Tent – Basecamp Vintage & Archives

King-Seeley Thermos Co. Pop Tent – Designed by Bill Moss ~ Early 1960s.

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Rob Drews

I haven’t yet found a lot to support this other than similar tents listed as such, but should the internet turn out to be telling the truth, this here is an early Bill Moss designed tent. I see this tent at the crossroads of traditional and modern camping. That intersection being the use of old school materials such as heavy canvas and vinyl, with modern construction of slim, adjoining poles creating a freestanding structure.

Construction of the tent includes interlocking six fiberglass poles, the top piece fixed into a mount, that when compressed, bows the poles outward into grommets at the bottom creating a freestanding dome tent. A large bolt at the top along with the internal locking lever, provide the stable tension and a means of adjusting it ever so slightly.

It’s easy to see early flashes of Moss’s legendary design in the construction and maybe the beginnings of a signature red color in the pole sleeves.

King-Seeley Thermos Co. Pop Tent - Designed by Bill Moss — Unlocked Position

Sierra Designs Superflash 2 man 4 season tent

Posted on May 25, 2019May 25, 2019 by Rob Drews

Good example of this somewhat iconic tent. Not free-standing but keeps itself up when staked at the corners. Very sturdy when rain fly is pulled over the top. Fly comes all the way to the ground. Guy lines provided added steadiness in any weather situation. Great shape. Allows two occupants to sit fully upright with plenty of room to spare over head. Tabs in the corners of the ceiling lead me to believe a gear hammock was available for inside. Not a ton of space for gear with tow occupants and only enough vestibule for the rain fly for boots, and other odds and ends not needed inside.

Sierra Designs Superflash 2 man 4 season tent

Holubar Royalite II Tent

Posted on July 12, 2016September 29, 2016 by Rob Drews

Classic and iconic design can be found in this early 70s Holubar Royalight II tent. The example seen here is unfortunately without the rain fly that would have accompanied it. The model was a semi-traditional A-frame style tent with adjoining shock-cord laced poles up front and a single pole down the center of the foot of the tent. Tent can be vented at the front and foot through screen lined windows.

The 1973 Backpacker Magazine “Tent Issue” (issue 3) praises the tent for top-notch construction quality but goes on to say, “The beautiful construction quality makes the tent’s shortcomings that much more frustrating.” Sighting the fit of the rain fly, door zipper placements and weight. The article goes on to praise Holubar’s new tent, the Chateau as a better design.

The North Face Bullfrog Two Man Backpacking Tent

Posted on August 20, 2015September 29, 2016 by Rob Drews

Vintage The North Face Brown Label Bullfrog Two Man Backpacking Tent

1980s The North Face Bullfrog tent. This is a later “brown label” model, a label that was used into the early mid eighties. I would classify the tent as a two-man, three season tent. Tent is a three pole free-standing tent. Sometimes referred to as a “bent pole” model as the shock cord poles are not perfectly straight when linked together. Two poles crisscross from the corners with another looping from side to side around the front for an easy yet sturdy structure. The rain fly includes a decent size vestibule. Zippered opening into the vestibule and through the fly screen and nylon door. Inside venting flaps are closed by Velcro in a weight saving exercise.

Tent measures:
94″ head to toe
45″ high at entrance
54″ wide at entrance

Weighs approximately:
6 lbs.

Vintage 1975 JanSport Mountain Dome Tent.

Posted on January 23, 2015September 30, 2016 by Rob Drews

This is a Jansport Mountain Dome Tent. As I’ver read it’s the model used by the American assent on K2 in 1975. This early Geodesic tent has features making it befitting of an ascent on the second highest mountain in the world. Those features include an additional tunnel style door and vents. A full covering fly with cut outs for additional guy lines from the tent poles. Snow piled on the flaps around the bottom helped keep the tent anchored in extreme conditions. The poles are original and fit together in individual sections,there’s no shock cord connecting the segments of each of the three poles. The sections are made of a dense plastic or possibly fiber and resin material. I can imagine trying to fit them together, fumbling with them in a K2 basecamp, but they work.

The tent is of course made from nylon. A fine ripstop version up top and a heavy coated nylon on the bottom. The thickness of the bottom would keep out melting snow and reduce the need for a ground cloth. The full fly is made of a tightly woven nylon to be water and wind resistant. The color block pattern is wild and right in line with early JanSport design and marketing.

Tent measures approximately 69″ inches across at its widest and 52″ tall at it’s tallest. I would classify it as a three-man, four-season tent. In total it weighs approximately 10lbs.

Cari-Kit Two Man Backpacking tent – early 1970s

Posted on November 21, 2013September 30, 2016 by Rob Drews

This two-man tent is constructed using two poles at front one at rear. The front poles fit together with loops at the top and support the tent body which is ran up over the crossed loops and pulled taut with a staked cord. The single rear pole is shorter and is secured by top and bottom grommets and staked down with a cord. The tent comes to a high point at the front and is only about half as tall at the foot. The tent has a rain fly, but does not offer a fully enclosed vestibule. It would most likely be considered a two or three season tent.

I received this tent from the original owner who said it was purchased from the original Holubar store in Boulder, Colo. in the early 70s. The tent bears a similarity to Holubar tents of the era and has good reason. Cari-Kit was the label originally used on Holubar’s line of sew-it-yourself products in 1972. The name was later abandoned and the kits rebranded as Holubar Sew-It-Yourself Kits.

Other popular kit producers of the day include: Frostline, Altra, Eastern Mountain Sports, Country Ways, Mountain Adventure, Sundown and Plain Brown Wrapper. EMS enjoys continued success though the production of kits has since ceased. A newly resurected Holubar label produces fashionable and functional pieces in homage to the company name

Measures approx:

90″ long
60″ across
51″ high at front

Weighs approx:
6.5 lbs

This tent is available for sale.

1960s Gerry Single-man Backpacking Tent

Posted on June 5, 2013September 30, 2016 by Rob Drews

Gerry Cunningham is arguably the father of light weight camping and that’s the slogan used on this 1960s single man tent. The company he founded lived light weight, innovation and quality and proudly displayed this on their products, books and in their marketing. “warmth without the weight” is another slogan displayed on products of this era.

This innovative-for-its day tent is constructed using piece-together aluminum poles, two front, and one rear. The poles do not use shock cords. Front poles fit into a looped cross member at front and grommets in the rear. The tent goes up easily, but is not free-standing like later dome tents so it’s staked down at the corners and with front and rear guy lines. Includes rain fly and has a front vestibule on the tent body making it good for three or four seasons depending on the type of climate the user was in.

It packs up small at just over 12 inches in length and weighing approximately 5 lbs. Constructed it measures approximately:

78″ long

48″ wide

43″ high at front

Holubar Tiny Tent

Posted on September 14, 2012September 17, 2012 by Rob Drews

The Holubar Tiny Tent circa early 1960s is very simple, slightly glorified pup tent. The floor and lower edges of the tent are a mustard colored heavy Nylon. The Nylon is poly urethane (or similar) coated, this coating is slightly cracked in some places but in decent shape. The upper is made from a heavy cotton blend. Front supports come from two three-piece poles that fix into grommets at the corners and loop at the top. The back pole is a single piece that fits into grommets top and bottom. Tent and poles were originally sold separately as the tent can be set up using sticks, ski poles, guy lines or an ice axe. The front door is secured by two zippers starting at each bottom corner and meeting at the peak. There is also a fly screen that has one zipper going from the viewers bottom left corner to the peak. There is no zipper along the floor for the screen, the material is instead about 6″ longer to meet the floor and keep out all but the most determined intruders.

Measures:
29″ high at front
16″ high at foot
30″ across
90″ long

Weighs approx: 4.5 lbs with stakes

Sierra Designs Starflight Two-man Backpacking Tent – Berkeley California

Posted on September 7, 2012April 25, 2013 by Rob Drews

Berkeley era Sierra designs two-man two or three season asymmetrical tepee style tent. Features a two pole construction. Poles fit into grommets at the base of the tent then connect at the top through and elastic cord with the use of a heavy plastic pin joint. Two cords at the corners of the foot end of the ten running through grommets anchor that end up and out. The body has a half-moon zip fly screen door and Velcro closing outer door. There is also a small screen window on the top of the tent body about 3/4 of the way up from the foot to the peak. Tent rain fly stakes around from the base resting on the peak of the poles the fly door is Velcro closed as well.

Tent and fly are numbered 051302 and 050601 respectively.

Measures:
53″ high at peak
97.5″ long
58″ wide
25″ long by 5.5″ wide when packed

Weighs approx: 5 lbs

Vintage EMS Easter Mountain Sports Ripstop Nylon Tarp

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Rob Drews

Ripstop Nylon Tarp by EMS. This 8.5 x 10 three-piece ripstop tarp has been has five 1″ wide nylon loops per side. Not sure if the loops are original to the tarp or a later addition for making a specific shelter.

The blue label was the original used by EMS in the late 60s when the company started, I’d estimate this tarp is from right around 1970. Also seen here are a smaller EMS stuff sack as well as the Alpine stuff sack.