Your Oldest Piece Of Gear?

[fishmonger]

reading the last post and the word "spaced" it came to me - I still use one of those "space" blankets I bought about 25 years ago for emergencies. I never go out without these and have actually used two of them over the years, but the original one I bought is still in my gear box and has been out on the trail last year. Not much technical progress in the aluminized foil technology since 1980

[Wandering Daisy]

Wow, I think a "retro-hike" would be very educational! We could have like 6 groups, each with the most representative gear of each decade. 1950's would be primarily WWII army surplus, no synthetics, use only fires, tarps, army rucksacks, wool. 1960's gets to add primus stoves and external frame packs. 1970's adds some synthetics, fleece, and now some light weight tents are available. 1980's switch to internal frame packs and cannister stoves. 1990's- here comes the titanium cookware and the UL revolution, light hikers and trail runners vs boots. Somewhere along the line everyone started using trekking poles. 2000's - GPS and other electronic technology added. I bet you would find that everyone still had a great time. That has not changed.

[mokelumnekid]

None of my old stuff- like my original wood frame Trapper Nelson pack-frame, or Army down bag survive largely because I have moved a lot, I used it up, gave it away when better gear arrived or and it wasn't very great stuff to begin with. I do have an early vintage Svea stove still, whose real purpose seemed to be to set the entire Sierra on fire. The thing was a flame thrower...I also still have one of the first generation North Face VE 24 style tents ('82?), although I don't use it except for field work where it is a "storage shed" for stuff.

[cahiker]

The oldest gear I carry into the backcountry is a titanium spork I bought in the late 80's or early 90's. I bought it because it was cheap (in an REI sale bin) and it seemed so ridiculous that anyone would make a spork out of titanium to save weight. Now that I've seen a couple of my companions' plastic Light My Fire utensils snap in half I think I'll stick with titanium.

For car camping I still use a nesting pot set my grandparents had in the 40's and a 2 burner propane Coleman stove my mother bought in the mid-70's. I used a friend's brand new Coleman stove last summer and it didn't boil or cook nearly as quickly.

[quentinc]

Because I am constantly breaking, tearing or losing things, I didn't think I had any piece of gear that was more than a few years old. But then I realized that for some reason I've been carrying the same orange plastic bear whistle for probably 25 years. I've used it precisely once, and almost permanently lost my hearing as a result.

[tim]

A lot of my gear dates back to 1990-91 when I was in college and a group of us went on an expedition to NE Turkey. Most of its still good due to a lack of backpacking once I started work and then had young kids. The Whisperlite Intl is still my go to stove, I still use the large backpack (65L) and my 2 person tent is great for spring or fall conditions. I really do need to finally replace the down sleeping bag this year though.

It's interesting to compare high end gear from 20 years ago to what we use today - there have been quite decent reductions in weight, but it seems to me that has sometimes come at the cost of durability (e.g. Clothing and tents). Technology has also advanced much faster in some areas (stoves and thermarests come to mind) than others (down sleeping bags and backpacks from what I can see).

Which decade would you say brought the biggest leaps forward in technology for different pieces of equipment. I'd guess down bags were before backpacks were before stoves for example. Put another way, what equipment could you still use from the 90s, 80s, 70s or 60s without it impacting your trip too much in terms of weight and comfort?

[oldranger]

Re: Most significant innovations since I started backpacking (late 50s).

1. Backpacks--much more to choose from and much more comfortable.

2. Sleeping Bags, my first down bag, bought with money I saved myself was my first warm bag, lighter than what I previously carried but was still over 5 lbs!

3. Late 60s ensolite pads--first closed cell pads before that I used nothing! (airmattresses were available but unreliable.

Mike

[tim]

Re: Most significant innovations since I started backpacking (late 50s).
...2. Sleeping Bags, my first down bag, bought with money I saved myself was my first warm bag, lighter than what I previously carried but was still over 5 lbs!

How much of this is technology vs affordability? My impression was that Polar explorers 100 years ago had down sleeping bags. Granted they were presumably hand sown and cost a year's wages, but I'm not convinced the technology (as opposed to cost and availability of Chinese down and machine stitching) has fundamentally improved that much.

The cost question is also an interesting one. The decent tent I bought last summer cost half (in actual dollars) what my similar quality tent cost in 1991. On the other hand I think a new down sleeping bag will cost the same in actual dollars as it did 20 years ago. What's come down in actual dollars and what's gone up? Obviously most of these things have got far more affordable in real terms over the decades once inflation/earnings power is taken into account.

[oldranger]

Tim, that first bag in 62 was an Eddie Bauer bag and cost $54. Bauer made a lighter bag but there was something about it I did not like. In 69 I bought a pair of N. Face Unimog bags, I can't remember whether they were $90 apiece or $180 each but $180 is the amount I remember. These bags were about 4 lbs. In the mid 90s I bought a 20° Marmot bag on sale for around $200. Around 2004 bought a pair of REI Sub Kilos for about $150 each. In 2006 I finally got around to buying my WM Alpinlite for whatever and it weighs 1lb 15 oz.

A year or two ago I finally got rid of the Bauer bag even though it still had plenty of loft. My ex got one of the Unimogs. And NF did a free restoration of my remaining unimog (mostly replacing down in the two tubes closest to the head). It is pretty much just a backup bag now. The sub kilos are used primarily by my grandkids. I gave the marmot to my son who almost ruined it by using it while fighting fires. But a gentle washing and rinsing then time tumbling in the dryer with a tennis ball restored it's loft nicely.

New fabrics and high quality down has added to my comfort and lightened my load.

Mike

[freestone]

The Eddie Bauer bag I still have is from 1967. It is a hooded mummy bag, zipper less with a drawstring closure. With today's ratings it would be good to 20 degrees. It was stuffed into a Kelty stuff sack then stapled to the bottom half of a Kelty backpack. There were no backpacking stores in Santa Barbara so we would make a yearly pilgrimage to their Gendale store and drool over the selection of gear and freeze dried food.