Shadoworks sprang up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a few miles south of Portland city center. The company's slim 1982 brochure begins, "Paul Smythe, founder of Shadoworks, is an Oregonian, a mountaineer, and a bit of a perfectionist." The tent pictured here is owned by this author, and dates from about 1983. Although I possess one of the company's slim color brochures, I have discovered no further sources of information about this small gear company. Readers are invited to contribute what they know.
This
tent is the company's smallest model, the "DL 2," (the
Dry Light 2). The yellow parts are made of Goretex ripstop, while
the navy parts are made of urethan coated tafetta nylon. The pole
sleeves are made of pack cloth, and around the bottom perimeter
is sewn a band of reinforcing nylon webbing. This tent reminds
me very much of a slightly down-sized version of Todd Bibler's
famed "I-Tent" model (Bibler Tents, which went on to
become much higher-profile than Shadoworks).... The DL 2 also
reminds me very much of the no-frills Integral Designs MK 1 Lite
tent.
Specs: the DL 2 weighs just under 4 pounds with 3 small metal pegs and 4 light pull-out cords. I measured its floor as 79" long x 45" wide, and the center height is a tight 35"- There are just two aluminum, shock-corded poles and they fold to 20 inches long. This tent has a kind of canopy over the front door, but no back door, and nothing you could call a vestibule.
As can be easily seen in
the picture, this is a very small tent indeed. In my personal
use of this tent I have concluded that it is too short to be comfortable
for anyone over about 5' 6" in height. It would be a really
ideal tent for a small person taking a solo trek. I'm not sure
how much I would trust it in severe rain, especially severe rain
with cold temperatures. Using a good spray waterproofing on it
before a trip, and thorough initial seam-sealing help a lot. On
the plus side, this tent is extremely quick and easy to set up,
even when one is very tired, wet or cold. It is very strong, and
I would have no worries about a foot of heavy, wet snow falling
on it overnight while I slept. Under normal conditions, it is
freestanding, but using a few (2-5) small stakes can help maximize
interior room and wind-strength if needed.
Landav Designs was Portland-based and specialized in garments of high class and high-quality. Illustrated are a goretex Mountain Parka and woolen knickers. Many of their products exploited classic materials with perhaps a modern update, as in my classy knickers, which are made of a very good-looking and very functional 70/30 blend of wool and synthetic (30% nylon, probably to improve performance in the typically wet conditions of the Pacific Northwest). I do not have a firm timeline on this company yet, and readers are invited to contribute what they know.
A part of the History of Gear relates to a distant era when there wasn't an REI in every larger town, and a Starbuck's on every corner.. I grew up in that deprived era in Oregon. This was a State far-removed from the great centers of gear pioneering in Boulder, Seattle, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles. When I was coming of Age in the mid to late-1960s, we had little to choose from, and if you did not live in Portland, Eugene, or Salem, you were forced to drive long distances to purchase modern climbing or backpacking gear.
In the Medford, Oregon of 1964, I had heard about the new sport of backpacking, but when I looked around the limited horizons of Southern Oregon, there was only "Lamports" (Lamport Sporting Goods).... And Lamports only stocked two kinds of packs-- the old wood-framed Trapper Nelsons, and the new-fangled aluminum frame ones with some kind of hipbelt and a canvas-like packbag...of course, I purchased the more modern one. This loyal pack lasted only two years, meeting its demise in 1966 when I placed it too near my campfire. Exhaustion was my excuse-- I had just climbed Mt. McLoughlin solo, and wasn't paying proper attention.
After I went away to college
in the more populous and progressive Willamette Valley, I learned
about Oregon's "Mountain Stores" from senior members
of the OSU Alpine Club. We took field trips to Salem and Eugene,
each of which had an "Andersons Sporting Goods," 
and 90 miles north
in Oregon's largest city there were TWO Mountain stores to visit!
These were "The Mountain Shop," and the storied "Cloud
Cap Chalet" (named after a real historic place high on Oregon's
highest mountain (click
for link)....Of
course, in those days all the mountain shops mostly supported
themselves selling backpacking gear, outdoor clothing, and often
downhill skiing gear. (Interesting fact-- in 1968, the just-begun
North Face company achieved its very first sales when their new
saleman Jack Gilbert sold some of the company's very first products
to Cloud Cap!)
As my training with the OSU Alpine Club advanced, soon I needed to rent crampons and an ice axe for my first real climb. That gear I rented from Anderson's in Eugene. Later that year, in mid-May, my graduation from snow-climbing school saw me on an adventure to climb Oregon's highest peak, 11,245 ft. high Mt. Hood. We stopped in Portland the day before, visiting the legendary Cloud Cap Chalet on 12th St. in city center. Black and white photos of famous climbs and climbers emblazoned the walls, many of them autographed... I rented ice axe and crampons, soaked-up the authentic atmosphere, and bought a lot of "Logan Bread." Our climb was successful, and in later years I was to visit Cloud Cap numerous times, until it was bought out and lost its identity somewhere in the 1980s. Anderson's lasted many more years, finally closing its doors forever in late 2001 or early 2002. The shopping bag below is a prized relic from a sad shopping trip I made to the half-stripped main store in Salem around Christmas 2001.
For the History Books: addresses and names of Oregon outdoor stores carrying GERRY brand climbing/backpacking gear in 1968 (GERRY was one of the oldest and most innovative of the early gear innovators).:(to visit my GERRY pages, click here)
Anderson's Sporting Goods in Eugene at 724 Willamette St. and in Salem at 163 Commercial St. NE.zip 97301...... Four Seasons Sport Chalet, 626 Medford Shopping Center in Medford zip 97501....and in Portland, the Cloud Cap Chalet at 1127 SW Morrison, zip 97205 (just four blocks south of the main Powell's Bookstore on 12th and West Burnside St.)
Note: Anderson's opening
its doors in 1920 makes me wonder about a possible connection
to Lloyd Anderson, who was very involved in the beginnings of
REI Coop in Seattle 18 years later. If any readers have information,
I'd appreciate hearing it. (contact
me).
