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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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Had a yak works gortex suit back in the eighties- skied in that "fag-bag" for years!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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My focus is on The Bombshelter??? Present tense correct here?
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Fat Ba$tard
Social climber
St. Paul, MN
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I may have posted this previously, but here's a bombshelter in color.
Back side with rainfly.
One of these days I'll get around to photographing my Jensen and Jensen knockoff collection and will post photos.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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The Bombshelter.
Nice.
Not your run-of-the-mill A-Frame tent.
All kinds of sexy curves and triangles 'n sh#t.
Ridgepole, snow flaps, zippered cooking hole, the works.
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Fat Ba$tard
Social climber
St. Paul, MN
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Also a removable frost liner - not in the photos.
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Fat Ba$tard
Social climber
St. Paul, MN
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Jul 10, 2009 - 01:51pm PT
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I believe your Jansport was the Greatsack model. This is the early version with optional side pockets, the later version had a horseshoe zipper opening on the side for the bottom compartment rather than a horizontal zippered opening.
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Fat Ba$tard
Social climber
St. Paul, MN
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Jul 10, 2009 - 01:59pm PT
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Here's a Yak Pak Troi Jours.
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gimmeslack
Trad climber
VA
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Jul 10, 2009 - 02:34pm PT
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YES that's the Jansport!
It wasn't nearly as burly as the Yak or Jensen's but in truth, it carried nicely and was a good design (rip off?). And yes, mine had the side zip and no extra pockets. Of interest, I ebayed it to a Japanese collector for a very reasonable $ years ago. Nevertheless, I kinda miss it.
Funny thing is just yesterday I got my new CCW pack delivered. It really is BITD quality and surely will be with me for years to come. I hope companies like that are always around...
Thanks ;-)
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Fat Ba$tard
Social climber
St. Paul, MN
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Jul 10, 2009 - 03:27pm PT
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I sold my greatsack on ebay hoping to score some decent coin and didn't do well on the auction. So it goes, sometimes you get lucky on ebay and sometimes you don't.
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oldcragster
Gym climber
WA
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Jul 13, 2009 - 11:15pm PT
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I met Don in 1966 in Sam Mack meadow. My younger brother and I got dropped off by my dad to spend a week climbing in the Palisades. Hiked up in one day to morraine and scurried over in the morning to do Mt. Gayley. I was new at this and my brother was about 14 at the time, a belay slave. We freaked out and headed out, stopping at the meadow where we saw this group practicing. Decided to camp and rest for the day. As we watched and visited several things came to the fore. First, Don and Bob Swift said we had to keep our distance since every else had paid, and of course we couldn't do anything with them (top-rope, belay, etc.) Oh did we watch and learn. I learned that a shop in Santa Monica sold me all the old 'heavy' stuff - european biners (steel), soft-iron pitons and so forth. It wasn't till a year later I found out about Chouinard Equip. in Ventura, 12 miles from my home. By the time I did I was in Sacramento in the Air Force. Anyway, we acclimatized and learned so much from watching thanks to their kindness that we hiked up behind them at the end of the week, and while they did the Swiss Arete on Mt. Sill, we did its North Face, thrilled to death at our transformation thanks to Mr. Jensen. Actually, I think Bob was guiding the arete while Don was on N. Palisade with his team. He gave me his address, in Fresno I think, and I did write him to thank him and he wrote back. I was shocked when I heard he had died in Scotland. He had the most amazing calves I have ever seen. I wanted to be an alpinist, for a short time, no doubt because of his positive influence....so its great to read everyone's memories of him. Thanks. Gene Drake
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gimmeslack
Trad climber
VA
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Jul 16, 2009 - 01:29pm PT
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YakPak was on ebay last week. didn't make reserve and peaked around $50 IIRC.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jul 16, 2009 - 01:57pm PT
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I believe this was the prototype I tested for Jan...
When Al Givler fell out of the helo on a 'rescue' his back was possibly saved by the carefully packed Jensen he was wearing.
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Ray-J
Social climber
east L.A. vato...
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Great thread!
Doug, where would we be w/out you?
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
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DR -
Definitely more history on the pack evolution - most would find it rather dull.
However, yes, back in 78 Vern, Claude, AB and TC were found lurking on the streets of Boseman (after a "interesting" visit to the North) in front of the Dana factory. Gleason showed up after being notified by the cops that some skulkers were drooling while window shopping the outlet. We attempted to buy 4 packs on a maxxed credit card.
Gleason understood. His early stuff was sterling.
Great pack. It might be the one in the photo?
The Redline was just a lark. What a fun time to explore the Sierra.
Thanks for all the encouragement!!
Sorry, I don't stay current on this ST stuff so comm is discontinuous.
TC
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Ray-J
Social climber
east L.A. vato...
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Had an Ultima thule (navy blue w/ light green canvas backpanel)
That I bought as a used rental from A-16 in the 70's.
It worked as advertised :)
And I took the thing all over western sierra for a couple summers.
Cool pack, cool idea.
Great hearing from all the contributors/developers etc.
Remember really wanting a yakpak and thinking the 'biners
On the shoulder straps was cool.
Thanks again everyone.
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hooblie
climber
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skulkers indeed. don't under estimate the interest level in your remembrance fuzzy. '78 was the year of my transplant from the cauldron of yosemite climbing to developing the alpine walls in montana. i was treated generously as well by dana upon my visit to the shop. i came away with a bounty of prototypes that didn't fly, got a little treatise on design philosophy, and visited the home front where i learned the the terms rugrat and curtain climber with a convincing performance by the demonstration team.
a few years later i enjoyed his comedic talents as we watched the world comps at snowbird. at that time i expressed my admiration for the jensen design, and although he had produced many iterations of that design as his craft progressed thru the years, he made it pretty darn clear that nothing of the sort was going to be forthcoming from him ever again. i was a little crestfallen.
it would have been a revelation to run into you guys at that time because i would have recognized each of your crew from yosemite days, and the novelty of seeing old familiar faces out of context would have animated me right out of my typical stealth mode.
i'm hoping your trip was winter of '78-'79, as that was a banner season of abundant powder that locals still talk about
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AuDoubleEagle
Mountain climber
Tucson, AZ
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Aug 29, 2009 - 06:17pm PT
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The Yakpak S/N: 8799845 obtained in the mid 70's has served me well over the decades in scouting, explorers, search & rescue even through several trips into the Grand Canyon. My son is starting scouting & we may reverse engineer this pack and build 3 or 4 for family members. The pack strap suspension system, patent no. 3,964,654 is the best I have found & used to date.
The significant advantage is when your raising your arms above shoulder height blood flow in the arms, shoulders, deltoids, lats continues while balancing the load. I recall SAR mission on Mt. Hood for lost climbers where the temperatures dropped, winds increased, and you can use that pack for a half bivouc bag / shelter.
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Ray-J
Social climber
socal
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Sep 23, 2009 - 03:11pm PT
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Bump for us gear heads and for DR's
And other great writing and posts.
Hey DR, many of us payed attention to
What you wrote about this BITD and,
It made a difference.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 31, 2009 - 07:40pm PT
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A classic shot of the Harvard crew en route to Huntington, 1965. Left to right Dave Roberts, Don jensen, Matt Hale and Ed Bernd. From a profile on Dave Roberts in Rock & Ice, May/June 1989.
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dogtown
Trad climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
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Oct 31, 2009 - 07:57pm PT
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Love your posts Doug! still looking in the mail box for your book?
Bruce.
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