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  1. #1
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    Default Winter in the Whites, circa 1972.

    My old camping pal Bill just got photos of our winter jaunts in the Presidential Range digitized. Includes a winter ascent of Mt Washington in March of that year. Just a few samples.Copy of 00000037_IMG_0007.JPGCopy of 00000050_IMG_0020.jpgCopy of 00000058_IMG_0033.JPGCopy of 00000054_IMG_0024.JPGCopy of 00000022_IMG_0022.JPGCopy of 00000011_IMG_0011.JPGCopy of 00000044_IMG_0014.jpgCopy of 00000028_IMG_0028.JPG
    Last edited by Feral Bill; 02-08-2019 at 16:38.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  2. #2
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    Cool photos. Thanks for sharing.

    I love the orange packs and the clothes. Now, if you just have a photo of an aluminum canoe and a Vega or AMC, we can recreate an era.

    Funny how the '70s now seem like a different age, almost like "olden days." When I think of people backpacking the AT in the '70s, I think of that as being just before the modern era began. We're the old timers, now.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roper View Post
    Cool photos. Thanks for sharing.

    I love the orange packs and the clothes. Now, if you just have a photo of an aluminum canoe and a Vega or AMC, we can recreate an era.

    Funny how the '70s now seem like a different age, almost like "olden days." When I think of people backpacking the AT in the '70s, I think of that as being just before the modern era began. We're the old timers, now.
    One trip was in an Opel, one in a Fiat, and one in a Citroen. I still have my pack (the green one). My son uses it. My 50 year old SVEA is still a staple, too.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  4. #4
    Registered User Hikes in Rain's Avatar
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    Default

    Wow, these are great. I'd just graduated high school when you were doing this. Thanks for posting.

  5. #5
    Wanna-be hiker trash
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    Default

    These are great! Thanks for sharing.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  6. #6

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    Back when we had real winters too. Pretty brave to camp above tree line in pup tents!
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Slo-go'en View Post
    Back when we had real winters too. Pretty brave to camp above tree line in pup tents!
    Do backpackers still pull these kind of overnight winter trips in the Whites????

    Copy of 00000011_IMG_0011.JPG

    What you call Pup Tents remind me of high quality top of the line North Face A-frame tents from the 1970s---as in this catalog pic---

    tnf 1975 Fall 033.jpg

    Pretty good tents for their time. My old North Face had the snow tunnel entrance---

    Vintage-North-Face-Tuolumne-tent-_57.jpg
    (This is not my tent or my picture---it comes from here---

    https://picclick.com/Vintage-North-F...509260395.html

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slo-go'en View Post
    Back when we had real winters too. Pretty brave to camp above tree line in pup tents!
    They were proper mountaineering tents, rented.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  9. #9
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    Awesome pics. Thanks for posting.

    My son still uses the Sierra Designs Wilderness tent with the snow tunnel entrance that I bought at the Skimeister shop in N Woodstock in 1971. My old Svea 123R Climber stove has been replaced but is still as good as most models on the shelf. I still use the North Face Chamios sleeping bag that also came from the Skimeister shop (in 1972). "The old that is strong does not wither"

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdP View Post
    Awesome pics. Thanks for posting.

    My son still uses the Sierra Designs Wilderness tent with the snow tunnel entrance that I bought at the Skimeister shop in N Woodstock in 1971. My old Svea 123R Climber stove has been replaced but is still as good as most models on the shelf. I still use the North Face Chamios sleeping bag that also came from the Skimeister shop (in 1972). "The old that is strong does not wither"
    For car camping, my Coleman lantern and stove I got as a teenager 40+ years ago still work like new and are essential pieces of gear for those types of trips even today. Nothing is more satisfactory than gear or other well made stuff that continues to function over time.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roper View Post
    Cool photos. Thanks for sharing.

    I love the orange packs and the clothes. Now, if you just have a photo of an aluminum canoe and a Vega or AMC, we can recreate an era.

    Funny how the '70s now seem like a different age, almost like "olden days." When I think of people backpacking the AT in the '70s, I think of that as being just before the modern era began. We're the old timers, now.
    It's like thinking about the 30's when back in the 70's.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roper View Post
    Cool photos. Thanks for sharing.
    I love the orange packs and the clothes. Now, if you just have a photo of an aluminum canoe and a Vega or AMC, we can recreate an era.
    Funny how the '70s now seem like a different age, almost like "olden days." When I think of people backpacking the AT in the '70s, I think of that as being just before the modern era began. We're the old timers, now.
    CA8E4979-F163-45C2-949E-1620913AB380.jpg

    You asked for it. It’s a bad photo but it was a good car for me at the time.
    76 HawkMtn w/Rangers
    14 LHHT
    15 Girard/Quebec/LostTurkey/Saylor/Tuscarora/BlackForest
    16 Kennerdell/Cranberry-Otter/DollyS/WRim-NCT
    17 BearR
    18-19,22 AT NOBO 1562.2
    22 Hadrian's Wall
    23 Cotswold Way

  13. #13
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    I'm reading a National Geographic book published in the early 1970s about wilderness. The opening essay, about the Quetico Boundary Waters area, is written by a man who opens by saying he started canoeing those waters right after World War I!

    David Brill's magnificent book about his 1979 thru-hike (published around 1991, I think) now seems like ancient history. He still found mountain folks hunting for ginseng and ramps and leeks.

    Take another step back to read Walking with Spring about a late '40s thru hike and the mountain people and culture was still intact, including driving livestock to the balds during the summers.

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roper View Post
    I'm reading a National Geographic book published in the early 1970s about wilderness. The opening essay, about the Quetico Boundary Waters area, is written by a man who opens by saying he started canoeing those waters right after World War I!

    David Brill's magnificent book about his 1979 thru-hike (published around 1991, I think) now seems like ancient history. He still found mountain folks hunting for ginseng and ramps and leeks.

    Take another step back to read Walking with Spring about a late '40s thru hike and the mountain people and culture was still intact, including driving livestock to the balds during the summers.
    This reminds me of Eric Ryback who thruhiked the AT back in 1969 at the age of 17. As far as I know the only written account of this event can be found in this two volume set---

    Hiking Book 003-L.jpg

    I think he used an old big Kelty pack. See---

    http://www.pbase.com/image/112135376

    https://aadl.org/taxonomy/term/73520

  15. #15

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    Wow - Great to see, and Very cool! Thanks for posting those up!

    u.w.

  16. #16
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    Default

    oof. even being from quebec, i couldnt stand that cold! looks like the top of the everest out there.
    great pics

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Do backpackers still pull these kind of overnight winter trips in the Whites????
    Heading out for one on Wednesday.

  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by CalebJ View Post
    Heading out for one on Wednesday.
    I know there's the VFFT forum but is there a online source for reading about overnight winter backpacking trips in the Whites???

  19. #19

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    Ford Maverick?

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    I know there's the VFFT forum but is there a online source for reading about overnight winter backpacking trips in the Whites???
    I don't know. Most people these days just do day hikes to bag peaks. The RMC Gray Knob cabin is a popular winter overnight spot as it's heated, as is Carter Notch (but the bunk house isn't) and Zealand Hut. Not a lot of people go out and actually camp in the snow. But there are some decent placers to go which aren't extreme.

    Camping above tree line is still as rare today as it was in 1972. It really isn't a good idea.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

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