorbs water from the snow which causes the fabric to expand/wrinkle/sag and that wrinkled/saggy pitch becomes much worse at snow shedding. DCF doesn't do that, but it's far more sticky than woven fabrics, so snow doesn't shed as easily. Polyester that the X-Mid uses is a much better fabric for snow shedding because it's slick yet not sag, which is why you see it on a lot of high end 4-season mountaineering tents, such as those from Black Diamond. The combination of polyester + 55-60 degree wall slopes gives the X-Mid much better snow performance than the single pole mids you refer to. Additionally, the X-Mid spread the snow load over two poles (vs 1) plus has dual optional peak guylines, so the structure to support snow loading is far better. Aside from a full-on 4 season mountaineering tent, the X-Mid is probably the best tent there is at snow shedding. - Dan Durston DurstonGear.com Edited September 16, 2020 by Dan Durston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violator Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Soon as they built that brand new headquarters they were doomed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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