After over a decade of looking for packs at thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets I finally found a piece from The Great Pacific Iron works. I was relatively quick to discover the model of this frameless backpacking unit as the Ultima Thule. Digging further into some of the nuance of this bag compared to others, I believe its 1974 model. 73 would coincide with the first year of the shop label, but a catalogue for that year states the pack has a yellow duck canvas back. The difference between this and later models being the conjoined top flap strap. The two-to-one design is replaced by two individual straps for the 1975 catalog.
The early 70s were a coming of age period for backpacking and backpacking gear. While most other pack makers were designing and developing lightweight aluminum frame packs for multi night use, Chouinard and co were already bucking the trend. The Ultima Thule was designed for use to, from, and on the crag and slopes. For this reason, they forewent the frame and instead made a pack that hugged the wearers body to help maintain balance and center of gravity. If you’ve ever donned a loaded up frame pack you know the feeling. Load’s sit comfortably off your back but the slightest tip or tilt can have you quickly repositioning your feet below to keep from stumbling. For Chouinard, this instability simply wouldn’t due on the talus and slopes.
What looks like an over-sized day pack is thoughtfully designed with the wearer in mind. The bottom compartment, opens all the way around the waist into what are referred to as “dewlaps”. This compartment was meant to be stuffed full with a sleeping bag and other soft goods to create a firm base for the rest of the load to sit upon. The Velcro belt, enables a nice cinch around the waist and allows the load to ride on the wearer’s hips. “Let your hips shoulder the weight” one pack maker said in their advertisements. The top compartment is separated into to side-by-side silo pockets which is nice for equipment containing fuel, or anything that best rides upright. Reinforcing via rivets and nylon webbing ensured you could stuff this thing like a turkey without it splitting. When packed thoughtfully, it also helps maintain that center of gravity the company was going for. The top flap offers a good amount of space, but has no side gussets, so more practical for maps and smalls. An intentional design meant to keep from top loading weight of the pack.
The material on the pack is pretty standard for the time. A heavy, coated nylon in a royal blue. Perhaps the biggest wow factor, aesthetically at least, comes from the green duck canvas backing which extends from just above the shoulder straps down to the inside of the “dewlaps”. With this pack adhered to he wearer’s back, I am sure the duck canvas offered at least some sweat absorption. Shoulder straps are reinforced with a riveted leather backer and feed down into the body of the pack. There’s an ergonomic crescent shape to them and they’re lightly padded. Standard leather lashing points adorn the body of the bag for side canister compartment attachments, axes, skis, poles or whatever else one would need for the adventure.
This example is rather clean for its age. There’s some dust externally I haven’t quite removed, but the true mark is the condition of that inner nylon coating which breaks down with wear and improper storage. In this pack, it’s about as good as you could hope for. The Rocky Mountaineering cord lock is a fun add-on, probably deserving of some investigation of its own write up at some point.
Basecamp Vintage & Archives 
The absolute best bag ever made, but I’m prejudiced and haven’t tried any others. If your comment about the bag color of the 1973 model is true, I must have bought my bag in 1974. I must say going to the two top flap straps in 1975 was an enormous improvement over the conjoined single strap on my pack. I bought the 1975 model of the Chouinard Ultima Thule for my wife before we married in 1975. We still have both bags, but haven’t been in the backcountry in years. I put around a couple thousand miles on mine back in the day over hill and dale, and building and maintaining trails in the Spanish Peaks Primitive Area in Montana.
I learned quickly how to pack the bag comfortably tight, it stays upright easier, with as much weight down low as possible, with padding between my back and any hard surface. I used straps to hold a 5′ misery whip, cross-cut hand saw, tied in a bow and a shovel for trail work. The side pockets were absolutely essential for the smalls we carried. Other than the tools, no room was wasted on frills, bulk was the main problem – we focused on carrying in quality food because we worked hard on ten day tours, frozen hamburger, pork chops, sausages, steaks and a frozen can of cranberry juice – all wrapped in our down coats. We also carried in two dozen real eggs, canned beef, and tuna, and mayonnaise in a jar, a loaf of OroWheat Honey Wheat Berry bread, Hickory Farms Beef Stick, cheese, real butter, peanut butter and jam. We lived good and started out with 90-95 pound packs – my wife’s smaller pack weighed about 65 pounds and we would eat the food out of her bag first.
We also carried Pulaski’s for trail work, but that didn’t count in the bag’s total weight.
All roads always lead me back to your website and I’m never disappointed. What a great find, write up and Normans story of carrying so much town type heavy food.