EMS Sold -- Again

[peakbagger]

When I moved up in 1987, Ragged Mountain was just a small room in the front of the building where climber hung out. I was there one day when they were doing a demo on a stove on their one and only glass case. The stove overheated the glass on top of the case, it shattered and turned it into a bunch of glass pellets.

I also visited LL Beans when it opened up their first factory outlet outside of Freeport. I got a lot of nice high end gear for cheap as Beans was trying to get into the high end winter gear market. Once it went up to North Conway it never left until it sold. Time it right and they would have a 30% off sale on the discounted gear.

[skiguy]

When I moved up in 1987, Ragged Mountain was just a small room in the front of the building where climber hung out. I was there one day when they were doing a demo on a stove on their one and only glass case. The stove overheated the glass on top of the case, it shattered and turned it into a bunch of glass pellets.

I also visited LL Beans when it opened up their first factory outlet outside of Freeport. I got a lot of nice high end gear for cheap as Beans was trying to get into the high end winter gear market. Once it went up to North Conway it never left until it sold. Time it right and they would have a 30% off sale on the discounted gear.

Nothing really quite compares to a company that started out with just a simple black and white newspaper like catalog and a warehouse like storefront in Bagota, NJ back in 1978 called Campmor. To think they even have a Website now is imaginable.

[maineguy]

Nothing really quite compares to a company that started out with just a simple black and white newspaper like catalog and a warehouse like storefront in Bagota, NJ back in 1978 called Campmor. To think they even have a Website now is imaginable.

I remember Campmor. I used to buy lots of gear from them. I didn't realize that they were still in business.

[Nessmuk]

For many years, and even recently, Campmor has sponsored not one, but two 28' voyageur canoes in the annual Adiorndack 90 mile canoe race.

[TomK]

Hey, any of you old-as-dirt dogs remember Skimiesters in North Woodstock NH? That was a cool place.

From '74 to '76, I'd travel from CT to the Whites each August as part of a group for a week's backpacking.

First place we'd stop was Skimeister to get anything anyone in the group needed. In '74 I got my first plastic coated copies of Maps 5 & 6 from the WMG there (still have 'em) - I couldn't afford an actual copy of the whole guide until the 1976 edition.

Then we'd go to North Conway to stop at EMS and get anything we didn't get at Skimeister. Only then would we go hiking.

TomK

[maineguy]

From June 1968 issue of Appalachia:

[skiguy]

From June 1968 issue of Appalachia:

There were a lot of those Keltys and Gerry Packs around in those days. All with out waist belts until someone had a good idea.
https://youtu.be/VpaqTEGQ94c

[dug]

I remember Campmor. I used to buy lots of gear from them. I didn't realize that they were still in business.

Hated Campor! Catalog carried, seemingly, absolutely everything...but I didn't want to see a drawing of the gear I wanted to see an actual picture!!

[maineguy]

There were a lot of those Keltys and Gerry Packs around in those days. All with out waist belts until someone had a good idea.
https://youtu.be/VpaqTEGQ94c

Now here is a pack that needed a waist belt:

[skiguy]

Hated Campor! Catalog carried, seemingly, absolutely everything...but I didn't want to see a drawing of the gear I wanted to see an actual picture!!

There is a reason they had such great deals at the time. I always was amazed at how some of their gear actually looked cheap in their catalog which was not much more than a paper and pencil sketch when it was actually state of the art gear sold in NJ no less. Yvon and his glossy large format catalogs read like an encyclopedia in comparison if they existed at the time. Campmor had a dirtbag following to a degree which was awesome if you were a high school kid putting together your first rack or pining for that first real Winter sleeping bag. Going to the actual store was an experience also. No fancy merchandizing or displays. Cheap fiberboard shelves, pegboard and throw tables. Roll up your sleeves and jump in. Never knew what you might find. I remember driving six hours just to shop Campmor to get the deals. Of course gas was cheap then.

[skiguy]

Now here is a pack that needed a waist belt:

The Hut Croo still does not use waist belts on the pack boards. My understanding is the reasoning behind it was if the user is about to take a dive the pack can be easily jettisoned before one’s actual body makes contact with the ground. Sort of a built in or actually built off safety feature.

[Andrew]

Campmor was the only place I could afford to buy my Dachstein wool socks and mittens from. Thinking back, it was even with the shipping and handling added in a significant savings. When I ordered replacement sets years later, they were not quite as heavy as the earlier version.

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

The Hut Croo still does not use waist belts on the pack boards. My understanding is the reasoning behind it was if the user is about to take a dive the pack can be easily jettisoned before one’s actual body makes contact with the ground. Sort of a built in or actually built off safety feature.

Exactly correct. The belt-less AMC pack boards flip forward over one’s head in an uncontrolled tripping fall as nearly all of weight is above one’s shoulders (i.e., first box at about shoulder level). More than once a gross count crate of fresh eggs that always got tied down on top became scrambled for the next day’s breakfast. :-)

[Puma concolor]

I’ve been an on online MooseJaw and Backcountry.com guy for the last 8 or 9 years. Great stuff at the right price.

But I will always have an emotional attachment to EMS. The absolutely awesome 1990s version of Lake Placid EMS was where I got all of my initial awesome gear that got me on my way. Later on, in 2010, I took a three-day ice climbing/mountaineering course through that same Lake Placid EMS.

Good times.

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Hey, any of you old-as-dirt dogs remember Skimiesters in North Woodstock NH? That was a cool place.

Guy who worked there lived in a rustic shack behind the store and was some type of a minister.

I bought most of my winter kit there when I was a kid.

Quint Boyle who managed Skimeister’s Ski Shop grew up in Lincoln - North Woodstock. I bought his brother Joe’s used Kneissel Red Stars at Lahoud’s and raced on them for a few more years. A lot of climbers hung out at Skimeister’s in the late 1960s - early 1970s, including John Porter from the UK, Roger Martin who worked as an engineer for the State DOT in Concord, and Joe Cote, Dick Arey, and others from UNH as our Outing Club had a cabin in Franconia Notch. Dick Arey (R.I.P., 2022) took the classic photo of Joe Cote belaying Roger Martin on the first ascent of Cannon’s Moby Grape route in July 1972 that was made into a poster and also appears in Ed Webster’s guidebook.