vintage rucksacks

[David]

Hi - was just thinking - for no reason whatsoever - about the rucksacks previous generations used. I remember well using the 70's aluminium framed lightweight rucksack with nylon bag and ali frame that was based on the moon landings concept of having light weight at the bottom, heavy stuff at the top and that heavy weight above the shoulders for balance

like this one, though mine was an orange red



but if you go further back weight didn't seem to be a consideration at all, I don't know why.

Here is the front and back of a 1920's Swiss military pack! Mad as pants, half a small cow plus heavy leather!




Then there is the classic 1900's alpine style with a really uncomfortable metal frame at waist height that really digs in!



So were they different to us, in not being concerned with weight? Discomfort? And if so, why? There were plenty of light fabrics back then, they just didn't use them. Mind you, they did go hiking in wool suits with waistcoats!!

 

[wayfarer]

David I had the first one in the attic until last year, hiked from Athens to Ireland in '76. I had the last one in '70 to '74 for hiking in Ireland, it was a bugger when it got wet.

 

[pudgypilgrim]

I was thinking about this just yesterday, not only the weight of the rucksacks/backpacks themselves, but of the stuff they hauled around in/on them. For my year in graduate school I had no furniture so slept in an old US Army Mountain Division mummy bag that someone had abandoned at our house long ago. It wasn't just insanely heavy (if it had been stuffed with whole ducks it couldn't have weighed more than that down did), but it also went into such a giant roll that it made a perfectly suitable chair for daytime use.

Those photos are great.