Amazing! Service, selection and value. This is quality gear. No joke. If you need gear this is the place to go. Jason and Rick were so helpful outfitting my son for a NOLS Patagonia trip. We literally couldn't have done it without them! Thank you, AMH! read more

Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Anchorage, Alaska

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Our family has gone to AMH for years. We have always had great service, but this week Laura knocked it out of the park. She was kind and helpful in a situation where I felt like I could've been judged. She didn't overwhelm me with facts or talk too quickly about specifics I needed to hear...she just listened really well to me. She got me rental skis that were perfect, even though at the time I thought they wouldn't be wide enough, and I ended up buying exactly the pair that she had recommended. As an older and not incredibly knowledgeable skier, I appreciated the way Laura listened and responded to me. read more

After a few years rambling around Anchorage, I'm upping my stars! The selection here isn't as large as REI (duh) but it's so well-curated as to be vastly superior. What do I mean? Picture two different Instagram/FB feeds: Feed 1: tons of obnoxious memes, posts bragging about hubbies/wives/babies, lots of trite political statements, blurry and pixelated photos of who-knows-what Feed 2: posts filled with value, gorgeous high-res photos suitable for framing, tips and information that add to your quality of life AMH is Feed 2. Again, the key difference between AMH and other outdoor shops is: CURATION. If you want to ogle 67 headlamps and spend 30 minutes deciding which one is the best, this isn't the place for you. This place will show you a handful of the best and explain which one might be objectively most-suited to your needs. Same goes for all their gear: Clothing Climbing BC Skiing It's also a great place to get beta on the mountains, the folks that work here really like to get out! read more

Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking - storefront - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Anchorage, Alaska

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I've been trying to hit all the outdoors stores in town to compare products and prices... by golly it's hard to do because they're all different! They all have their specialties and AM&H is no exception. Their strength is their extremely knowledgable staff... these people are HARDCORE hikers and climbers. AM&H is expensive because they sell the best of the best equipment for sure. Not really a place for novices to shop, enless you plan on wasting $1000 on a sleeping bag because you have no better way to spend your money. (will you be my friend?) I was most impressed by their selection of water purification items, which is one of the items I've been having a hard time nailing down really legit products. I'm glad to know that once I've decided on what I want, a product that WORKS is available right around the corner. Hot diggity I won't die of dehydration in the wilderness! read more

Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Anchorage, Alaska

Very friendly and helpful staff. High end gear at a food price. Nice selection of brands.

I've visited this store on several occasions, with the last time being to purchase a new set of cross country skis. The store was staffed by two young employees, one of which was clearly more knowledgeable about skis than the other. This employee took the time to help me select and fit skis, bindings, and boots. They arranged for everything to be mounted and ready to go in a few days time. I've been very happy with my purchase so far. I have visited in the past looking for certain items, and found that store inventory tends to be heavily seasonal, so don't go looking for winter gear in the summer or vice versa. The parking lot is small and can be full if the store is busy. If so, it's probably better to return on another day as the staff will likely be overwhelmed anyway. The store packs a good selection of quality equipment in a relatively small building. read more

The employees here are extremely rude and standoffish. They don't know how to talk to people and act as if it's a privilege to just enter their store. Do not buy from here, plenty of better quality items elsewhere. Buy from a outdoor gear store who isn't going to try and demean you in public. read more

Shame on AMH. Please take your business elsewhere, especially if you are female and wish to be treated with respect. My experience has been that this is a place who treats anyone (male or female) with a rude demeanor, making you feel less than and frankly, shaming people. Vote with your dollar and shop anywhere else. read more

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I went there looking for climbing gear and didn't have a full and complete understanding of what I needed. I explained to the staff working there what I intended to do with any gear I purchased and he helped me beat understand what I needed to purchase. He helped me find the gear that is best for what I'm trying to do. Everyone there was very friendly and knowledgeable. It was a very pleasurable experience. read more

I was looking for a backpack a few years ago. Naturally, I started at REI. The sales guy at REI was great and told me that I should compare backpacks at AMH across the street, too. So I went over. what a great feeling of customer service. AMH salespeople did the same thing asking, "have you checked at REI?" and "which products did you look at?" they recommended similar ones at their store and the pricing was comparable. Maybe its just in the outdoor-enthusiast community that hard core products can be bought and sold without competition, without mind games. I bought my backpack at AMH because they were not only very interested in getting me the best product, their store just seems to live in the back country, where corporations and money dont matter. I liked it. read more

If I could give this store minus stars, I would. I went in today and while I was in the corner far away from everyone trying on goggles I couldn't breath so I pulled the mask down a little. The staff lady kept looking at me and said out loud acrossed the room "Can you put your mask back on?" everybody in the store was staring at me after they heard that staff lady shamed me out loud. I'm extremely disappointed on how this woman talked to me. Instead of shaming me in front of everyone who was several feet away from me, you could come up to me and ask me nicely like a normal person with good manners. I'm a tourist and with this cold weather, it made my nose stuffed, that's why I couldn't breath through my nose, and I had to pull my mask down so I could freaking breath. read more

I had a great experience here. The inventory seems to be based on what the staff actually use themselves. So while it's not a huge selection, you can be sure you're not going to end up with anything that doesn't pass the real-world test. The second floor is devoted to tents. Staff actually set up the tents with customers so that customers can climb inside to get a feel for them and more importantly so that customers learn how to set the tent up. It's a lot better than cursing at the instruction booklet when you get it home or, god forbid, when you set up camp the first night of your trip. I was impressed when I asked about tents specific to bike touring and one of the staff mentioned REI had one where you could wheel your bike into the tent. How often can you remember being told by a small store about a product available at the competing huge chain store within walking distance? (It turned out the REI store only had the tent available online--as I learned after expending no small amount of energy flagging down a salesperson--but my trip was to start early the next morning.) I had never used a portable stove and the saleslady was extremely helpful, giving me the pros and cons of all my options. I got a demonstration of the stove I was considering when she saw I wasn't clear how it worked. If you just want sporty food and non-mountaineering athletic apparel, well, a larger store like REI has a bigger selection. If you want a helpful staff with a lot of experience and if you want high-quality gear, this is the place to go. read more

Totally awesome mountaineering store. Everyone is very well versed in all the gear. I highly recommend this place. Yeah it's nice buy stuff off Amazon but it's really helpful to buy from a local place that knows exactly how the gear should be used and what works best for apropos weather. read more

I second Colin's review of "Experts + not crap gear = awesomeness". We were going on a long-ish backpacking trip and needed some things we forgot/couldn't bring on a plane (eg: Bear Mace). We have pretty good packs and gear, so what we needed more than anything was insight and advice as we didn't know if/how Alaska trekking might be different from WA/Vancouver BC area/OR. We received a wealth of information from the experts at Alaska Mountaineering, who never acted salesman-y by trying to talk us into buying things we wouldn't actually need. They evaluated our gear and determined that we were all set, answered our questions about Grizzlies (we're only used to black bears down here!), sent us off with bear mace, a map, and excited smiles on our faces. Our trip was more amazing than descriptions and photographs can convey, and it began with a stop at AK Mountaineering, which is going to be the ONLY place we recommend to others and go to the next time we are hiking in the area - and there will definitely be a next time! read more

Awesome local haunt for outdoor activities. I have heard about this store since moving here. I was told it is "the place to go" to be fitted for equipment. This proved to be exactly the case. I am new to skate skiing and a gentleman coined "boss" spent an hour fitting me and even recommended trails throughout Anchorage to ski for beginners. I am even signed up for a class through the Park system thanks to this gentleman. He was highly informative explaining multiple options thoroughly as he went along. He did not push for the high end items. In addition, the attire they carry is fun and diverse especially in the women's department. They carry items that I haven't seen in any other similar store and better prices. They are well staffed and each salesperson seems to be patient, kind and highly informative. Definitely "the place to go"! read more

AMH is the trendy place to go, however, THEY DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS OR WORKMANSHIP. I bought a brand new pair of skate skis, bindings, boots and poles there last year (about $600-$700 worth). About the fifth time out I had a simple fall and tore one of the bindings off the ski. I was not worried about it being replaced since I knew AMH had this great reputation (I even had put one of their stickers on my car). Imagine my surprise when the clerk (the same one that sold me the outfit) told me they would not only not replace the ski and binding but would charge me for a new binding and to re-postion the binding on the other ski (since they couldn't put the one that tore out in the same spot). I was incredulous but chalked it up to the ignorance of the young clerk. Later that day I called the owner, explained the situation and, expecting an apology, I instead got treated to a rant about how he couldn't know what I had done (apparently my word was not any good) and that "anything he sells can be broken". I will never spend another cent at AMH and I retell this story to everyone who will listen. Yes, AMH is more trendy (and has cool stickers for your rocketbox) but REI stands behind their stuff and takes care of their customers. read more

I went in looking for rain-gear for an outback hiking trip. I asked a few questions and soon realized I was actually getting knowledgeable answers. The sales guy had good questions about what I was going to use the gear for, what my expectations were about features, etc. He showed me a range of about 4 jackets of various brands, had me try them on, and wasn't at all pushy. I ended up buying a nice coat and rainpants and they performed very well in the uber rainy conditions of Denali. As I was getting drenched up in the mountains, I had good thoughts about the sales guy who steered me well back in Anchorage. I would definitely recommend this store for excellent service and good products. This was a refreshing change from the larger stores. If I were back in Anchorage again, I would definitely go back to this store again. read more

I really like coming to this store. If I need skis mounted or new socks I usually come here over REI because I like to support local business over chains any day. The staff is always really friendly and knowledgeable on their gear. I like the discount items. Also, the stock doesn't seem any more expensive than REI. read more

I don't think I've ever been disappointed by the staff or products at AMH. They have a smaller selection than REI (duh) but that means that they really only carry the best of the best. This means that they have filtered out a lot of nonsense products so you don't have MORE choices, you just have the BEST choices. The staff can give you the deets in a jiffy and you know that you are getting what you need. This also means that it is a quicker trip because you don't have to sift through a bunch of t-shirts, travel skirts and key chains to get a bombproof pair of ski pants. Perfect. Their prices are reasonable and comparable to anything you will find at REI or other similar retailers. I also really like the building and that the only thing that has changed since my childhood is how worn the floors are - definitely a welcome piece of old-school AK. In response to another reviewer about how they wouldn't replace a binding that he had broken in a fall while skiing: the difference in the return policy between AMH and REI probably isn't that one company "stands behind their products" and the other doesn't. Large stores have contracts with their suppliers that requiring reimbursement for any product for any reason or the large store will stop doing business with them. Small stores cannot require that of their suppliers. In effect it means that small stores have to pay for many things they take back whereas large chains don't. Before you ask a store to pay for your accident, think about how you would feel on the other side of the counter. read more

I want to like this store but never feel comfortable going in. I always get eyes from the staff suggesting I'm not outdoorsy or cool or whatever enough to be in there. That and they never seem to have what I'm looking for.... read more

After a recommendation to try this shop for some specific gear I was looking for I was initially excited about their offer to special order it for me. I decided not to order it online since I prefer to buy local when I can. I was a little disappointed that it would take 2 weeks instead of the 4 days from the mega-online distributor but I patiently waited. Well, after 3 weeks and 4 hikes where my knees sure could have used the item I went by to find out why I hadn't heard from them. It wasn't sent to them and I wasn't notified. The "sorry, we don't usually screw people like this" kind of comments and excuses didn't leave me feeling any better for sacrificing to support the little guy and getting burned for it. Remember, I stopped by because of word-of-mouth.... read more