UKC

Karrimor Hot Ice pack 

the original catalog 

John. It's beautiful.

Superb. You've even got the same type of quick release belt buckle.

Like.  

Excellent! I'm thinking wistfully of my 1989 Berghaus Ice Star, lime/purple with the side z-compression straps. Simple, light, comfortable, strong.  Would be great one for an update - without the silly ice axe attachments that fell off, but with some bungy cords instead...

b

All hail the Alpine Luddites!

The label is the PERFECT detail.

Congrats, CB

Did yours have the yellow and black stripey compression straps? They were so cool. I think I got mine for my 18 birthday, so 1991 and it did ally winter climbing for the next decade. In fact I know where it is, even if it's not in this country! I'll maybe retrieve it this summer and John can copy it!  😀

i need an old sac to make a pattern.

the Berghaus buckle. unfortunately i have to buy these in europe and ship to the US. cost on these is crazy.

Mine is just like the one on the left! Great packs, or at least it is in my memory.

Mine is in my partner's grandparents' (who are long deceased) half-unoccupied house in central Finland, stuffed full of my family's cross country ski boots which years ago when we moved to the UK, we decided weren't going to be much needed in Sheffield! We've not been back to Finland since before the pandemic, but I'm going this summer. If I remember I'll bring the pack back with me.

I have still got the original version. Not sure exactly when it came out. Early 1980's? The only fault with the originals is that they only came with a single axe attachment.

Yep, still got my original (if now somewhat modified but still serviceable) blue Hot Ice, and it’s still my trad gear rucksack - I’ve no doubt it will outlast me! I bought a nice new Gregory to take to Kaly, just in case the Hot Ice disintegrated, but since then it’s lived in the airing cupboard, while the Hot Ice is still going strong 💪. Have you any plans to manufacture and sell your rekindled version in the UK? 👍

We still regularly use my wife's Berghaus Delta which she got for her 13th birthday back in the 1980s. It has the same unique quick release buckle. Unfortunately its rigid plastic ski holders don't fit the  wider modern touring skis.

All three of our children have dragged that pack through Sarek national park in Sweden on at least one tour before getting their own proper trekking backpacks. No point spending tons on rucksacks they will grow out of before the next season!

Unfortunately I then bought another Berghaus sack (Arete?) about 12 years ago when our oldest daughter went on her first trip to Norway with a youth group from our church parish. That sack fell apart within days, fortunately the group had a sufficiently large roll of duct tape... Never again.

CB

yes. i sell to customers all over the world. I have one shop in Llanberis that is placing an order for the Hot Ice.

I really regret binning my purple Alpiniste almost 20 years ago after a rapid-fire series of house moves. At the time I bought it, in 80 I think, or maybe 81, my mate bought a posh Berghaus with plastic quick release buckles and everything. The Alpiniste still had the old metal style and I was envious but now I would treasure it. It was my bag for everything, including hitchhiking for years, bought alongside a Whillans harness and EBs, both long gone, but also alongside a screw gate crab that is still on my rack. The long foam insert had PLEASE written on it in big letters, and once helped me to get me from Mallaig to Wiltshire in one lift.

Excellent, I’ll check it out! 👍

I have a Berghaus Dart bought in the early 1990s.  It used to be bright pink but has faded to a pale, pinkish grey.

All buckles and cords are still intact but the fabric on its base is now so thin you can see daylight through it.  It’s seen a lot of trips and abuse.

That's exactly the one! I thought you would pop up on this thread as I remember you mentioning this pack before. Mine was bought with the proceeds of my Saturday job at the garage before I did my A levels, from Cotswolds in Shepherds Bush. I probably used it daily from 1989 to 1999 either commuting or in the hills, and it had another 10 good years of mountain use after that. 

It was IMO very close to a perfect winter sack. Capacity was about right, the alloy frame was minimal and removable, the back contact fabric was comfortable enough for summer with about the right amount of padding to make a difference without too much weight, the compartment was a sensible shape, and the colours were obviously cool....

The sewn on diamond shaped plastic buckles for the axe shafts were too close together and the thread wore out on one of them after a few years. But the top lid pocket actually worked, as did the side compression (even if the compression straps were still way too stiff even after 20+ years of use). I wore a few holes in the cordura on the base eventually. I think I replaced the drawcords  with accessory cord, allegedly so I had some tat that might be enough to ab off (yeah right). I also added a couple of plastic gear racks to each side of the hip belt, which were really handy for Scottish winter/trad stuff.

If we went for a remake, what to change? The rubbish axe shaft holders, which would be easy. Better abrasion resistance for the base. Some better way to carry crampons than the old straps by the logo? These days I don't really climb much (many could argue I never did!) so the lure of padded hip belts and accessible storage is strong, but not on a pack like this....

cheers

b

I have one exactly like the red/purple one on the right.

You can have it, decent condition, but it's here in Australia  

I must have bought it in '93 or so when I lived in Cambridge. I used it on at least two trips to the Karakoram in 95 and 96. The main porter I used both trips, Arif, loved it and coveted it like mad, but I was so skint back then I couldn't afford to give it away. He liked it cos Mick Fowler and Crag Jones had had one(s) like it when they climbed the mountain that I was trying in 91 or 92. Unfortunately it never brought me the same success.

Damo,

send me an email. jc@alpineluddites.com

Can you do a Berghaus AB65???

Iain.

I still have mine!!