Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Jan 16, 2010 - 08:30am PT
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My first tent was an Eureka Timberline. My parents bought it for me when I was about 14. Great little tent but heavy. Later in high school I moved up to a North Face Toloume. A frame in the front and a single pole in the back. I remember taking it with me a on a day trip with my girl friend and forgetting the poles!! Fortunately a few branches worked so we got to snuggle while it rained. Could never do that with a VE 24 which while most raved about I thought was a POS. The floor design, six equal sides, was never very good as one always ended up cramped against the sides with three people. Sierra Design's ProDome was a better tent. Easier to set up and better layout. That tent lasted 20 years before I finally sold it. Bought another Sierra Designs tent not too long ago for car camping. In between I have had a bunch of Biblers, still have a couple great for mountaineering.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2010 - 10:24am PT
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Thanks for posting tent photos and stories.
Hoobie: I remember the North Face Morning Glory. A big elegant tent. We took one to Deborah in 1976 as a "base camp" tent. Two feet of snow overnight took it down and did major damage to it.
The other tent we had along was a Trailwise Fitzroy. One of the strongest A-Frame tents ever made.
What looks like a snow-covered volcano in background was our igloo!
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Jan 16, 2010 - 10:47am PT
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ya fritz, that knife edge ridge did a fair job of cleaving the slushbombs falling from the sugarpine branches once the sun loosened the accumulated load. pretty much a full time job fighting back the encroaching snowpack as the tub walls give away your floor footage.
fine honeymoon suite though. with equipment banished to the farside, the right partner had room for a sassy pirouette under the peak
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3102729/Experienced_Hunting_TENTS_for_
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fattrad
Mountain climber
GOP Convention
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Jan 16, 2010 - 10:55am PT
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Went in with a friend on a SD Glacier in 1973. a cool A frame with a cook hole in the floor. Very bomb proof on a winter Whitney trip.
The evil one
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Jan 16, 2010 - 11:14am PT
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First tent was a blue, two person Alp Sport in 1969. Indestructible, light, Simple, set up in seconds. Used it all four seasons and lasted for close to 15 year. Only got rid of it because of too many burn wholes in the floor. By the time I got rid of it, it was filled with the absolute best memories.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2010 - 05:07pm PT
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Here is my 1974 "ultra-light." The Gerry Tarp-tent had various pull-outs on it.
1. You could pitch it zipped up as a one-person tube tent.
2. Or, as a two-person A-Frame with a string between two trees. It even had mosquito-netting at either end, in that configuration.
3. Or, as a large fly-type rain shelter.
No poles.
Weighed about 2 lbs.
I don't think the public was ready for it!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 16, 2010 - 05:36pm PT
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Rockermike said:
Like a lot of gear from that era they give me a deep feeling of happiness just seeing pictures of it.
'nuff said and me too.
My first tent, was my buddies tent, that's the why and how.
(I had a tube tent of course.)
The North Face Tuolumne, on our first Sierra backpacking trip, 1975:
(I am reading "Spaceship Earth", that is the iconic "Sierra Cup" to my side, & AKdog's dad on the right)
Sawtooth Peak, my first Sierra summit, from that trip (I was 14):
The Tuolumne was an A-frame front side, I-pole back side.
Didn't even have a zipper door; just that drawstring affair there, forget what that was called, a very particular term though, storm door or something.
Most tents, in the vernacular of the standard A-frame mountain tents, like the North Face Mountain Tent or the Sierra Designs Glacier, had that opposite the zipper door, at the back.
The North Face Morning Glory was essentially two of those Tuolumne tents, pattern wise, attached at the tall A frame side.
The first tent I owned, also mentioned by Fritz, was a Trailwise Fitzroy.
Just over 8 pounds; a little heavy. I always wanted the ridge pole for it though. It had a peculiar floor plan and canted vestibule style "self-supporting" ends.
(Why: because at the Mount Adams Wilderness Institute in Washington state, that's what they used, and I was sold)
I would love to have a Rivendell Bombshelter even now.
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Jan 16, 2010 - 06:09pm PT
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"to me, a tent is a piece of sculpture that you get into" - bill moss, under sung hero in my book.
a pioneer in curvilinear tent design, and other tension membrane structures.
he's got a bunch of patents, but i'm particularly intrigued by the elegant simplicity of a fly
that conforms to a shape called a hypar (hyperbolic parabaloid) surface.
there's a story about the application he submitted being refused by the patent office the first time around, they figured it was just a flat piece of fabric. he had to go there in person and demonstrate that his design eliminated the wrinkles that a flat sheet always forms when warped into this shape.
this puts me in mind of chouinard's pick conforming to the arc of the swing.
not that fancy as breakthroughs go, but for those of us who never came up with the idea...
like jimmy buffet sang, "it was so simple that like the two-step, it plumb evaded me"
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 16, 2010 - 06:17pm PT
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There's gotta be an easier and more dignified
way to set this stupid thing up by yourself.
(especially after triggering the camera timer)
(might be an Early Winter)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 16, 2010 - 06:28pm PT
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Ha!
Very nice.
& That looks like a Jensen Pack, except for the waist buckle's not right...
They were typically fitted with an aluminum, simple interlock jobber.
Listening to Robin Trower, Bridge of Sighs right now.
That should get your tent up.
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fattrad
Mountain climber
GOP Convention
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Jan 16, 2010 - 06:41pm PT
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Tarbuster,
That was a tunnel entrance on the tent, the SD Glacier also had one. You know, I think I tried to sell Sewellymon a dozen tube tents to go with his KB"S.
The evil one
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 16, 2010 - 06:49pm PT
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Tar,
That pack was a Jensen rip-off I was testing for JanSport.
Do you also like the K2 Holidays? I really liked them in
powder, not that we got much of that in the Cascades. They
did cut crud pretty well though. This was the day before
the 'lanche which put paid to my solo traverse of the Chelan
Range. Never claimed to be real bright but when you don't
have weekends off you get desparate.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2010 - 06:53pm PT
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Tarbuster: Re your great tent posts:
The North Face Tuolumne, on our first Sierra backpacking trip, 1975:
(I am reading "Spaceship Earth", that is the iconic "Sierra Cup" to my side, & AKdog's dad on the right)
One of the best BITD photos, from when we went to the mountains wearing Levis!
The photo makes me feel old and cynical.
Reilly: I feel your pain. Check out my snowy entry photo below.
Let those of us who are "into" old gear note his "Silvretta" bindings on the skis. You could use them with mountain boots. If you mounted the heel hold-downs for the cables, and you took a forward fall: the binding would usually not fully "release."
Can you say "ankle-breakers?"
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 16, 2010 - 07:01pm PT
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Those were called Silvretta "Grasshoppers" yes?
Sierra Designs sourced a really nice ethereal sky/french blue on those three-man & glacier tents.
I do like the look of those K2 Holidays and I was curious as well.
But what do I know; I can't earn a turn on that stuff, I just make it go out and back.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 16, 2010 - 07:16pm PT
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I do like the look of those K2 Holidays and I was curious as well.
Ha! They look good until you put 'em on your back. They weighed a good
20 pounds!
Humpin' 'em up the Kautz Glacier on Mt Reindeer.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2010 - 07:32pm PT
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Tarbuster: Re. your question? "Those were called Silvretta "Grasshoppers" yes?"
I don't rememberthe model name. I will plead "high altitude memory loss."
We all bought and skied them in 1971 Sun Valley. Soon friends were suffering injury from: front falls where the front binding clamp would release, but the cable would not fall off the boot heel.
In my outdoor shop career I mounted a lot of Silvrettas on skis. By 1974 I refused to mount the "heel hold-down cable clips."
I've Gotta scan my old backcountry ski slides!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jan 16, 2010 - 07:42pm PT
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Yes well, those worked better on the boot best designed for them...
That touring specific boot had a squared off toe, not exactly a 75 mm Nordic norm, much stingier.
It also had a groove in the heel for the cable.
I think those bindings were otherwise "pressed into service" for mountaineering boot usage.
(Keep in mind I'm not really a skier; just a boot 'n gear nerd, who sometimes likes to go bouldering and mountain traveling by himself.)
Not that long ago, maybe mid-90s, I had a pair of Europa 88's with that setup and boot. The 88's had an aluminum edge.
I used a modern bail type crampon with them.
The ski bindings didn't come off, but the crampon did...
I've Gotta scan my old backcountry ski slides!
We would love to see those!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jan 16, 2010 - 08:12pm PT
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This pic is of my Galibier Rigid Rands on a pair of 3-pin Asolos
but I ran the Rands on my Super Guides and Peutereys in
the Silvrettas (didn't know they had any other appelation)
for years. They did release on the rare occasion. I mounted
them a bit forward (an inch?) of the normal position to allow for
a pack's weight.
ps
for someone who started racing on Marker 'Longthong' Turntables that had no release mechanism Silvrettas seemed 'safe'.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 16, 2010 - 06:13pm PT
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Bump for those that like older gear.
Of course, you can say: "my first mountain tent" was a bivy bag.
On our 1976 Hayes Range Alaska trip, we rented a radio-phone from our bush-pilot Cliff Hudson----just in case.
After three weeks of climbing, we were ready to come home, but we needed "line of sight" over peaks to our north for the radiophone to reach Fairbanks.
There were a couple attempts to “call out”. I think Dane & Gwain had a short conversation with Cliff during one attempt.
When a few more days went by without a sign of pickup, Chris and I hiked the valley glacier about 12 miles down-canyon, climbed a ridge to where our maps showed line of sight to Fairbanks, and waited for a civilized hour to call Cliff.
We didn’t carry tent, bivy bag, rope, or climbing gear, except for two ice-axes: for our nighttime jaunt. (we were really sorry about the lack of climbing gear when we reached a crevassed area, where two valley glaciers came together). We took sleeping bags, clothing, our faithful Optimus 111B stove, and a lot of food. We were hungry boys and were eating voraciously.
Unfortunately we got to our ridgetop about 4:00 AM in the morning and it didn’t seem like a bright idea to bother Cliff at that time of day. One of us would stay in a sleeping bag, keeping the radio and batteries warm, while the other melted snow, boiled water for freeze-dried food, and danced about to stay less cold.
Finally at about 6:00 AM we called Cliff. He explained he had been having some mechanical problems, but would come get us in a few days.
We got one more climb in before he showed up.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 16, 2010 - 06:25pm PT
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The other tent we had along was a Trailwise Fitzroy. One of the strongest A-Frame tents ever made. Also my first tent.
Excellent bulletproof tent. Until the urethane coating aged and started to peel off (and stank like only rank polyurethane can)
Retired my very early Chouinard Megamid (1986 vintage) two years ago when the urethane coating got mucked with sand on a hot beach party day. Try getting melted-in sand out of polyurethane, go ahead, I dare you. My new Megamid (SilNylon) is even better.
Optimus 111B stove. Yup. Heavy, bulky, bulletproof. The only thing you need to keep it running is some vegetable oil for the leather pump packing.
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