DanaG,
I remember many moons ago, as a young man, going into the Arcadian Shop, when John Fernsell owned it. At that time, it was located in the small mall in the center of Lenox, where the Pizza House is (or was). My friend, Tommy Sullivan and I used to go X-country skiing up in Kennedy Park. I'm talking about Kennedy Park in the early 70's, when it was ruled by snowmobiles, and it could be life threatening to be on a snowmobile trail with x-c skis. Tommy and I were a lot more agile (and crazier) then, so we use to ski down the wooded hillsides without benefit of a trail. If we didn't run into a tree, we hit something submerged in the snow. Being the days before fiberglass skis, the wooden tips would snap off, making for a long and somewhat arduous hike back to the ArcShop. John would set us up with a new pair of skis, to the tune of $60, and off to the Park we would head, only to snap them again. I recall Tommy and I going through 4 sets of skis in one winter.
I recall setting ski tracks in Kennedy Park with a 1968 Motoski and a track setter that the Ken.Park comm. purchased. The snowmobile was grossly underpowered, but it got the job done. One day i was setting track, it was bitterly cold out, and I didn't have a hat. Larry Lane saw me out there, and gave me the hat off his head. I have and use that hat to this day. It was very high quality and very well made.
Which is what I'm getting at; the A.S. may cost some money, but you know you're getting quality, and most important, you're getting the knowledgable service. Sure, you can find stuff cheaper out there, but when you pay $40 for a sleeping bag, you get a $40 sleeping bag. And when you are using that bag in 10 deg. weather, you wish you had spent more. So support your local outfitters, we need them.
