<hoyahoyaman@gmail.com> wrote in message > Hi, im going to be living in france for a few months, and i was > wondering if anyone knew whether moutaineering gear is cheaper over > there in europe. Im mostly wondering about technical shells n' stuff. > Anybody know? If you're paying in dollars, not bloody likely. You can thank W for that. - Lord Slime

"Brian in SLC" > When you head over, check around, then post an update here on what you > find! Or you can just surf the web. Use the dealer locator from various manf. websites. There are hundreds of euro shops online. xe.com has exchange rates. Some stuff is cheaper, some more expensive. Shipping costs usually kill the deal, but actually being there might be different. You may not have to pay GST (or whatever..) but if you do, you can often get it refunded at the airport when you leave. GST makes the gear look a lot more expensive as well. If in France, you'll definitely find euro brands that are cheaper and will really help your "look" at the ski resorts with those brand names nobody can pronounce and the often flashy colors, but they are often "get what you pay for" in terms of comparable cost-quality with stuff you see in the US. - N

In article <1189469669.821187.279020@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com>, <hoyahoyaman@gmail.com> wrote: >Hi, im going to be living in france for a few months, and i was >wondering if anyone knew whether moutaineering gear is cheaper over >there in europe. Im mostly wondering about technical shells n' stuff. Are you going to be working? Do you mean clothing? I've seen the buying power of the dollar to the Euro flip from one side to the other. I wish I had bought 10,000 Euros when they first came out. In general, leisure goods like climbing gear will be close in cost to here. You had best visit factories and some of the newly emerging factory outlets. I did go by the Stubai plant in Austria near Innsbruck. I've gone by the Victorinox factory a couple of times. There are surplus stores. Some of the stuff is usable. You will have more competition to buy cheap stuff than the US. --