Alpenglow Adventure Sports

Terrible return policy. If you put the jacket on they say they can't offer a refund because it's now "used", even if it doesn't fit. Absolutely disgusting policy that should leave them ashamed. Do not give them the business.

Great spot! Friendly, well-informed staff. Good rental options and diverse array of gear.

Loved this place. Had a great time rock climbing at Otter Cliffs with Jacob. He was a knowledgeable and fabulous guide. The staff at the store was accommodating and friendly.

Had a great customized trip with Alpenglow. Paddy was my guide and he tailored my experience based on my slightly advanced skill level. We did some awesome multi pitch climbing (a first for me) and I felt very safe and learned a ton! Highly recommend Alpenglow for climbing in Acadia.

Knowledgeable and friendly staff. I was very happy to find a perfect-fitting pair of Oboz mid-high hiking boots (Sawtooth Mid BDry) on sale for 33% off. Just the thing for slogging(!) along the edges of the submerged sandbar to Bar Island and hiking around the rocky outcroppings in Acadia National Park nearby!

These guys are cheap - they will nickel and dime you. I brought the crash pad rental back an hour late, they charged me a full extra day for it. Will never be back and will recommend all my friends to avoid. Contact me if you want to resolve.

Not really a good experience. Three young guys just seatting at the store, not helpfull, a bit arrogant. Skip them. If you want to climb, I would suggest to contact Atlantic Climbing School, they're just a block from there

Staffed with incredibly knowledgeable and friendly people, this is a great place to go to get gear or go on an adventure. A one stop shop for climbing or hiking needs in Maine.

Confessions of a gear junkie. I buy way too much gear. Period. I'm often suckered in by a good deal (which Alpenglow often has!) but I'm always brought back by great service. I'll skip shoddy service and pay a couple dollars more for good service. There's a reason I have made half a dozen orders from Alpenglow and I'll give you a hint: it's because their customer service rhymes with "awesome." Also rhymes with "excellent." If you don't believe me, log on to their web page, search the specials, save a boatload of money, and check your porch three days later. I promise you won't be disappointed. I haven't been, six times in a row (that's what she said). Thanks Alpenglow, for giving me an excuse to write this review and throw in a mediocre TWSS joke. Now I have gear to go sort, if you'll excuse me.

I live in CA but have ordered online from these guys. The have an email list and occasionally send out really great deals, you just have to be quick about it as they obviously aren't going to have as much stock as a big box retailer. Writing this review because I've had great experience using them and stoked to support a smaller local gear shop when possible. I do also spend quite a bit with REI and Backcountry, but I'm happy to be on the Alpenglow email list and if I was local I would for sure hit these folks up more often. Thanks Alpenglow!

Misha is the best. Helped me and my girlfriend find new gear and gave us a great recommendation on hiking in Acadia during our trip. A definite stop before you go to acadia

If I said Alpenglow was the all-time best of all time, your hyperbole-meter might start going off. However, your meter would be DEAD WRONG. Throw it in the trash. Wait for a sale at Amazon for a new one, maybe get last years model to save a little bit extra. You don't need the new pink-striped accents on the 2014 model. You might like them, but you don't need them. Anyway, back to Alpenglow. They rock! Countless times, I've searched for a random specific piece of gear online, and who not only has it in stock, but on sale?! Alpenglow. Not only are their sales timely and fantastic, but the customer service has been stellar, and the shippin' is quick and cheap/free. Trying to remember all the things I've bought here, maybe two sets of ice tools, cams, ice screws, pants, backpack, etc etc etc. All time best! EDIT: Incidentally, KennyB below sounds like an idiot. I give him 1 star.

What started as a quest for a guide book turned into us receiving excellent, personal attention for several hours while we looked at different gear and asked questions and tried on packs. They even helped us research packs and such that might fit our needs, even though they didn't carry them, and we wouldn't be around long enough to get them through a special order; they're just that committed to customer satisfaction. Thanks to their help, my wife finally found a pack that suited both her needs and her body, and we picked up some other gear at great prices. We even had such a good time, we ended up hanging out and chatting for a few more hours. Alpenglow shares a storefront with the Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School, but now I can't recall what the sign or signs out front said. Plus, they just moved locations, so the signs are probably still being set up. Anyway, if you've found one, you've found the other.

I ordered a pair of ski bindings from these folks. Great sale price, arrived just as described. Excellent customer service. They went above and beyond to help me get them on time for a ski trip - thank you!

Had a great experience coming in to get a rain jacket and left with that, plus hiking shoes and socks. Great selection, terrific deals, and friendly, knowledgeable staff. Definitely worth a trip for any hiking and climbing needs in Acadia.

I would strongly encourage anyone considering buying from this retailer to reconsider. The risk of purchase is all on you... I bought a pair of gloves off of their website and was given "free shipping". When the gloves did not fit and were thinner than I expected, I returned the gloves and paid for the return shipping myself. I received an email stating that my return was $10 less than the purchase price. When I wrote to ask why, I was referred to the return policy which states that $10 is charged to every return to cover shipping costs. They said this even applies to purchases that were given 'free shipping'. I was not given a reason for this policy, only told that the "policy exists for a reason" and that it was the workers' job "to follow the policies set forth by the owners". To be honest, I could care less about $10 and am more bothered by the principle. By being an internet retailer, this company like many others, benefits greatly by increasing the pool of customers it can draw upon. One of the inherent downsides is that customers do not have the opportunity to try the goods they are purchasing and thus there will be a greater number of returns. For Alpenglow to then charge the customer a fee for returning unused goods (which can then be sold at full price) and claim it is a shipping charge amounts to unethical business practices. Furthermore I was never charged for shipping, so the money they are collecting is a service that was rendered free of charge. In the end, the experience has been disappointing. Am happy to support smaller companies but if they want to sell on the internet, they need to apply reasonable policies to their sales.

Alpenglow is the best! I got a bunch of climbing gear I needed here for a great deal. Highly Recommend!

After a recent order at alpenglowgear, I was quickly informed that the item was on backorder. While the extra week waiting for the product was mildly annoying, alpenglow offered 20% off on a future purchase in apology for the confusion. I've never been so pleased with the customer service offered by a small outdoors store and this will definitely be one of my first stops when looking to make future purchases.

We went climbing out on Otter Cliffs with Alpenglow and it was one of the highlights of our trip to Acadia. Jenny was our guide and she was great. We've climbed before but are new to all the equipment and she was really good about explaining what she was doing. She started us off with an easy route and found some routes at our skill level pretty quick. For any climbers out there, definitely do this while you're in acadia!

Ordered an item that was in stock on their website. I didn't receive any order confirmation and had to call and check in with them. A woman on the phone told me they were out of stock and I'd get a refund. Fast forward a few days later and my card has been charged anyways and I can't get in touch with the company

I decided to purchase a climbing rope from Alpenglow for 3 reasons: 1) They offered the best price. 2) I'm from Maine and wanted to support a local business. 3) I've heard great things about Acadia Mountain Guides (the parent company) and Jon Tierney (the owner) Unfortunately, I will never be ordering anything from Alpenglow ever again. I've never written an online review of any kind before, but I had such a terrible experience with this company that I'm going out of my way to make sure that nobody else has to deal with what I went through: I ordered the rope back in mid-April, and received confirmation of my order shortly thereafter. About a week later, by which time I could reasonably have expected to receive my order (7 days for Fedex ground to the neighboring state), I was notified that the rope was not in stock. I understand that these things happen, but it seems strange that my order was confirmed when it wasn't fillable, and then that I wasn't notified for so long. I was told that I could cancel my order, substitute another rope for the one that I had chosen, or have the rope placed on backorder. I chose the latter option after being told that it would "probably take a couple weeks to get from Petzl, and maybe another week for it to arrive" at my address. Almost a month later, I had neither rope nor communication of any kind from the company. I called and asked for an update, and got a very brief email telling me only that my rope had not yet been received from Petzl. Two and a half weeks later, after hearing nothing more--which I felt was strange given that I had asked for better communication--I sent an email asking to have my order canceled and expressing my disappointment with Alpenglow. At this point I had been led to believe that it would take less than a month (from the time I put it on backorder) to get my rope, but a month and a half had passed. I got no response to this email, and that's probably what bothered me most about the whole affair. I finally called the store and spoke to somebody in person, and during this conversation was told that they (finally) had my rope. I still canceled my order, as I was moving out West and figured that it probably wouldn't get to me before then, and I would need a rope the day that I got out there. Later that day I found out that this had changed, so I phoned Alpenglow and said that I would still take the rope after all. I changed the shipping address, they said that was all right, and they told me that everything was sorted and that they'd ship the rope straight away. Sure enough, a few days after I had moved out West--and probably about a week or more after I had been told my rope was in stock and ready to ship--I got a call from Alpenglow saying that they needed reauthorization to charge my credit card, since I had very briefly cancelled my order. I'm not sure why this wasn't asked of me when I reinstated my order. I returned their call, spoke to a person, and told them that they had permission to charge my card. I was thanked and told that that would be all. Another week later, I got another call from Alpenglow, saying that they needed reauthorization to charge my credit card. This was extremely confusing, as I had already taken care of this. I called back and spoke to somebody who said that they needed my card information all over again. So I provided this information, and hoped that FINALLY I would get my rope. Well, on July 17--more than three months from the day that I placed my order--the rope got delivered to the wrong address. All I wanted was a climbing rope, but what I got was three months of frustration and disappointment. Next time, I'll just order from GearX or Backcountry.

You are forgetting the 5 or 6 calls I made for a month! You guys told me nothing until you received notification it was being returned. At that time I called (i never received aa call from anyone at anytime) the shipping company about the package because your company could not provide me a tracking number until my last call which was to late. Once the item was returned it took 2 to 3 weeks to get my credit card refunded which took 2 different phone calls.

I ordered a backpack for my son for Christmas and called to place the order over the phone, because I needed to delay the shipment. I placed 3 phone calls to them, as a result of my confusion rather than something they did wrong. They were very kind, professional, and patient, not to mention happy to accommodate my request. The gentleman even left the phone to ensure it truly was in stock! I am happy to be purchasing from a US company, who does business the old fashion way! Great job!

I ordered a tent last week for my honeymoon backpacking trip. I called to see when it would be shipped and was informed that it's listing on the website was a mistake and it wasn't there. With the stress of the wedding planning and trying to get everything together for the trip I have to admit I was in a poor mood and was pretty rude to the woman on the phone. However, she remained extremely nice and professional and took care of our situation very well. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for camping gear online.

I have made quite a few purchases from these guys and I have yet to be disappointed. They have the best deals around and practically everything over $50.00 ships for free. I even called in to see if they could get em an item that was not in stock on their site, and they called the manufacturer up and got me that item for the same price as what they listed it on their site with a meager $15 special order fee. And on that special order they had the manufacturer ship it to me directly so there was no delay in getting the item. Even with that fee it was still WAY cheaper than what the other sites had it at. And their shipping is super fast. I placed an order around noon on a monday and I kid you not I got an email from Fedex notifying me that it had shipped about 15-20 minutes after I placed the order. I called up and tales to these guys to tell them how much I appreciate their service and they told me that they are a small company of only 2-3 employees at one time and constantly monitor their orders which is why they ship so fast. Can't say enough good about them, really great company!!!