Elite Mountain Supplies

Elite Mountain Supplies, technical mountain retailer in Cheltenham

Elite Mountain Supplies is an independent online retailer founded in Gloucestershire in 2010 and dedicated to selling high-quality equipment for trekking, camping, climbing and mountaineering. The company presents itself as a British company, with all its stock and staff in the UK, which allows it to offer fast deliveries and returns and knowledgeable telephone support.

According to its own description, it holds extensive stock in its own UK warehouse and is among the country's largest suppliers of MSR stoves, Thermarest sleeping pads, Petzl ice climbing gear and outdoor stoves and cookware, as well as having the largest stock of MSR snowshoes in the UK. These claims of leadership come from the company's own presentation.

Brands and catalogue

The catalogue is built around leading technical brands. Alongside MSR, Thermarest and Petzl, the company distributes products from Big Agnes, Nordisk and Black Diamond, among others. The main navigation categories are camping and trekking, climbing and winter, as well as an A to Z brand directory.

Among the featured items shown in the shop are the Thermarest NeoAir XTherm NXT Regular insulated sleeping pad, the Nordisk Telemark 2.2 LW ultralight tent, a pack of two Petzl Quark ice axes with pick protectors, the Big Agnes Rapide SL Insulated Regular inflatable sleeping pad, the MSR Hubba Hubba HD two-person backpacking tent and the Thermarest Hyperion 32F/0C sleeping bag. The website indicates that some of these products may be out of stock and offers email notification when they become available again.

Advice and hands-on experience

The company notes that its team spends its free time in the mountains of the UK and Europe, which gives it practical experience and first-hand knowledge of the equipment it sells. Many of the product listings include an editor's comment section, and the company invites customers to get in touch by phone or email to resolve questions or receive advice before buying.

Reviews and track record

Elite Mountain Supplies states that its customers have awarded it the maximum five-star rating on Trustpilot, an independent review platform, and that it has accumulated more than 4,000 five-star reviews. As for its activity volume, the website gives different figures depending on the section: on the home page it mentions more than eighty thousand orders delivered since 2010, while in the about section it refers to more than sixty thousand.

Shipping, returns and customer service

The shop operates with shipping and returns managed from the UK and offers a price match or better service. The customer service phone lines are registered with the UK Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and are intended exclusively for product enquiries, technical support and customer service, not for marketing calls. Its head office is located at the Maida Vale Business Centre in Cheltenham, although the company warns that returns should not be sent to that address because they cannot be processed there.

Location and contact

Maida Vale Business Centre, Mead Road, Cheltenham, GL53 7ER, United Kingdom