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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Thanks Tar for the tump-down. I remember Chouinard pushing them, but they never took off at retail. There was jest tump-thing about them that folks in the U.S. didn't like.
They were somewhat more popular among folks moving heavy loads in Nepal, when I was there in 2005.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Yeah, Fritz, I gather most of us thought the Chouinard tumpline move was nuts!
If you see his film 180° South, he's toting an old Lowe pack, and using a tumpline. Reading that Patagonia page is a bit more exculpatory.
BTW: allowing for the fact that I am the color sensitive guy, one of those links you offered up from the Mountain Paraphernalia thread led me to the color designation Sierra Designs gave to some of their stuff. You are correct, their tents came simply in blue.
But packs were available in what they called Royal:
https://www.outinunder.com/content/historic-sierra-designs-catalog-1972
 The Summit pack model looks pretty slick, and might be worth collecting.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Here's the one Sierra Designs piece that I own:
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ron gomez
Trad climber
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Persona briefcase, still in daily use! Bombproof and impeccable detail to quality. Full leather. Great job Roy!
Peace
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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The only piece of Sierra Designs gear I've hung onto all these years is one of their 60/40 jackets. They were beautifully made, with double-layer construction throughout & were quite expensive in the early 70's, when they were the height of outdoor campus fashion.
They were also useless as tits on a boar in serious rain, when they would absorb lots of water into the 40% cotton & then start leaking. Gawd knows why I've kept it all these years?
Another interesting thing to note on this jacket is: no outside name or logo. I think Patagonia may have been the one that first started putting their name on the outside of clothing?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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That's a classic piece, Fritz!
I'm one step ahead of you, check out this history on the product, which I read a couple of days ago:
https://www.outinunder.com/content/story-sierra-designs-6040-mountain-parka
Even BITD, I wasn't buying it, so to speak.
Fairly heavy, bulky to pack, water repellent at best.
I also didn't like the whole long wasted parka approach.
I had an REI knockoff which I cut down so that it was more of a waistcoat length, gone now.
Pretty darn iconic in orange though. Probably would keep one in the closet if I had it!
The original:
A modern version, cut down, just the way I would want it:
The Japanese go absolutely crazy over this heritage gear stuff.
You can find knockoffs of lots of these goodies, especially that iconic Sierra Designs Daytripper teardrop pack.
I envision cocktail parties and weekend outings, with dozens of Japanese enthusiasts, all sporting the 60/40 parka and the daytripper ... all knockoffs, except for the lucky few with the real stuff, whom they all bow to ...
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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BTW, thanks Ron, for posting up that PERSONA briefcase.
Totally forgot you had one!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Thanks Tar & Tad!
Here's the 60/40 jacket copy from the iconic 1972 Sierra Designs catalog shot in the ghost town of Bodie, CA, during the winter. Note the $38.50 price, which was a lot of money in 1972.
I recall that Wilderness Experience also had a 60/40 jacket, I think???
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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I don't remember any Wild X garment offerings.
James, please help us out here?
The most substantial stuff I recall being built by Wilderness Experience were the 1980s alpinist sacks, cylindrical in design, color scheme in red.
Haven't found any of those recorded online.
(Could be I'm recalling TNF stuff, but I don't think so.)
Anyhow, some eye candy to keep it going:
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Jamesthomsen
Social climber
Mammoth Lakes, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 3, 2018 - 02:52pm PT
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Tarbuster... Cool, original pack (all metal buckles!)
So, here's some apparel photos:
In this catalog photo Greg's face doesn't look great. That's because one night, after a little too many drinks, someone looked at the 60 foot long cutting table and decided if you took a roll of Polarguard and ran part way you could slide for 40 feet. Greg did, except hit a metal pole, broke his nose and ended with a black eye. But the catalog photo shoot was the next day.
Jim Donini....famous model.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I have a Gerry tumpline from WBITD that was designed to add to work with a frame pack or rucksac as best I have been able to determine by the length of the strap that comes with it. It has a late 50s/early 60s buckle system.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Pretty sure that Chouinard sold a Tump Line at one point during the 70s when it was possible to move in more than one direction and still make progress.
Combine Belayer's Neck and a Tump Line and you arrive at the source of the obscurity. Taking a little weight off of your rucksack shoulder straps back when they were a pain makes some sense.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Good one, Jeff.
How long was SYNERGY around I wonder?
Never saw any of their stuff in shops or on anyone's back.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Another example of the frameless (?), wraparound design,
These from North Face, during that grueling 1980 Karakoram traverse done by Ned Gillette, Kim Schmitz, Galen Rowell, and Dan Asay:
The whole thing with that approach to pack design was most appreciated by skiers, and perhaps less so by climbers. To my mind, the best rucksack shapes for climbers were done by Berghaus and Karrimor, and now you see premier equipment companies such as Arc'teryx following that profile.
These packs by North Face were similar to the Kletterwerks Terraplane. In 1980 I was renting a room from Vern and Margaret Clevenger, in Mammoth Lakes, California. That spring, the three of us went on a road trip from Mammoth Lakes to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Point Lobos. They were selling Vern's photographs and I was looking to find dealers for my chalk bags. Ha ha, this was when I was still sewing on my ancient black Singer, a simple drop feed machine. The buyers would be like: unh, you are sewing these on a home machine? Busted. Lightweight thread, stitches thrown off by the heavy fabric and not so uniform and etc.
Since this was spring, our way over the Sierra to the Bay Area was first through the Lake Tahoe/Kirkwood route. I was a total pack/rucksack nerd, and Vern, not just a rock climber, was a Sierra Eastside three pin skiing aficionado, or becoming one. He loved the Terraplane for its hip hugging contours, and especially for the way it carried when skiing.
Along the way, Vern, who was mentored by Rowell, whom he called Galen Rubble, after some of the climbing projects they had done together in the High Sierra, told stories about Galen. Then we visited not one, but two of Galen's significant others: one, at a shop in, as I recall, Sacramento, and the other, in San Francisco or perhaps Berkeley. They were both fine people. The latter of the two women read to us a letter from Galen when he was on that Karakoram traverse. He spoke of rock towers spread out around him, all of which he wished he'd been able to just run up to and climb, but alas, they were already overburdened by packs and sleds in their self-supporting trip, and were not toting a full retinue of climbing gear, nor would they have had the foodstuffs and the time.
So, I was stoked to find the full story, as written up by Rowell.
http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198105900/Skiing-Karakorum-High-Route
Those guys were really something, toting full loads on those super skinny Kastle skis:
I believe this is Kim Schmitz on the same trip:
Look how similar the North Face pack is to the early Terraplane:
Alan Bard also had a relationship with TNF, and carried those packs on his back.
One of Al's favorite sayings was: Get a load on! This was a double entendre. He was speaking of both the body and the mind, ha!
Bardini, Climbing AND skiing with what might be a Terraplane:
http://www.earnyourturns.com/17796/profile-the-right-reverend-bardini/
Sadly, Ned Gillette, Allan Bard, and Galen Rowell are no longer with us.
I haven't had much luck searching photographs of those 1980s North Face rucksacks, or for that matter, any from Wild X from that timeframe. People must've really used them up!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Ah Jim, we were young once with melanin in our hair and wrinkle free faces. Those photos remind me that I am no longer the man I never was.
Add Kim to the list Tarbuster, as I’m sure you know.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Yeah, I thought my count was off as I was enumerating the list of RIPs from that single missive.
With those piercing gray-blue eyes of his, Kim Schmitz was the most haunting, if not haunted, climber I ever met.
Here you go, Jim, vintage tell it like it is Donini-speak, in this inscription you penned on a copy of George Myers' Yosemite Climber, to benefit Bridwell, yet another fallen icon of our time:
Image taken from this archive of the project:
http://yosemiteclimber.blogspot.com/2010/06/
Ahh Yosemite! America's alpine nursery. And it certainly was that for Bridwell! He mentored so many there, and it was an incubator for him as well.
....................................................................
Of course we all expect to see you climbing well into your 90s, Jim. –Berg heil!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Nov 16, 2018 - 07:48pm PT
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So, James: your brother knew Chongo Chuck, way before he garnered that handle!
And on a much more somber note, your young wife, Laurie, died soloing a peak near Mt. Dade ...
Heartbreaking. She was beautiful. You must miss her to this very day. Where is Chapter 2?
https://player.vimeo.com/video/297877263
Also, your short on Don Lauria is pretty sweet:
The ancient bastard is an inspiration for everyone – Peter Haan https://vimeo.com/195246681
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Jamesthomsen
Social climber
Mammoth Lakes, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2018 - 09:06am PT
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Hey Tarbuster,
Yep, Greg was in high school with Chuck Tucker (Chongo Chuck.) I was at UCLA then and I would drive by Van Nuys High and Chuck would climb the fence and hop in my car and we would go to Stoney Point. I have no idea why I did that without Greg....maybe he was still trying to be a good student?
And yes, having Laurie killed when we were both so young was a really hard way to start adult life. Getting hooked on mountaineering when you are young is wonderful, but like so many others, you take a lot of chances.
I still need to do more work on Chapter 1.... And if I didn't spend so much time outside and traveling I could get more done. I do have hours of video interviews with climbers and employees from the early days of Wilderness Experience. Maybe if we have a lot of storms this winter I'll get more done.
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Jamesthomsen
Social climber
Mammoth Lakes, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2019 - 08:47am PT
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It looks like I will be able to make a nearly exact copy of the Klettersack, using the original pattern, materials and quality.
If you have any good or fun photos of a Klettersack in use that I can use on a Kickstarter project let me know,
Thanks!
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