What is the oldest piece of equipment or clothing you have still in continuous use?
Mine is a set of HH Lifa that must be thirty years old and are known as smelly helley for obvious reasons. Shortly after I purchased these Helly brought out the mkII version to combat the smell problem and the range has now expanded beyond recognition. Mine are incredibly thin – or am I fatter now – so I look like an extra from Avatar when I put them on. They still work though so not be binning them anytime soon. I tried the latest tech version with Merino and plastic but not the same. Holding warm sweat next to the skin doesn’t work for me.
Wonder if I can get another thirty years?
I've also got an old Patagonia windproof I still use for cycling and running (when I do any!) I got it for my 20th birthday, so 20 years old now. They really seem to make stuff that lasts.
I've a Troll windproof/showerproof smock from about 1984 (or whenever Rock and Run first opened their doors in Ambleside), used it for climbing, running and biking.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
I've got a Mag mor 30l daysack I still use that I bought when I was
16, so 33 years use there, a Buffalo mtn shirt a year or two younger,
Still going but looking bedraggled ( and tight ) also a summer &
Winter pair of buffalo slpg bags that still give good service
Mariner wrote:What is the oldest piece of equipment or clothing you have still in continuous use?
Mine is a set of HH Lifa that must be thirty years old and are known as smelly helley for obvious reasons. Shortly after I purchased these Helly brought out the mkII version to combat the smell problem and the range has now expanded beyond recognition. Mine are incredibly thin – or am I fatter now – so I look like an extra from Avatar when I put them on. They still work though so not be binning them anytime soon. I tried the latest tech version with Merino and plastic but not the same. Holding warm sweat next to the skin doesn’t work for me.
Wonder if I can get another thirty years?
I had a HH lifa same as you that I binned after 25 years and like you do not like the modern equivalent. Oldest thing I'm using now is erm, me.
I'm only 31, so can't compete with you old boys Although saying that, Ian thought I was in my 40's
Oldest piece of kit is my Arcteryx hard face fleece, still looks like new despite being ten years old. Bought with my first months wages after finishing Uni.
Actually, thinking about it, my Suunto compass is at least 15 years old and still points north
My track bike has some venerable parts on it: vintage Brooks Professional saddle, Cinelli quill stem and drop bars, all as old or older than me (nearly but not quite vet cat).
I also have three pairs of Bridgedale socks that must be 12 years+ and still going strong.
Second ever batch of Alpkit Pipedream 400s back when they were better goosedown and made of pertex! Yeah, that's getting on a bit now (relative to my age!). Took me a while to save for it back then...
I'm 27 so haven't got anything as old as most of the above.
I've got one of those cheap flatbed gas stoves that I "borrowed" off my mum (she was a traditional upholsterer and used it to melt animal glue for restoring antique furniture - absolutely stank!) to take to Leeds festival about 10 years ago. It's not high tech or remotely lightweight, but it's been on every camping trip, bike event that requires camping, countless day trips for making coffee in the car, and I did even take it on a bike tour once, long before bikepacking was invented and I'd even heard of lightweight gear.
I've also got a 1952 Middlemore leather saddle, which I love, but it's relatively new to me.
ooh, one for us old'uns! Oldest bit of kit in regular (almost daily) use is a canvas military shoulder bag issued about 38 years ago. My regular bivi bag is an early Phoenix Gore-Tex one and my regular tent is also a Phoenix (Phreak), both I'd guess from the 80s and both in remarkably good condition.
We go out into the hills to lose ourselves, not to get lost. You are only lost if you need to be somewhere else and if you really need to be somewhere else then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with.
I have a Patagonia synchilla snap-t pullover and a backbowl jacket I got In the late 80s or early 90s. Backbowl leaks now, though still a good wind proof, snap-t is a bit out of shape at cuffs/waistband but other than that pretty much intact!
Gari wrote: Backbowl leaks now, though still a good wind proof, snap-t is a bit out of shape at cuffs/waistband but other than that pretty much intact!
So are we allowed count second hand/hand me down gear then? Or just stuff we purchased to use.... if so I have a very, very old camera I use (1929)
I've also a second had Patagonia Snap T from the 80's - no idea how old, but at least 28 ish years....it does not fit me unless I am prepared to eat a lot of cake.
I know, right! If ever there was a candidate for "you get what you pay for" my girlfriend at the time took the p**s for ages as the snap-t cost £55 at the time
I have an old lens dated between 1895-1900 for my half plate camera, Waterhouse stops rather than aperture ring! The camera is a Japanese wetplate camera from early 1900, inc holder.
So are we allowed count second hand/hand me down gear then? Or just stuff we purchased to use.... if so I have a very, very old camera I use (1929)
Didn't mean to raise it in a competitive way just with the frugal note raised on another thread I wondered how long we/I hang on to things because they work.
'Triggers brush' does not count though. You know three new heads and new two handles.
I still cherish my little brass self pressurising Optimus 123 petrol stove from the 80's
Don't carry it much in the summer these days as Stu's little stoves have taken over. Being brass its a heavy thing to lug around by comparison
In the depths of winter it chugs along : cooking meals and heating bothies bothy very nicely
I've a Thermarest bought in the States/Rockies in 1989 that is still going strong - never leaked or punctured, valve still good. My eldest lad slept on it for a week this year.
Also a MSR Whisperlight bought for the same trip that is still going - has been stripped and rebuilt (stove and pump) a couple of times but seen high altitude treks and crappy fuel in various places... still reliable.
Had a Buffalo windshirt that severed me well for years (the old blue one with the attached hood)... finally trashed in the Alps after 20 years service - I grieved it's loss!
GregMay wrote:So are we allowed count second hand/hand me down gear then? Or just stuff we purchased to use.... if so I have a very, very old camera I use (1929)
My best using this rule then I reckons is a set of mole grips that my dad gave me when I was boy, he had bought them back in 1977.
I still use these today.
) also a summer & 
