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FOR MORE INFORMATION: wildernessexperience.net
Wilderness Experience, Inc.
Look carefully and you'll see climbers on the iceberg. Photo is from a Wilderness Experience sponsored expedition to Antarctica.
To see the complete Wilderness Experience catalog click on the cover
1972 Wilderness Experience Trips
1973 Pack Catalog
Winter 1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978 Sleeping Bags
1978 Tents
1979 Packs
1979 Apparel
1982
1983
1985
1985 Mountain Travel Equipment Catalog
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Letters and emails
After posting this Wilderness Experience web page I have received a number of emails from people who remember the early days of the company or have owned Wilderness Experience products. Following is one of those emails:
Hi -
I found your site with Google, based on "Wilderness Experience
Chatsworth" as my search criteria. I didn't think I'd find anything
at all, and I'm pleased to have found your contact data. Please feel
free to share with anyone that may have had a hand in the company.
My parents purchased for me one of your backpacks in what must have
been 1983, if I recall my history correctly. It's a smallish internal
frame pack (two side pockets, one front pocket) with plastic webbing
clips, very dark maroon. I used it for the Boy Scouts, and it saw
quite a bit of action in my youth and teen years. I then took it with
me to college, and it became my pack there for various trips around
the world on vacations. Holding up well, it then started to be my
primary travel pack when I was first employed in the early 90's with a
company that kept me on the road quite a bit, and even as I found that
I had the funding to replace it, I discovered I had no reason to. It
was the right size, all the hardware worked, and it traveled well.
So here I am, approaching 40 and the backpack I take for granted is
still going strong, though I did have to have a rip mended and the
belt support buckle (lost, not broken) replaced. That bag has been on
what by now is probably more than 1500 trips, and has logged millions
of miles (most via aircraft, but let's not be fussy.) It's been
rained on, trampled, scuffed, thrown, yanked, and hoisted more times
than I can count but has shrugged off the abuse. I still travel about
30% of my time, and that backpack is typically what I take with me
wherever I go.
My father (once a suit-and-tie business traveler)
often looks at it with a bit of distaste but I reply to him "How many
suitcases have you had in the same number of years that I've had this
backpack?" and his inner spendthrift takes over and he grudgingly
agrees that it probably makes more sense from an economic and
convenience standpoint.
It seems a bit strange that I've never really thought about it
until this evening when I looked over at the bag and the very faded
tag (which seems to be the only component that shows wear) and decided
to look up the company that made it. I can't say that I've owned much
that I use regularly for 26 years - most of the things in that
category are tools made of metal. For a fabric and plastic item to
persist for that long - nothing short of a miracle.
So in short:
thanks for a great product - I have a real love for gear that stands
the test of time, and I'm sorry I can't buy a duplicate.
JT
More stories from users of Wilderness Experience products
Read a review of someone's 25 year old Wilderness Experience Quicksilver backpack
Go back to Wilderness Expereince Page One
Read about Jim's work at Eastpak & Kipling
Go to "About Jim"
Read the Wilderness Experience Story in SNEWS Magazine
Read other stories about the history of the outdoor business
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