Snowlion! For a time in the early 1970s this Bay Area gear company was HOT, highly-respected and very innovative.
The early-mid-70s is when the red and blue down garments on the left were made. The brown garment; however, is of uncertain provenance. It sports the exact label that formed the cover of the final Snowlion catalog (1978, see text below). But this brown jacket is a down-filled LEATHER jacket, with fine metal snap buttons marked "EB," which leads me to suspect that this was a down leather jacket sewn in the Orient for Eddie Bauer sometime in the 1980s. How it could have gotten an authentic-looking 1977-78 Snowlion label in it is subject for much speculation. I found this particular coat in a Eugene, Oregon mark-down outdoor clothing store that specialized in better quality, better brand name, new garments.
....An interesting sidelight to the company's
name is that originally it was "Snowline," but
it turned out that Eddie Bauer had a problem with that since he
already had products (a line of sleeping bags?) with the "Snowline"
name. Thus the founders of "Snowlion" apparently chose
a sound-alike name to keep the customer base that they had begun
to build.
The
"Snowline" label shown is from a beautifully-made down
mummy bag, and thus likely was one of the newly-formed company's
first products, dating from the very early 1970s.
Snowlion's top man/founder was Bill Simon (born about 1947). After Snowlion was dissolved, in the later 1970s, Mr. Simon went to Asia (Hong Kong) and actually became one of the persons responsible for the mighty move into off-shore production that has taken over in the backpacking industry. And in the later 1980s, he became the owner or President of both North Face and Sierra Designs (who were then owned by a huge corporation named Odyssey Holdings, Inc. "OHI", based in Hong Kong, founded by Bill Simon and with him owning the majority share of the corporation).
Snowlion sleeping bags bragged about solving the "cold spot over the zipper" syndrome via an insulative "double zipper" system that eliminated the traditional "draft tube" behind the zipper solution...... Snowlion's head, William N. Simon, filed for the patent on the double zipper for sleeping bags on 2/10/1975, and still holds that patent. The Company went bust and closed its doors unexpectedly in 1977 (last catalog was stamped as a 1978 catalog), making it, in the History of Gear, one of the shorter-lived companies.... Also, click here to see a picture of the 1978 catalog cover, which is a rare and highly collectible item).......As mentioned above, the "Snow Lion" label seems to have persisted in some form after the Company's official ending; eg., in addition to the leather coat example we have this mystery--- a correspondent recently sent me a nicely-made yellow and brown "Snow Lion" tent. But the tags on it said "Made in Japan" (rather than Berkeley, California). Also, the logo itself on the tent body was "wrong," the words said "Snow Lion," but none of the other classic logo elements were there, and the brand was stamped onto the fabric rather than being a sewn-on label. Readers with any ideas about this should contact me. Go to page bottom for pictures of this mysterious label and the tent itself.
In addition to its innovative line of down garments, Snowlion also manufactured its own line of mountain tents. In the History of Gear, Snowlion has the sad distinction of "almost" being the second company to launch geodesic backpacking tents into the mainstream. For more on the story, please click here.
What is the human attraction to, and love
of such high-quality backpacking and climbing gear? Somehow the
motivations seem different than those of collecting coins or powerful
cars... To me, the attraction of such camping gear is primitive,
it's the caveman in us, obsessed with shelter, warm furs, and
roaring fire to fight the harsh mountain night. It's a hairy,
unshaven guy and his mate always thinking winter thoughts in an
Ice Age world... The gear is a tool to preserve our lives and
our independence under harsh adversity..... I think about the
outdoorsman's love of backpacking stoves, and I suspect that there's
something strongly connnected to primal FIRE in that love.....For
a fascinating, nostalgic look at dozens of vintage camping stoves
and lanterns, please see link at page bottom for Monte
Dodge's Stoves and Lanterns....
Snowlion, Berkeley, California, circa 1970s
A Snowlion "Bering" down vest! A vest so warm and comfortable that you can't believe that only a few were made and there's NO ONE making them in the 21st. Century! Fully-baffled, no sewn-through seams at all; a butt-warming extension, inner pockets to keep your lip balm or film from freezing, a two way zipper, puffy, heavily insulated outside pockets that hold cargo AND provide fabulous hand-warming spots. A fully-insulated draft flap to keep out drafts, and with snaps in case your zipper ever breaks during an expedition to the Karakoram!....
Please Note: All Material on this page, and in all my "History of Gear" webpages, is copyrighted, and no usage of my material is permitted unless explicit permission is granted by me, Bruce B. Johnson, owner of OregonPhotos.com
Mystery "Snow Lion" Dome Tent specs: canopy is of a rather loose-weave 1.9 oz. ripstop nylon. This tent was donated to the History of Gear project by CJ in New Mexico, and was missing its rainfly so I cannot comment on that. The Poles are unusual in that they are made of heavy fiberglass, and are not connected by any shock cord. This makes the tent a bit tricky to get set up. There are 24 fiberglass poles, each section is 26 .5 inches long. There are also two shorter, thinner metal poles whose use I cannot determine. The total pole set weighs in at a hefty 4.3 pounds! The weight of the tent body and poles is 10.75 pounds, and this excludes rainfly and pegs. Tent has an interior peak height of a generous 66 inches, and floor is about 113 inches across, and is the same on all sides, thus giving this tent plenty of room for 3 adults, and 4 would fit in a pinch.... The design has only only 3 poles and is self-supporting, but is certainly not a geodesic. I would call it a three-season design, not suited for severe winter or expedition conditions-- paradoxically, however, the tent is equipped with a cookhole, and what appears to be attachment points for a frostliner! There is also a large, but non-opening, rear window with netting for ventilation. All images copyrighted 2007 by Bruce B. Johnson
