The Backcountry

Thank you a bike store that is not telling you their opinion on everything. Great customer service and pricing is good too. Has that good feel when you walk in. My new favorite bike shop

Nice shop right across Squaw, nice and knowledgeable folks (Travis). Great deals, especially at the end of season.
Next to Olympic boot fitters if you get your boots there.

These guys rock got me set up on a jones split board with all the goodies, they knew They’re stuff, thanks mike, Collin, chai and brooks,
Thanks
Killlllllller Bee

Just bought a new kona process 153dl here… lifetime service is super rad, guys are very knowledgeable and super friendly…

Came in for used skis and boots and got hooked up with great used gear at an excelent price. Great selection and wonderful customer service Poppy, who went above and beyond the call of duty.

Bad customer service! No love for the Locals! I went in to purchase a ski pack & after making a quick decision (without any employee in the store offering me advice) I grabbed a $ 200 pack & a new camelback bladder. As I was checking out I asked if they offered a «local discount». The guy proceeded to give me a hard time asking for 10 years of my tax returns & blaming me of NOT supporting the local economy.
What was I doing in the store then? I could have easily gone to Back​coun​try​.COM to get the same pack for far less than the 10% locals discount most retailers offer. I have been shopping and «supporting» local stores for 15 years in Tahoe & NEVER have I received such backlash for asking that question.
The irony of it all is you can get 10% off all MSRP for joining «Mikes club».
Customer service is not their strong point, yet it is the ONLY reason I go into a store & NOT online.
They just lost a local…
I will never step foot in there again!

I spoke to several different people on Sunday evening about renting ski boots for the rest of the season. Started off well, stating that they would rent them out the rest of the season, and after speaking to Darren on the phone about it, he assured me that it would be fine. Fast forward to today, I called to make sure that it was still a possibility, and they told first off, they don’t rent out season boots anymore, even though I was rest assured it was a possibility and that I didn’t need to have it in writing. Being slightly upset, I then proceeded to tell them what they had said 2 days prior, and then was told they don’t rent out ski boots to anyone. I’m not discrediting the quality of their store, as I have never used any of their equipment, but I would go as far as saying that their employees are not well informed of their polices, and very rude to add to that. I will not be stopping by their store any time soon.

I’m glad these guys are here, they’re one of the last mountain shops around, and I really want to give them 5-​stars, but I can’t…
Online retailing is killing these businesses, so what are the reasons we should spend more money to shop here? Knowledge. A Gear Selection. Value in the form of Service, that you do not get online.
This shop does well on the first two — they know their stuff, they have great gear, it’s nice to have them around. On the last, not so much. Here’s my issue: If one should buy a full retail ski setup, and the shop offers to mount the bindings, wax the skis, and cut the skins — well, that’s the VALUE you get for paying full retail at a Brick N’ Mortar shop. But then… it turns out that the ski mounting and waxing skin cutting is an EXTRA $ 80? And a surprise — we didn’t know it was a charge until we had already paid. Really? I’ve never been charged *extra* for service like that when buying skis. I can do (and have done) *all* of those things myself!
They also (surprise) added a few extra items (more than $ 100) that maybe we needed, maybe we don’t, which is kind of weird to learn about at the cash register. I’m inclined to let that slide… but also strange.
So… weird. Yea, we got some good advice and bought a pair of good skis for someone who is newish to backcountry skiing. But here’s the thing: at least TWO more people (including me) are really, really close to also buying a new pair of skis and bindings and skins. But this kind of service? Kind of makes us more inclined to shop elsewhere.
Sorry guys — if you want to stay in business, don’t engage in weird behavior that reeks of an inexperienced friend getting taken advantage of. Word gets around. You, as a brick and mortar retailer, have got to ADD VALUE somewhere, especially on low marginal cost things, like basic ski setup.

Real Tahoe guys and gals do really high quality work here. I’m glad to get my skis serviced here and stoked to see they expanded into Squaw Valley. Thanks guys

Unfortunately, this place has some of the worst customer service I have ever encountered. I went in here in the summer to buy a bike and left and I thought I would try to go in the winter again. I went in yesterday looking for youth snowboard rental equipment. They post all over Craigslist so I figured they would be more than eager to earn my business. I am somewhat uneducated about youth snow equipment as this is my first child. The guy from the repair dept that I spoke with basically made me dumb for not knowing all the terminology and laughed at me with his coworkers on my way out. I will not be back. I went to a few others shop in the area shortly after and have nothing but good things to say! Good luck Backcountry!

We have rented snowboard gear and also bikes. Easy, quick and personable service, with decent local rates. When we rented the bikes the guy was really helpful and informative about the trail we were going on, and helped get our little guy on a bike with «hand brakes» which was new to him. We will definitely continue to use them.

Love the personal touch of the independent sports store. They specialize in mountain sports and that is just the kind of selection and focus I was needing. I didn’t have to wade through a bunch of commercial stuff to get the books, gear and information to put me on the trail. And the staff were accessible and friendly.

Over the years I’ve bought Tele, AT and Avy gear here. Several used back packs; Bought and sold consignment gear and clothing, too. Mike and Daron and everyone that works there are always helpful, super knowledgeable and friendly. I recommend them to friends often.
They’re right in town on Donner Pass road and with the recent jump in popularity of back country activities they are often slammed. The rental department is always flowing. I go in mid week and off season for the best service.
The Backcountry is independently owned and if you want soulful shops like this to stay open buy local. They don’t compete with the online giants.

Great people, great service.

Yet again, another issue with consigned skis. Their bookkeeping stinks along with their integrity.
If you want to consign something, this is not the only place in town. But if you want to donate, do it here or better yet, a worthy cause, and goodwill or something similar is right across the street

I walked in the wrong door and when I noticed I was in the tune up area, we both laughed. The really nice guy that helped me continued to do so, as if no big deal. Funny thing is, I worked at the very store when it was Truckee Mountain Sports!
Great Customer Service all the way around and their prices are the lowest in town for ski tunes up!
Thanks Guys for good service!

I’ve been in the shop 4 times and 3 of the 4 times I left feeling totally unsatisfied. The staff aren’t attentive and if you don’t speak the lingo, they don’t go out of their way to help. They have good gear there but I just can’t handle the poor customer service when there are many other options around.

I had a great experience with both the owner, Mike, and one of the bike techs/​employees, Josh. We stopped in to check out their selection of full suspension bikes, specifically the Julianas. The place was pretty busy as usual, but we were fortunate enough to get some quality help from Mike who talked to us and showed us a couple different bikes for about a half hour. There was no sales pressure and Mike was able to listen to our needs in a bike and stay in our price range too! After some discussion, he actually order a bike specifically for my girlfriend in her size and color, even though we hadn’t commited to buying it yet. He was very knowledgeable about the bike, its components, the differences between comperable bikes, and was able to make sense of it all for us. No condenseding comments or any «Know-​it-​all» attitude.
Fast forward a week, the bike was in and ready for demo. Josh helped fit the bike and adjust it for my girlfriend, sharing all the adjustments he was making so that we could continue to adjust on the trial if we needed to. He talked us through some of the components that were new to us and we were on our way.
Long story short, she loved the bike and bought it that day. Back at the shop, Josh followed through with the rest of the transaction and we also discussed some modifications to get the perfect fit. Along with the purchase of the brand new bike was the promise of life time service on the bike at no extra cost (within reason of course). Because we haven’t needed any work done yet, I can’t review their quality of service yet. But the shop was great, very inclusive throughout the whole process, and we look forward to catching some store rides with them in the future.
I would definitely recommend this shop over other local shops and shops at the lake.

This place is my go to shop. They have everything you need in one place, including rentals. Their staff is incredibly helpful and knowledgable. And things are priced well. You can always find what you’re looking for.
Don’t forget to go upstairs to the second hand stuff. You can always find a great bargain up there and even though things are second hand, it just shows they have seen some lovin’.
If you’re on your way to Tahoe or just rolling though, stop at Back Country.

Not a bad bike shop. We were waiting to get our bikes and get on the road forrrreeevveeeerrrr though. It took like 20 — 30 minutes to get us 6 bikes. The process should have taken about 10. We were ignored a lot. People weren’t helping us or were kind of incompetent. BUT, they were also friendly, so I’ll give them that. It wasn’t a bad experience… we were just sitting around waiting waaaaayyyyy too much. It took forever to start our ride.
The store is packed with stuff: bikes, skis, etc. Mountain bike rental is $ 10/​hr. The store has clip in pedals available if you have shoes.