The Perfect Pack For The 1970s

[@Tribute2JohnnyB]

My god I'm glad I stumbled onto your channel! I feel like my father's teaching me about the origins of camping all over again. THANK YOU.

[@sargevining]

I'm glad you stumbled, too! Glad to have you aboard. Thanks for watching!

[@prestongivens3594]

Hey, Sarge, Good video, as always. Another trip down memory lane. My first pack, in 1973, was a Camp Trails Horizon, in bright Safety Orange. It had the same shoulder straps and waist belt which your FrostLine has. Over time, I added straps and cordage to it, to make it better at hauling bits and baubles on the outside. It was a top loader, so I had to make a swivel connector to anchor a length of dowel to the frame, and serve as a back leg so it would sit up. Could not get inside with it on the ground. Sometime in the early-to-mid 2000’s, I gave that pack away, and got a Jansport panel-loader. It was sort of a hybrid external / internal frame. It came new with a lot more attachment points and hardware than I ever added to my CampTrails. I don’t get out much anymore, but you might be an encouragement for me to do so. Keep up the great content!

[@sargevining]

FWIW, I think the only real innovation Jansport made as far as packs are concerned is the panel loader concept. I had a pack about 10 years ago that was way too heavy, and I knew it, but it was a panel loader so I held on to it way longer than I should have. One of the best things about external frame packs is the adaptability. They're fairly easy to modify, cooler in the summer, too. Thanks for watching!

[@jamesellsworth9673]

This pack not only 'had it all', but it also came in a safety orange color!

[@sargevining]

It does make for a good deer season pack, that's for sure.

[@user-ho9cz9lo9f]

Greetings Sarge. Yes l feel it would be wonderfull to see the grand kids reaction to there first camping trip. I still have that delight to come! All the best from across the pond hear in the UK Ken

[@sargevining]

Unfortunately, the kids got sick as kids will do, so we'll have to do it another time. The good news is that my 24 year old Grandson was also here, and he's moving down from Pennsylvania.

[@nonservitium]

I grew up using packs similar to this one...they just felt so solid and tough...

[@sargevining]

I am s firm believer in the external frame pack, especially in Texas summers. I'm convinced that if one used modern tent, sleeping bag, etc, the base weight with pre-1972 packs would end up being just as light or lighter than many made today.

[@nonservitium]

@sargevining I agree, to an extent. Modern materials are definitely lighter and perform much better. But the design and build of these older packs are way more robust. If I was given a choice between a Walmart pack or a thrift store vintage pack, I'd definitely go with the vintage one

[@filmic1]

Fond memories of my Camp Trails. Thanks for this great history survey. I love my Gregory Baltoro 65 with the top load AND back panel. Side pockets not so much. I have my Gregory Massif for winter loadouts though. IMHO The Jansport D5 has the ultimate cache/class though. Super channel, thank-you!!

[@sargevining]

Thanks for watching! Glad your finding content that excites you. We've got a video coming up about Gregory.

[@filmic1]

@@sargevining Marvellous. Thanks for all your hard work. I loved your comment elsewhere about historians' with ADHD, being distracted by shiny things. Terrific..

[@michaelw2288]

My 1970s backpack is a Karrimor Annapurna, 55litre, single compartment with side pockets and zippered top flap pouch. It is simple, strong and durable made by a serious mountaineering company. Perhaps the last of the external frame packs. My frame loops at the base in one piece and does not extend above shoulder height. The factory back bands are similar.

[@sargevining]

I do like this pack because it's a microcosm of late Backpacking Revolution design features from all sorts of manufacturers and designers.

[@lololol220]

I love your stuff and we have the same accent. Love New Hampshire

[@sargevining]

LIVE FREE OR DIE! Yah, I still have a bit of down east in me even after 50 years in Texas. Thanks for watching !

[@toml.8210]

Is there a modern equivalent to that pack you can buy today? My internal-frame pack that I have now is like a large duffel with shoulder straps, a hip belt, and 2 side compartments that run the length of the bag. I liked the compartments of the pack you have here.

[@sargevining]

Not to my knowledge, but there should be. Best you could do is search for a DIY pattern, or search Ebay or other online auctions, etc using "Frostline Kit" as the search terms. I might see if I can find a pattern or make one and do a video on that. Thanks for watching!

[@behindthespotlight7983]

Am I correct that these tremendously complicated packs were only sold as DIY kits? I checked ebay and there are 2 completed packs for sale (that look like deflated pumpkins compared to yours, Sarge) and there are 2 kits listed as well. How many people with sewing skills commensurate to the skill level needed to complete this pattern, who are also into backpacking, and want this specific pack could there possibly be in 1975 when we were a country of 190M? Seems like a very small tent of potential customers (if you’ll pardon the pun) Nonetheless a great video and presentation 👍🏼

[@sargevining]

The market was big enough to support sales by three different outlets. I used to be skeptical about buying a finished kit, but I've never encountered a poorly made Frostline kit. My Kodiak tent looks factory made, its a total wonder. That could just mean that the poorly made ones rapidly fell apart and were discarded, kind of a "survival of the fittest" kind of thing. But I tend to lean on the fact that in the '70s the percentage of people who either knew how to sew or had members of the family who did was much higher than today. Both of my Grandmothers, my Mother and all of her sisters, and all of my Mother's friends had a sewing machine and knew how to sew, and taught their daughters how to. I think most kits were assembled by Moms, Aunts, girlfriends, sisters, and Grammas rather than the male user, although I did have a friend who's older brother sewed all of his gear (and passed that skill down to him).

[@ScottCarlson-cz7wj]

I enjoyed the John Wayne paper comment. In basic our D.I. took the T.P. out of an MRE, carefully folded it into a square, tore one corner out to create a hole in the center then, stuck his finger up through the middle -ready for use. (MRE T.P. was pretty worthless.)

[@sargevining]

Well, actually, you can wipe your ginger with it afterward, and if you folded it right you an use the center part to clean under your fingernail. And not to sound too much lime an old man, MRE TP is a step above what we got in C Rats. Thanks for watching!

[@ScottCarlson-cz7wj]

I was in basic in 1983. We trained with P-38 can openers on C-rats but, that was the last c-rat that I saw; it was all MRE's after basic. Especially, while chained/locked in our dorm during Okinawa typhoons (as soon as we were let out of the dorm, the hawaiians would run to shore and body surf in the 'big waves'.

[@timmo971]

I love it how an American might say “ I’ll use the measurements by the country that put man in the moon” Yet NASA went decimal well beforehand.

[@sargevining]

And then we promptly crashed a vehicle on Mars. Thanks for watching!

[@ROE1300]

👍 Nice bit of history, but cannot see how all these little gimmicks & gadgets make this pack and better than my Kelty A4. In fact, I would argue they load down the pack with really unnecessary stuff. Like the Producers of James Bond movies in the 1970s pack makers seem to have become more interested in gadgets than quality products. I’m sticking with my Kelty and will leave these new fangled packs to the youngsters in the crowd. 😀

[@sargevining]

I agree, but I do have to do the whole history of camping gear, even though we both know where it shoukd begin and end.

[@ROE1300]

@@sargevining No worries. I get joy from 3 sources on your channel. 1) a look at really good gear 2) an historical journey through gear development 3) your amazing video & audio presentations This video hit 100% on the 2nd two. And, this pack was not a bad pack just one overloaded with stuff.