What's the oldest piece of gear you own and still use?

[TomD]

Old Gear

Let's see, I've got an old Svea 123 in the Sigg Tourist cookkit (stacks up on top of the windscreen), not sure what vintage; mid 80's XGK; old Victorinox Swiss Army knife from the mid 80's; TNF Cat's Meow bag; Asolo boots-all stuff I bought for a trip to NZ. I still have an old Pendelton wool shirt I wore in junior high school-looks like new.

 

[John H Swanson]

My optimus 8R stove from 1978
My Kelty Keowah pack from 1979 - small (2700 cu in), light (4lbs), still comfortable to me, and very much in synch with current backpacking needs.
Oh, and the gripper from my SIGG tourister cook kit.

 

[Oldsmores]

You guys are nuts. I threw out all my old crap and upgraded!!!!! The new stuff is lighter, warmer and overall better!!! ...

blah, blah, blah. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ounces don't make that big a difference in the long run...

 

[dudley]

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

Old New England saying

 

[jbrown]

You guys are nuts. I threw out all my old crap and upgraded!!!!!

Hmmm...let's see...$12 pack that still works just fine, or $200 pack that's more than half a car payment...

Seriously, not everyone can afford to upgrade. I don't have a single piece of gear that cost more than $50 aside from my coat that was a gift. Believe me, if I had the income to cover the cost of all new gear, I'd be totally tricked out. (I'd still keep the old gear, though. Some of it has sentimental value now.)

 

[Grumpy]

Hmmm...let's see...$12 pack that still works just fine, or $200 pack that's more than half a car payment...

Seriously, not everyone can afford to upgrade. I don't have a single piece of gear that cost more than $50 aside from my coat that was a gift. Believe me, if I had the income to cover the cost of all new gear, I'd be totally tricked out. (I'd still keep the old gear, though. Some of it has sentimental value now.)

Look, I have an Adirondack pack basket that is 50 years old and still very serviceable. But as far as practicality for hiking goes, it's really just a quaint artifact that is a lot of fun to trot out at hiker conflabs, especially when ultru-geek gearheads enamored with whatever is the latest thing are there. It was replaced first by a more efficient wood packframe that I made myself, and later by a Kelty frame and bag rigged with a suspension system that really made load-carrying a lot easier and more comfortable. I upgraded to the Kelty at the first moment I felt financially able to do it, after I'd been hiking semi-seriously as an adult for 10 years.

My 35-year old Alpine Designs Euro-style rucksack is a classic, and I love the simple, straighforward and very functional design of the pack bag. But it's suspension, even with the aluminum backstays installed, is such that all the weight hangs off my shoulders, which as I aged became less and less acceptable. So I upgraded to packs with better (more modern) suspension systems, even while gasping at the cost. I decided my comfort probably was worth more to me than my money, and that has turned out to be a good decision (for me).

Point is, some old gear is very good stuff, even today. Some, though, is not especially "functional" by today's standards. Items in the latter class are prime candidates for replacement if you will use them to any extent, and in that case usually are worth the cost. That's my philosophy. By the way, I still "save up" for gear changes and purchases, just like I did as a kid and younger adult. It's part of the fun.

G.

 

[mudhook51]

A 1960's era boyscout compass that now points south, for return trips. A down parka, one of the first imports from China, right after Nixon started playing pingpong with the "reds" in the early 70's. The zipper was reversed,and had some other minor fashion flaws. I still use it for backup.

 

[Quietman]

Almost all of my gear would classify as antiques. 27 year old Marmot internal frame pack is still used on overnights. 20 year old LL Bean dome tent is heavy at 8 lbs but still holds 3 adults in a pinch. Still have my 1st hammock from my years at Killington Adventure teen camp, almost 30 years ago. 25 year old EMS candle lanterns, 20 year old EMS poncho, 25 year old Nike Lava Dome shoes(still fit!). I can't afford new gear and the old stuff still works great!

 

[Neil]

"I don't care how much I got to spend"
- The Boxtops

I compare my gear expenditures to what high end car, snowmobliers, fishermen and hunters must spend on their hobbeys. This makes me realize how cheap hiking is. You can deck yourself out in the latest and the bestest for the cost of a set of tires on some fancy vehicle or a new prop on a Cessna. Therefore, all my woolen stuff (wool knickers ) , wooden snowshoes, barrel stave skis with beartrap bindings, 60-40 windbreakers and god knows what else has been given to the Salvation Army long ago. Nowadays it's all syl-nylon, pac-lite Goretex and Gps technology for this aging boomer.

 

[pks4000]

My Silva compass, still pointing to magnetic north.

 

[John H Swanson]

"I don't care how much I got to spend"
- The Boxtops

I compare my gear expenditures to what high end car, snowmobliers, fishermen and hunters must spend on their hobbeys. This makes me realize how cheap hiking is. You can deck yourself out in the latest and the bestest for the cost of a set of tires on some fancy vehicle or a new prop on a Cessna. Therefore, all my woolen stuff (wool knickers ) , wooden snowshoes, barrel stave skis with beartrap bindings, 60-40 windbreakers and god knows what else has been given to the Salvation Army long ago. Nowadays it's all syl-nylon, pac-lite Goretex and Gps technology for this aging boomer.

I have a simliar attitude. When you hike 80 days per year, there is no reason to save pennies on gear expenditures. But note that new and high tech, for me, does not always mean better. I evaluate each new piece of gear vs. old gear and in many cases I find the old gear better. It's a balance. That's why I buy old design Sherpas off e-bay and still use my old optimus stove. But my daypack is a custom Mchale and my winter shells are Schoeler fabric. I like the balance and it's especially fun when my old stuff out performs someone else's new stufff in the field.

 

[jjmcgo]

A P-38

http://www.georgia-outfitters.com/images/p38add.jpg
can opener from WWII, an LL Bean Norwegian wool sweater from the 1960s and an old pack with no label that I keep returning to.
I have some knee braces from the early 70s that might have prevented turning back on Gale River Trail and Tuckerman Ravine trail.
Actually, my right knee is my oldest and most-worn out thing I take hiking.

 

[Oldsmores]

http://www.georgia-outfitters.com/images/p38add.jpg
can opener from WWII...

Had to crack a smile at that one I actually also have a P-38 that I carry for some reason - not sure why, since I haven't taken any food in a can in many, many years. But it doesn't weigh anything and it sits in the bottom of one of my pack's pockets just in case...

 

[Motabobo]

It may sound funny but I carry (3 seasons) a rubber (yes rubber) sleeping mat from 1974...I can inflate the mat making air bubbles in a sac then pushing it throught the mat (hard to explain but kinda like Exped pads...)

that's actually 6 years before I was even born. Does that make the cut ?

 

[Mattl]

I have a swiss sterno stove that my grandfather had in 1940ish or older! I use it everytime I go and it has never let me down in 10 years. I refuse to let it go, they dont make things like this anymore. -Mattl

 

[sweeper]

Yo Neil if hiking was my only outlet I could see having the latest and greatest. I won't go out and buy a Lie-Nielsen handplane for my ww'n either.
I have an old military WWII Coleman stove that I've had since the mid 70's I take it out on overnights. Way too heavy for anything more then that. It's a great stove and always works.

 

[hogabum]

Sierra Designs #100 Sleepin Bag

I saved and saved and saved and bought this bag in 1972 and still use it today.

 

[dvbl]

"I don't care how much I got to spend"
- The Boxtops

I compare my gear expenditures to what high end car, snowmobliers, fishermen and hunters must spend on their hobbeys. This makes me realize how cheap hiking is...

Right on! Well put.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I didn't start hiking on a steady basis until 1995 so my stuff is relatively new.

OTOH - when we moved from VT to CA last summer, my wife pointed I still had clothes I'd worn in college in the 60's, and she refused to pack them. So, I had to donate a perfectly good pair of plaid bell bottoms to Good Will, among with other quite serviceable items that might come back in style some day. Broke my heart...

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I compare my gear expenditures to what high end car, snowmobliers, fishermen and hunters must spend on their hobbeys. This makes me realize how cheap hiking is.

I do the same with all kinds of things. I commute by bicycle.. save lots of money on gas and parking... XC ski instead of downhill.. save money there..I rarely stay in motels and such hiking, usually sleeping in my car...

I'm RICH with all the money I save.... But it goes further...

I don't have a $100/day cocaine habit. Look at how much I save there? I don't have a gambling problem!

heck, I'm saving more money than I make!!! Do you BELEIVE it? I'm rolling in it!!!

So how come I'm cheap with my gear, using my old stuff, repairing things rather than replacing, putting off new purchases until next year (year after year)

Somehow, the math just doesn't work out.