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Post by Lonewolf on Nov 30, 2015 16:02:42 GMT -8
Everything of mine is from within the decade, if not the past five years. As HSF said, we still have old gear but that doesn't mean we still use it. It's rather hard to get rid of things even when one knows it won't ever get used again. I still have an old caving helmet I picked up when I started caving at 13 although I quit caving in my late 20s, some 30 years ago.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Dec 1, 2015 20:31:31 GMT -8
I have quite a few bits of gear (mostly clothes) that have passed 20 years that still get regular dayhiking use and sometimes even make the cut for a backpacking trip. I just replaced a 20 year-old Fisher Space Pen whose barrel cracked. I had carried it on all my trips. Mrs. big_load's Thermarest is 20 years old and is still her only sleeping pad. Her Space Pen is still in good shape.
I have a few bits of truly vintage gear that I've taken out a few times, such as a knife my Grandfather bought in the 30s or 40s and some ragg wool mittens I bought in 1972. I wish I still had the leather shells I wore over them. My XC skis (still my only pair) are from 1974. The tips on the poles gave out long ago, as did my original boots, but the skis are going strong.
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Post by kev138 on Dec 2, 2015 1:58:27 GMT -8
My pots are probably pushing 25 years old now. The copper is coming off the bottom and the handles have lost most of the insulation. Still have the origional stuff sack though. I also still have a compass i bought on the same day. Next oldest are two plastic canteens bought about the same time ( i know bpa ).
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amaruq
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Post by amaruq on Dec 2, 2015 5:45:31 GMT -8
Sounds like one day I, too, may have some well worn and storied gear adorning my gear shelf.
Now that I think about it, my hiking buddy has a decades-old H. Youth styled Robert Klaas Kissing Crane knife he found on the trail last year.
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Post by hikerchick395 on Dec 7, 2015 10:06:50 GMT -8
I believe that my oldest piece of gear is a Frostline down jacket with (the newfangled Velcro) removable sleeves. I put on custom yolks with embroidery on them. I still use it. circa 1975 and I have another kit to sew some day.
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Post by hikerjer on Dec 9, 2015 18:45:03 GMT -8
Wow, Frostline kits. Man, you're dating yourself.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Dec 11, 2015 22:34:21 GMT -8
I wore out the old Frostline bike bags years ago. I believe my brothers also made a tent (okay,with a lot of help from Mom). I have some fuzzy memory of her doing a down jacket, too--remember the down was a pain. I have no idea what became of that, if it existed. My brother kept the tent, and for all I know it's still in his garage.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Dec 12, 2015 10:06:58 GMT -8
It just occurred to me that my sleeping bag is approaching respectable age. It's 13 years old now, and looks like it will last indefinitely. I think occasionally of getting a lighter bag for alpine summers, but it never seems worthwhile.
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rangewalker
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Post by rangewalker on Dec 16, 2015 20:48:45 GMT -8
Most of the responders have major components still around. I don't. A lot of my shed went to family, friends, and a few GF's to get them started and me to rationalize the purchase of shiny new more etherous gear. I still have three pieces that I purchased in 1970 when I was a senior in HS. They are still in use. One is a snap lid sandwich box that carries all my various old-school spare batteries, needle-thread, repair tape, fire starters, eye glass kit, P-38 can opener, pencil stub, chalk, note pad, zip ties, safety pins......it always changes. My second is a hygiene bag with micro towel, tooth care, comb, razor?, and others personal cleansing things go in a mesh zippered washing bags our women friends use to wash delicates. Third is a pair of the first coated nylon stuff bags I ever encountered, again 1970. One is still in use though the wp coating long vanished. **** Herters, Minnesota, and Grumpy Old Men (Walter Matthau, Sophia Loren, and Jack Lemon) Everytime I think of Herters, I think of that movie. My father who was a Outdoor Writer (1952-67) tried to interview George Herter in Minneapolis about 1958 from his telling. Herter sold trapping supplies among many things including tons of military surplus. Want a Finnsh 20mm anti-tank gun on skis, George had 'em. Creepy old smelly building that probably reaked of cosmoline and bottles of fox piss, he found George H. torturing and recording a rabbit for a predator calling record he was going to the first on the market with.
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Post by catsquirrel on Dec 23, 2015 19:23:30 GMT -8
I have to chuckle at rebbeccad's comment regarding 80's Whisperlites, because I still use mine. I regularly pare down the ounces with new gear like every good backpacker, but I just can't seem to shake my Whisperlite, from 1986 or so. I've cooked thousands of meals on mine.
I was recently doing an overnite trip along the Wild Azalea Trail in Louisiana and making some sort of noodle/tuna concoction, when a college aged couple hiked up and the girl looked at my stove and said, "What on earth is THAT!?" meaning the stove. Really nice kids, they didn't have any clue that there was anything besides a JetBoil system. LOL
Still have my old Moonstone 20 degree bag circa 1986. I still break it out occasionally for car camping.
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Post by tipiwalter on Dec 23, 2015 19:50:01 GMT -8
Vintage crap, a time to reminisce . . . My backpacking buddy in his Camp 7 vintage down jacket---scored at a goodwill store. An old cord lock from my old 1978 North Face Tuolumne tent. One of the oldest pieces in my kit---P38 can opener from 1969. The exact kind of water bottle I used to use in 1980. My very first sleeping bag from 1957---Sears I think---with thick canvas shell, stout steel zipper and wonderful deer red flannel. It was designed with a "head roof" and could be configured like this---(but no one ever did it)---
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Post by Coolkat on Dec 24, 2015 4:36:41 GMT -8
One of the oldest pieces in my kit---P38 can opener from 1969. I carry one of this with me but I don't know why since I never take any cans on my hikes. I guess I figured it might help with something sometime along the way & weighs virtually nothing.
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