I just picked up a replacement backpack after my old Kelty

 up and died on me a year or so back.




I snagged a vintage one on eBay for short money and it is a gently used duplicate of the one that gave me good service for over 30 years. It looked pretty goood in the pictures and I suppose it ought to be pretty good when I get it because most stuff on eBay is as advertised.



At my age I am not going to be living out of it like I did back in my mid twenties of course, but it'll get some good use as a backpack is a damned sight easier to go up and down a ladder with than the traditional seabag is. I've been doing that for the past year or so since the old Kelty died.



One of the guys told me that there are all sorts of newer models out there and if I were going to be doing a lot of hiking or I was going back on the open road I sure would have at least looked into a newer one because I imagine that the ergonomics have improved over the past 30 or so years.



Someone mentioned this and I told him that when you got down to what I planned to use this pack for it was ideal. Of course, he wanted to argue because he doesn't think and ask the first question one with at least half a brain ask generally asks when someone shows him a new piece of equipment.



"What are you going to use it for?"



He pointed out that the place for parking an ice axe was not as good as the newer big money model and that the tie-down for the sleeping mat should have been somewhere else and that the straps should have the newer adjustments on them and on and on.



Then I asked him if it would do the job of hauling a bunch of dirty socks, underwear and a set of oily clothes down a ladder and he looked stunned as he humbly answered "I suppose so."



I have no plans of climbing Mount Everest or K-9 in the near future, not have the Boy Scouts asked me to go to Philmont with them and I doubt they will. SEAL team 6 isn't asking me to join them, much to my disappointment, nor do I see myself joining an alpine rescue team saving stranded climbers.



I do see myself for the next few years coming and going to and from work and climbing up and down the ladder as I board and debark the vessel I work on, though and I suppose the vintage Kelty will do the job nicely.



Besides, I won't be fumbling around looking for things in a new style pack because thirty years of habit will not have to be relearned. That's good for something, too.



As for the ice axe holder, the kid is right. The newer ones make an ice axe accessible. The old one is a little more clumsy so I guess that means I won't be tempted to carry an ice axe with me and that is a good thing because if I had one handy I would be tempted to whack someone like that stupid kid on the head with it.



my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/