What is your oldest piece of gear that you still use?

[Terran]

My legs.😁

My Leki poles that lasted three decades, recently retired. More up to date, perhaps my eVent rain coat from Luke.

[Dan]

20+ years for my wide-brim Columbia hat, but that’s general hiking gear, not backpacking specific.

Of my major backpacking gear, it would be my 11 year old ZPacks Arc Blast.

[Steve M]

An old “Campmor” neoprene headband/ear warmer.   Still one of my favorite top 10 items.  It easily fits in a small shirt pocket…and adds significant warmth when needed.  It can also function as a sleep mask (eye cover)…if you ever need to sleep during the day.

[David D]

My father’s “Outdoors Canada” knife, guessing from late 60s.  30g and old school quality and a nice sentimental connection on trail

[Dustin V]

A set of Lowe Alpine convertible pants from about 35 years ago, found at a mall store that sold early fleece clothes as well as seconds and blems from local companies. I suspect they were prototypes because I’ve never seen anything like them. They have so many useful little features like cuff drawstrings, very durable but soft fabric. The legs pack into a zippered pocket that has a velcro strap to connect it to a belt. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the high, 80’s-era length of the shorts.

[David Thomas]

I tossed my Jansport Yellowstone 3-pole dome tent last year because the coatings had gotten sticky (I still have the aluminum pole set, if anyone wants them).  I got it in 1984, so 41 years.  Although in this century, it was only used for car camping and snow camping, not summer backpacking.

I’ve got lots of my gear from the mid- and late-1970’s, but it doesn’t compare to modern UL gear or mindset.  e.g. my Boy Scout pocket knife works like it did in 1972, but now I take a Victorinox Classic.

Through the 1990s, we were using the canvas umbrella tent (for car camping) that my father’s family used in Yosemite in the 1930s.

I organize skis and poles with some handy straps that link everything together in a quick and convenient way that the BP/Ski shop I worked in used for our rental skis.  So they’re 45 years old now.

[Monte Masterson]

Six Moon Designs Feather 40L frameless pack circa 2008.

[John Brochu]

A custom rain skirt Joe made for me at Zpacks back in the day when it was still a one man show and DCF was still called cuben fiber.

I recently retired a custom cuben tarp from Joe from the same era or a little earlier just last season because I’m getting too old to crawl around under a small tarp and tents are no longer all that heavier except for certain conditions when the tarp can be used sans bug bivy.

 

[Jerry Adams]

30 year old evernew 900 ml titanium pot

no reason to replace it

50 year old – I got rid of MSR whisperlite stove and Kelty backpack. I have a tent and sleeping bag that are small enough I haven’t got rid of them.

[baja bob]

Stephenson’s Warmlite 3R tent and Kelty Flight 4500 backpack from 2002.

[Dan]

30 year old evernew 900 ml titanium pot

Good call, Jerry. I also have a 25 year old Evernew titanium pot that I use for my rare two-person trips. That’s a piece of gear that will outlast me, I suspect.

[Megan W]

A Silva compass I bought in the 1990s. I let a friend carry and use it on a recent walk (she was practising navigation and her compass was wonky). I felt naked.

My husband still uses the Feathered Friends Puffin 1 sleeping bag I bought 36 years ago. Gortex shell 🙂.

 

[David Hartley]

For gear that I still use – it would have to be an MSR Titan Kettle, but I don’t honestly remember when I purchased it. For clothing it is a set of EMS silk-weight bergelene base layer shirt and pants that I still use for sleep clothes on most trips. If I had to guess, both are around 20 years old. Maybe a bit older.

[Mark Verber]

Compass 1972 – rare but sometimes

Snowpeak GigiPower Stove and 1.3l Evernew Ti Pot 2002 on group trips

NunatakUSA Ghost Quilt 2003 every trip

 

[AK Granola]

You said gear, not backpacking gear, so I’m going to offer as my absolutely oldest piece of gear, used on many dozens of camping and canoeing trips, a homemade cutlery/kitchen tool carrier my mom stitched together from a pair of striped boys pants (yes really, my brother wore these). It’s from some time in the 1970s, and seals with the original Velcro, still works great. She made lots of our camping stuff, including ditty bags, tents, packs, etc. I still use this for car camping. This is more visually interesting than anything I take backpacking. And loads of sentimental value.

But since this is a backpacking forum, I’ll say that the oldest thing I’m still using backpacking is from the 1980s, a Coghlans brand mosquito headnet. I have a bunch of headnets (living in Alaska, it’s nice to have a collection) but I like that old $1 one the best. It’s the best because it is black and easier to see out of than green ones, because the elastic isn’t too confining like new elastic but it still gathers sufficiently around the neck not to let bugs in, and it isn’t too itchy. Not very exciting, but so functional and needed. It goes on every backpacking trip no matter where I go.

Third oldest is my Patagonia lightweight baselayer top and bottom, from the mid 1990s. I wear them constantly, wash and dry them, they have held up amazingly. I have stitched up the cuffs on the pants a few times, but they are still so warm for the weight, that they go on most backpacking trips as my sleep layer or warm layer if I need it for chilly, rainy weather. They also dry super fast. I don’t know what I will do when they completely fall apart; no one makes anything like it any more.

 

[Haakon R]

I’ve been an outdoor enthusiast all my life, but didn’t really get into backpacking until my late teens/early twenties, which would happen to be around the late nineties/early aughts. So anything from that period has to be considered old from my perspective.

<=1/yr: I have a 3 person Helsport tunnel tent that I believe is from the 80’s. It used to be my fathers, but I don’t think he used it much. My earliest memory of sleeping in it is from the late 80’s. It’s the only tunnel tent I own with vestibule and door in both ends, so I still like to use it for some 2 person winter trips.

1-5/yr: My first serious backpack (in both size and quality), a Norrøna Para Ranger 135 liter bought in July 2000 that’s obnoxiously big, but it’s still going strong and I use it to some extent every year whenever undertaking something stupid where I need to haul along a silly amount of gear. Great for family backpacking and backcountry hunting trips.

Semi regular use: Leatherman Wave. Don’t know when it was purchased. I was my late uncles personal Leatherman that he gifted to me in May of 2000. It was my go-to backpacking do anything tool through military service, my era of heavy weight backpacking and well into my lighter weight endeavors. These days it rarely see the inside of a hiking backpack, but I still use it quite frequently.

Regular use: The other day I realized my go-to winter mittens are still a pair of Lill-sport cotton shell mitts that I likely bought in 2001. It’s one of those lucky calls. Bought on a whim with zero research, and I’ve never felt the need to upgrade or change anything. They’re so fit for purpose and still holding up great.

[Alex H]

Like David Thomas I still have a lot of packs, sleeping bags, stoves and cooking gear from the early 70’s-early 2000’s that get lent out or used occasionally.  I have various long underwear tops and bottoms and fleece hats from the early 2000’s that I use regularly.  I just busted out my XC skis a few weeks ago from the early 70’s and a set of knee high Sierra Designs gaiters.  But the oldest piece that I carry on every single trip is a 1972 large bowl, short handled, aluminum spoon.  Thought I had lost it a few winters ago, mid trip but found it down in my sleeping bag the next morning.  Whew!!!

[Adrian Griffin]

A Polartec balaclava I got from REI 20–30 years ago. It’s loose and comfortable with a big face hole. Good for cold mornings and evenings around camp. All of the more modern balaclavas are tight and confining—good for skiing, and hiking in cold winds, but not so comfortable for just knocking around.

BTW, I’ve replaced and upgraded all of my majors in the past decade. As for stuff I no longer use, the oldest item in my possession is an MSR XGK-II, bought in 1981 or 1982.

[Dan]

A Polartec balaclava I got from REI 20–30 years ago.

Haha you reminded me of another. My favorite Bula fleece cap with subtle ear flaps that hang down just a little. Bought it at a hardware store 25 years ago. I love it because it’s thin, but not paper thin, and it covers my ears without being tight or having to pull it down over my eyes. I haven’t seen one like it in decades.

[David Thomas]

Megan’s thoughts on her compass triggered a memory.  I still have my Thommen altimeter I got early in my peak-bagging days (Whitney, Rainier, Shasta, Half Dome, etc).  So, 1980.  46 years ago.  It’s now fun to watch it from Seat 7A on a 737 at 35,000 feet, registering about 7,500 feet equivalent air pressure.  It’s more fun to watch it from Seat 2A.  GPS has larger eliminated its utility, but back in the day, I cared much more how many VERTICAL FEET I’d done and had yet to do, than the horizontal miles I’d logged.  Also, if you’re on an ascending trail or near a river, your altitude immediately tells you exactly where you are.   And like any finely constructed bit of kit, it’s a pleasure to hold in your hand.

And AK Granola mentioned mosquito head nets which I too, as an Alaskan, have an entire fleet of.  One of them, I got in the 1980s as army surplus, used long ago at the time.  It’s British, hence has a button hole stitched into the netting to the right of your mouth for your pipe to go through.  Either Korean War or WWII era, 73 or 83 years ago.

[Paul Wagner]

Lots of stuff that is 20 years old or so: REI Subkilo sleeping bag, Pocket rocket stove, etc.

But some stuff is too old to rememeber,  We still have aluminum cook pots taht are forty-plus, and although we never use it for backpacking, our milk crate that was salvaged off the side of the road holds much of our old camp kitchen for car camping.  It is Jurassic.

[Terran]

Thanks all. Moms and dads, brothers shorts, all good memories with stories to match. I learned in school that if I had the right pencil, it held all the right answers. My Leki poles knew the trails and never got me lost. They always got me home safe. They supported my shelter and helped keep me dry. New and old memories with every tap.

 

[Alan W]

My oldest is a Frostline Kit mummy sleeping bag that I sewed together myself in spring 1972, when young and poor.  Bomber tough.  Heavy.  Sentimental.  My framed Kelty and EMS backpacks were donated to BSA >30 years ago.  Next oldest is MSR Wisperlite, which replaced a roaring loud Svea.

[Eli]

My circa 2012 Enlightened Equipment 20° down quilt. It’s the awful design where the baffles are squares with connecting corners. The down quickly migrates to the sides and yet is remarkably difficult to get back to the center. Also, it’s too slim and I’ve always had trouble with drafts.

BUT, it still has incredible loft and never makes it to the top of my upgrade/replace list. Unfortunately I expect to have it keep me warm for many more years to come.

[Terran]

I’ve had an Enlightened Equipment 20* Revelation since the end of 2014. It still has the painters tape patch that I put on it in 2015 after burning a small hole in it. The down does migrate. They’ve since added more down to the newer ones.. It has some stitching missing from the baffling. Hundreds of nights of use. Xwide.

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