Your oldest kit?

Eyegor

05/01/2007 at 20:08

Recently replacing my ageing headtorch got me thinking...what's the oldest piece of gear that you still use? And no, 'my legs' is not acceptable!

Mine would be a toss-up between my Berghaus Red Point rucksack (burst seams are surely only a matter of time) and my Raichle Muerren Ecosse boots (re-soled once). Both items are, I reckon, around 22 years old.

Edited: 05/01/2007 at 20:10

Ben Bloggs

05/01/2007 at 20:10

Er... Probably my HH baselayer bottoms. 6 years old.

05/01/2007 at 20:17

My compass used to belong to my dad, who informs me he purchased it when he joined the local mountain rescue team... which I think was around 1972-73.

I hardly ever use it, but it's always one of the first things to go into my pack.

Guy...

05/01/2007 at 20:55

gosh top of my head probably the survival bag and map case I got from my dad, but probably other stuff as well

Mike.Knipe

05/01/2007 at 21:06

I think I have a very very old whistle. Never been used. Must dig it out and see if it works. It has a fine collection of what appears to be belly button fluff inside it.....

Paddy Dillon

05/01/2007 at 21:54

Probably the ice axe I bought in 1975 from the Climbers Shop in Ambleside. It's got a hickory shaft and is steel at the business ends. Can't quite convince myself I need one of those short multi-coloured alloy things.

Mike M

05/01/2007 at 22:23

my silva compass, now pushing 21 years old. Probably not that accurate any more, but then neither am I!

Mal Mawr

06/01/2007 at 01:09

My Angora OG shirt from mob days. Itchy to start off with but superbly warm. Noticed a couple of small (moth?) holes when I dug it out last week. I almost cried, I've had it since 1972.
:0(

Hugh Westacott

06/01/2007 at 02:14

I have a Lightning jacket and overtrousers which I believe are the very first Gore-Tex waterproofs made by Berghaus. They have welded seams and must date from the early eighties.

I also have a Camp Trails pack frame (the sack disintegrated long ago) which I occasionally use to carry awkward loads. The wind singing through the frame recalls happy days backpacking with my first really comfortable rucksack.

I still have, and use, one of the first Jetpacker tents which was recently refurbished with a new groundsheet. Among other tents that I acquired for testing during my brief spell as 'the Great Outdoors' gear correspondent, are several Ultimate tents including two Peapods, one of which is made from Gore-Tex, and a Tramp. All these must date from the early eighties. I use the Tramp when I backpack with my son.

I have a pair of Scarpa Bronzos in excellent condition which I sometimes use with crampons; these, too, probably date from the eighties.

I also have an Alp stove which still works. It is comparable in weight with some of the lightest butane stoves available today. I think it must date from the late seventies.

I collect old footpath guides and have some of Walker Miles (pseudonym of Edmund Seyfang Taylor) exquisite little volumes that date from the end of the nineteenth century and which foreshadow Wainwright.

I also have an eccentric little volume entitled 'Tramp Camping', published in 1927, which is an early example of a book on practical backpacking.

And I inherited from my father a collection of the 3rd edition OS one-inch to the mile maps printed on linen.

Edited: 06/01/2007 at 02:22

Imperial Dave

06/01/2007 at 10:13

my trangia

25 years young and still works in a hurricane

Sam Harney

06/01/2007 at 16:11

My Karrimor 'hot ice' rucksack. Got it second hand in 1986 and have used it on virtually every fell walk since. I've yet to find a more comfortable pack.

Mountain Cat

06/01/2007 at 16:49

It used to be my orange Vango Force 10 tent - canvas, 35-40 years old (unsure of exact age) and weighed about 7 tonnes! The smell of a canvas tent is so evocative...

It only got used for car camping, but unfortunately had to be retired this summer. We almost felt like holding a memorial service!

Edited: 06/01/2007 at 16:49

Cameron Scott 3

06/01/2007 at 17:31

I've got a Trangia Stove that's still good after twenty-odd years. Also still got Dachstein mitts, a Laprade ice axe and a wife from the same era. However, my favourite is the SMC district guide to the Southern Uplands of Scotland complete with black and white pictures that look like they were taken in the 50's.

Simon Parkes

06/01/2007 at 17:39

I bought a down sleeping bag in 1974. It was the bee's knees at the time and broke the bank. I used it this summer when I got back into wild camping. Perfectly functional. However, using it at 3000 feet in September revealed its limitations - it had spent nearly 30 years in a stuff sack and the down had suffered - so has since been replaced.

Cruxster Man

06/01/2007 at 18:09

It's got to be a photo finish between my 23 year old swiss army knife (Was a birthday present when it was acceptable to give a 10 year old a Knife) and my merino wool balaclava (yes an original before the techno fibre guys realised!!!)which i do believe is slightly older.

footloose

06/01/2007 at 18:53

My gran,
bought me my first rucksack with external frame in 1963 still got it.leather straps need softening.

CHRI5

06/01/2007 at 20:23

I think mine is my macpac minaret which i bought second hand a few years ago, not sure of the date but the logo looks a bit dated... and its YELLOW!

Here are some pics, outside , and the logo.

Loads of other bits at home but they don't really count as my dad uses them every now and again!

<Pictures added>

Edited: 06/01/2007 at 20:32

Eyegor

06/01/2007 at 20:26

@ Mountain Cat...heh, that reminds me of the first tent I used. An old army issue green canvas thing which buttoned, yes buttoned, along the top ridge. The thing was only waterproof by virtue of being an inch-and-a-half thick! Groundsheet? Hah, it laughed in the face of such a notion.

Edited: 06/01/2007 at 20:30

TheRaceFace

06/01/2007 at 20:59

My Petzl Duo head torch is about 12 years old and still on both original bulbs...must get out more often. Got a purple Buffalo Pertex also from around the same time.

I also have an old army ammo box full of useful stuff stashed near a mid-welsh bothy that I've had since I was a 12 year old kid (1982). Does that count ?

Anthony Dyer

06/01/2007 at 21:07

In active regular use, my Ice Axe, Crampons, Petzl Zoom headtorch, silva compass and fleece hat are all about 8-10 years old.

For occasional use, my Wild Country Quasar tent sees occasional use whenever I go car camping. That's 12 years old now, with quite a crispy flysheet.

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