2nd Sierra Designs Catalog: Up in the Arctic, and Up in Smoke

The cover photo of the 1968-69 catalog is a rendering of a picture taken in the Arctic. We had made some of the large 4-Man tents for the U.S Geological Survey, for some friends of mine from my earlier experiences in the Antarctic. The tents performed very well for them and were used for many years to come. We replaced the flysheets every now and then, as the 24-hour sunlight would degrade the nylon rather quickly.  I am not sure if we did any more work for them, but the experience was a signficant part of the early years and we gained valuable input from those explorations in the Arctic.

The back inside cover is one of Bob, who was still smoking in those days, a pipe. He did a lot of the finish work on the sleeping bags while smoking, and every now and then he would choke on smoke and blow hot embers onto the finished bag, which promptly burned some holes in the fabric. Just another second for our little retail store that was beginning to attract some attention from people who were talking about us and what we were doing. Sales were always brisk on weekends when we had product to sell. 

People listed include known models in the catalog.