1987 Lowe Alpine Pack: Can You Identify It?

If you don't get an answer here, post it on the supertopo.com forums.

Jeff Lowe posts on there, and Greg Lowe (the founder of Lowe Alpine) might also post once-in-a-while but I'm not 100% sure.

In any case, if Jeff sees it he will know your answer. Greg is his cousin and I'm pretty sure he's used all the old Lowe Alpine products back then.

IN 1981 did an AT thru-hike with a similar pack.It was a Lowe"Expedition"…..7 1/2 lbs of blue cordura…(sounds like my current base weight!).Faded but ready for another trip down the path.In those days Kelty Tioga frame packs ruled…..I was on the cutting edge :-)

It is not that one. I used the Expedition (with optional full length side pockets for another 1000 cu in) for many years in the early 90s. Mine was an 89 but Dave still has a 92 I believe in our office somewhere. They were taller and bigger (7000 cu in if I remember correctly)and had a full foam backpanel for the suspension as opposed to the one in the pics.

What scares me is that I used to fill that bad boy up for a four day trip back when. Man I must have been strong…

editing as my memory clears, getting old bites!

Hi all!

Thanks for al the good thoughts.

Yes, it's not a foam pad, though it came a bit after the Karrimor Alpinist that worked on that principle. It has two metal strips that you can bend—pretty advanced at the time. Not UL but still pretty light. In fact I was amazed when I bought a Lowe pack for a woman friend 15 years later, still Cordura but much heavier.

Great tip on checking supertopo if no one IDs the pack. Someone must know, I still run into them once in a while.

> I used to fill that bad boy up for a four day trip back when. Man I must have been strong…

Raymond, I second that. :)
Strange to think of it on the other side of 40.

Smiles,

Andy

The "Expedition" title was their most popular pack for a number of years. This looks like it to me, especially the square top pocket. When Lowe first came out you could get the Expedition or another model that had a huge ripstop extention collar that you could pull up and bivy inside. (This was for hanging on some icy ledge in your wool knickers with Fred Beckey in his trash bag bivy.) Scott

A little off topic, but while searching for info on the pack I came across this page. Also take a look at this 1972 Chouinard (before it became “Patagonia”) catalogue. Brings back lots of memories. I’ve written about it before, but the cagoule on page 61 still intrigues me as perhaps the best overall dual-use rainwear for backpacking. If only I could get eVent or Breeze DryTec so that I could make one of them.

Update: I think this is the pack you’re looking for, right?

Since you guys are taking a trip down memory lane, you've got to check out the short movie Yvon Chounaird made on Johnny Cunningham soloing Ben Nevis back in the 70's. I linked to it in a post in the Mountaineering/Alpinism forum. It's well worth watching.

Hi Miguel,

>Update: I think this is the pack you're looking for, right?

Correct. That's the link I included in the original post.

Wishing you a fun weekend,

Andy

I got mine in 1979 or 1980 in the Anchorage REI. Great pack then and now.

If I recall Lowe used the same or similar harness on many backpack models, with the pack part varying somewhat.

I have three old Lowe packs (and one Gregory Snow Creek) and at least two of the Lowe packs have identical harnesses despite being different models (one is the Latok, I forget the other two).  They are fairly similar, some have internal dividers, some are slimmer than others (woman’s model), maybe one has a extendable collar and another has a wand pocket.

But their weight varies a lot, the older models weigh a lot more than the “newer” ones (1980).  The lightest is about 4 lbs (the Latok if I recall).

Looks like an old Lowe “Triolet” a model one size smaller than the Expedition and often used by girls and ladies [ my Ex used one] and I started using a Lowe Expedition when I started ski touring, must have been around 1982?