I started hiking in the 60's and BP'ing in the 70's. Blue jeans. Cotton "T" shirts. Cotton Flannel shirts. I did have a nice down bag and a nylon down jacket. We used flannel pajamas as long johns. When we first started, we used a coffee can on a long wire fashioned into a bail. Later we "upgraded" to a little butane stove, and then when they stopped making canisters for that stove, we got a little Optimus 8R. Wish I knew what happened to that little 8R.
HJ
I started in the late 70s. In 1980 I still was into long distance bike touring, but by '81 the mountains were calling. Gear - well - look at this:
The blue bag is a down sleeping bag, but it was a horrible design with zipper all around the bottom and no real foot box. Cold feet every night. Ground pad was open cell foam with a little reflective material on the outside. Completely no R-value or padding. Pack was the base model from the German Sears-equivalent, clothes were all cotton except for a nylon windbreaker that didn't keep me dry. I invested in a poncho a few years later (which I still used as a tent footprint in 2008). At least the ass-kicker boots were ready for anything. I didn't cook in the mountains until about 1984, and only because I met my long term hiking partner at that time, and he had a GAZ. What a difference that made in terms of comfort.
