Wow! What a great shop and so helpful. I got out of work late and called Jake ahead for our chain rental. We needed to rent chains for our visit to Mount Rainier National Park and would get to Ashford after they close at five. Jake was more than accommodating arranged everything, sent us pictures where to pick up the chains and was cheerful about everything and gave us great tips on the park. Highly recommend this Shop. They have a run cafe, rental and retail with local guides too. We'll be back. read more

When traveling to Mt Rainier National Park be sure to stop by Whittaker Mountaineering for gear and tire accessories to rent. If it's a peak tourist season you may want to reserve the your gear prior to arrival due too supply shortage. The web is extremely user friendly, and provides a lot of details which is helpful for first time visitors. I also really appreciate fair rates, for reference our tire chain rental daily rate was $27. read more

Great home base / base camp for Mt. Rainier. Clothes, equipment, food, drinks and well informed, helpful staff. read more

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I mistakenly purchased a pair of used boots. The price was fair so I would have been fine to keep them excited they have fire damage leaving rough area inside the boot. They also run a bit small. I emailed the company and was told no refunds. Seems silly to burn a customer over $100 which I'm sure means a lot less to them then it does to me. Disappointing. read more

We stopped in here on our way up to Mt. Rainier. I am so glad we did! They sell a lot of quality outdoor gear and products, and they rent lots of things that you might need when visiting Mt. Rainier (including chains). The customer service was excellent too. read more

I ordered a headlamp through Whittaker Mountaineeering. It arrived promply over the weekend. I thought they had sent me the wrong product (It was totally my mistake). I wrote an e-mail regarding my issue, on Monday. when they did not respond over the next two days I was a bit concerned. Well, turns out they are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday so they can serve customers on the weekend. On Thursday they sent an e-mail and on Friday they called me to make sure they had addressed my issue. Considering that the problem was my error, and that I was not as nice as I could be, they were fantastic. They made sure to address my concerns thoroughly and with grace. I would highly recommend them--a small shop that cares. read more

Service was outstanding; Selection - they had the chain size I needed to get up to Paradise (Mt. Rainier). Value - Good. The young men that were working the Sunday afternoon we needed their assistance were extremely courteous, polite and helpful. Thanks Ezra and Oliver - you two make added to a wonderful Sunday afternoon drive! read more

Asides from being a long drive (from anywhere)...quality place. I wish they had more mountaineering and camping gear, but what they do have is high quality. Service was fantastic ~ happy, helpful, patient and thorough. Recommended not only gear from other stores, but how to take advantage of discounts as well as recommendations for hikes based on my ability and interests. I will be back. read more

Literally had a line of six people there waiting to purchase goods. Hours say 7am on the website. Nothing on the doors otherwise. Very unprofessional especially when there aren't other stores around. Very disappointing. read more

I just purchased some La Sportiva mountaineering boots on-line from Whittaker Mountaineering. I was a little uneasy doing so as these boots are very expensive. Unfortunately I could not find any in my size anywhere around Seattle. The customer service at Whittaker was amazing. I called them numerous times with questions before and after I bought my boots. Thank you Laura for all of your knowledge and help! Really appreciate your patience. read more

Be aware: This place will threat you if don't want to write down your credit card number and expiration date! Tire chain is a requirement by the park so many of us have a rent it from somewhere. This place is the closest to the park so I went there to rent tire chain. Surprisingly they asked me t write down my credit card number and expiration date on paper and that information is not encrypted or protected whatsoever. I was hesitant about what I should do. And the guy wearing glasses started to threat me: Yu have 2 options, write down the credit card number or we won't rent to you. I was really shocked by how rude this guy was and I don't have other options at that point. So I left my information. But seriously, treat your customer with some respect! And writing down credit card number and expiration date is so not safe. read more

These guys really know their stuff when it comes to all things outdoors. Jeremy was especially helpful in navigating the merchandise as well as providing accompanying Bigfoot tales. I rented a pair of hiking boots that worked out perfectly for the remainder of the trip and my pocket book. This was a great alternative to an expensive pair of boots that I wasn't sure I'd use in the near future. Thanks Whittaker team for making my Mt. Rainier experience that much better! read more

To go to Mt Rainier National park during the winter you MUST have chains in your car (they don't need to be on your wheels, just in the car). We found out that we could rent chains at Whittaker Mountaineering so off we went. Simple, straight forward process..... but the real treat for our kids was the outdoor bouldering wall. Perfect treat after a long car ride! read more

They had everything I needed for a successful Mt Rainier summit. Very good quality equipment and the kid fitting us was very helpful. I would recommend using them again and they have a drop box so you can drop the stuff off after they close. Overall I had an excellent experience and highly recommend them. read more

I bought Mammoth Mamook boots from them used a few years back, sight unseen. They arrived in 85-90% condition and I've worn them now for four years. I had to rinse them with hot water to clean out the pores of the goretex but otherwise they only had one tiny crampon scar and that is it. I stopped in on our way to our 2nd and 4th Rainier climbs and the staff were really helpful, the pizza was great, the beer was deluxe and we watched the US Women win the World Cup on their TV with some of the guides and staff. One year we stayed at the bunkhouse and it was exactly what we needed, just hot upstairs (it WAS August after all). We flirted with some of the cute staff and had a great time. I highly recommend. read more

Bought some USED La Sportiva EVO mountaineering boots from Whittaker Mountaineering. They were $275, retail is $510 so a good saving. The boots were HAMMERED! I wouldn't even rent these boots from them. I have bought lots of used mountaineering gear from fellow climbers over the years and never had a bad experience until now. They clearly made no attempt to even wipe the dust and grime of the boots before they crammed them in an odd sized box and shipped them. There was still dirt on the soles! I wouldn't expect that buying a used pair of boots from a well known mountaineering store would mean the boots require a tube of shoe goo to fix!!!! Very disappointing with Whittiker for over charging for a worn out beat down product that should of been trashed. I guess they just needed the extra $275. read more

This describes only the rental portion of the company. We were disgusted with both how we were treated, the policies they have in place, and the overall sloppy service we got. For starters, the general employees we worked with were polite and helpful, but not overly knowledgeable. The manager, Nate, however, was patronizing, belittling of our guide and us specifically, brusk to the point of rudeness both with us and other customers I saw him interact with, and downright wrong in a few ways. Firstly, his communication was atrocious regarding a credit we were hoping to take advantage of, and the amount of the credit we were supposed to be able to use was over $500, but somehow Nate decided it was only half that. He clearly didn't read my emails completely, making strange statements and missing information that I had said. He also tried to double bill me for all of our gear when my girlfriend had already paid for her half, without so much as an apology when I pointed out the mistake. The gear quality is adequate, but their gear selection has wild variations. My sleeping bag was rated to -30, my girlfriend's to +15. They gave us incorrect sizes from what we ordered (simple things such as asking for large gloves and getting mediums) and completely forgot to add in items we ordered, being boots and crampons. The gopro I was given had a clearly broken mount. Nate took it back, and showed me that it can be attached backwards to improve hood clearance over my helmet. I said that was neat, as it also served to keep the gopro from falling out should the mounting tabs break again. He gruffly replied "it's not going to break" with a patronizing tone. Excuse me, you just took one that DID break and wouldn't stay seated into the helmet mount out of my hands, and that's ignoring the fact that I was given this broken one in the first place. They do not supply so much as a charger for the gopro, and it does not use an overly common type of USB charger. If I hadn't brought a charger, I would have ran out of battery long before I'd exhausted the SD cards I brought. No instructions come with it either, neither verbal nor written, if we had picked up our gear on the way to the mountain, I'd have been lost on how it worked. We were belittled for only renting one ice axe apiece, and implied that our experienced guide did not know what he was doing when he told us one axe was enough, asking if our guide was up to date on the route, when he had just gotten an update from other guides and called me to inform me that our route was going to be slightly altered not two hours prior to our arrival at Whittaker. Their prices are about what you can expect, though the actual billing procedures and explanation of what things actually cost is poorly explained, they do not gives you a paper copy of anything you sign, and their website has no mention of their cancellation policies, which has made filing a claim with travel insurance a headache. Unfortunately, a few hours prior to our initial climb, my girlfriend fell violently ill, and we were forced to cancel. I took a team member down to the mountain and returned all the whittaker gear the instant their doors opened for business that morning. I was told that Nate would look at our circumstances regarding a possible refund or credit, but their policy is 0% refund within 7 days of the climb. This strikes me as odd, and Nate's email was both rude, patronizing, and full of illogical nonsense comparing our situation to someone who had to turn back, over us, who returned the gear, completely clean and unworn, before our trip even began. They can keep 100% of our money for a 5 day climb when they now have all that gear, clean and ready to rent again immediately to the next person who walks in for all 5 days that we had paid them for usage of? I call nonsense, regardless of the validity of the cancellation policy that I signed, so while I may be fine with not getting a credit, all it served to do, for Whittaker, was piss me off just that little bit more, when it could have become a small credit as a show of good faith that would have kept me as a customer next year, in the long run, making them more money. All I can say for sure is that while there were forgivable quirks with our experience and the basic staff in the rentals department, Nate specifically burned all bridges with us and future clients of our guide. I would urge anyone who wants to rent mountaineering gear, to just pass these abject jerks up and rent from REI and/or feathered friends in downtown Seattle. I expect to be treated and spoken to like an adult when I am polite and respectful to you as well, and I should point out that I was exceedingly polite and understanding of all their mistakes and Nate's disgusting behavior, I was professional and helpful in any ways I could, and was still treated so badly. I'm amazed someone as unprofessional as Nate managed to become management of this otherwise very highly regarded business. read more