Your first tent ...

[GrannyJen]

1972 or 73 in Ireland somewhere. I was only 6 then, but I've still got the same family camper van.
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Brilliant!! Tent's may come and go, VW's only go, on and on and on.

 

[66tim99]

We're real softies compared to most of the posts here. My first family camping trip was to France in the mid '60s, in a large, blue, two bedroom frame tent. My dad was so uncomfortable he never used it again. Penney and I borrowed it from time to time, to use with our first car, a matching blue Vauxhall Chevette, and it went with us on a few European trips in the seventies. Our little Fiat x1/9 in the early '80's was far too small to carry it, so we bought a small lightweight two person ridge tent which neatly went in the front boot. The small person in front of the tent in the first picture is my little broView attachment 73746View attachment 73747View attachment 73748View attachment 73749

Love an X1/9!

 

[briwy]

First tent some old canvas thing. Wooden poles, no groundsheet. Me and the ex did what's now got the posh name NC500 in a knackered Cooper S with hardly any floor. Leaked like a sieve so kept rubbing soap on it and ended up with a clean tent and suds everywhere. Cooked on a blowlamp lent to us by the father in law. Fun times.
Last tent, super lightweight Terra Nova. Camp at bottom of the Vignemale glacier in the Pyrenees. Our old chap next door neighbour in Cauterets said as a boy the glacier came another 100m down the valley past where we camped. Unreal how it's melted. Climbed the small peak to left of the main one the next day.

 

[GrannyJen]

First tent some old canvas thing. Wooden poles, no groundsheet. Me and the ex did what's now got the posh name NC500 in a knackered Cooper S with hardly any floor. Leaked like a sieve so kept rubbing soap on it and ended up with a clean tent and suds everywhere. Cooked on a blowlamp lent to us by the father in law. Fun times.
Last tent, super lightweight Terra Nova. Camp at bottom of the Vignemale glacier in the Pyrenees. Our old chap next door neighbour in Cauterets said as a boy the glacier came another 100m down the valley past where we camped. Unreal how it's melted. Climbed the small peak to left of the main one the next day.

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Brian, we both share the same heritage

 

[clarinetbcn]

First tent some old canvas thing. Wooden poles, no groundsheet. Me and the ex did what's now got the posh name NC500 in a knackered Cooper S with hardly any floor. Leaked like a sieve so kept rubbing soap on it and ended up with a clean tent and suds everywhere. Cooked on a blowlamp lent to us by the father in law. Fun times.
Last tent, super lightweight Terra Nova. Camp at bottom of the Vignemale glacier in the Pyrenees. Our old chap next door neighbour in Cauterets said as a boy the glacier came another 100m down the valley past where we camped. Unreal how it's melted. Climbed the small peak to left of the main one the next day.

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Classic breathtaking view of the north face of Vignemale! The retreat of Pyrenees glaciers that I’ve seen in the last 30 years is shocking, especially Aneto. View from Vignemale looking toward Gavernie and Monte Perdido in August 2018:

 

[GrannyJen]

Classic breathtaking view of the north face of Vignemale! The retreat of Pyrenees glaciers that I’ve seen in the last 30 years is shocking, especially Aneto. View from Vignemale looking toward Gavernie y Monte Perdido in August 2018:

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A beautiful pic.

Mountains are never conquered, they just give you permission to climb them from time to time, but can shake you off anytime.

They are also natures barometers, tell you so eloquently what is happening to the world.

 

[Azteccamper]

1972 or 73 in Ireland somewhere. I was only 6 then, but I've still got the same family camper van.
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I am sure we had one of these in early 70’s bought from MFI!
Took hours to put up, not very waterproof and can’t remember when one us 5 kids weren’t crying Disaster struck in Fishguard when it blow away, buckled and torn - never used again.

 

[OGII]

Phoenix Freeranger for me. 1.5kg of brilliance.

It's still going strong after 34 years.
Some bloke (not me) even wrote a blog piece about them. Nerdy even by our standards. http://maceachain.blogspot.com/2009/04/phoenix-phreeranger_22.html?m=1

Interesting to read the Saunders name mentioned, my first mountain marathon was the Saunders Lakeland, followed by the KIMM.

 

[John.s]

First real camping was at 16 we were issued a poncho and with 6 bungees made a bivie . Back then I was told that 'any fool can be uncomfortable while camping', so I now have a Cali.

 

[AlisonM]

First camped with my parents in a green canvas ridge tent. Then when in the university mountaineering club borrowed the orange vango mk4 whenever we camped in all weathers including over New Year in Scottish snow and rain. They were heavy to carry . The first tent I bought was an Ultimate Phasor Dome lots more headroom than the vango. We now have a Terra Nova 3 man and a North Face 2 man lightweight for backpacking. The Cali is therefore luxury for us.