It was a sad day in Fisk family history today. Yes it’s true we retired the Frostline Kit hockey bag after 33 years of active & semi-active service.
Frostline Kit? My brother being a madman of sorts had decided for some reason to begin sewing his own camping equipment. He built his own electronics from Heathkit and Radio Shack so why not? He found Frostline, a Colorado based company that had kits for just about everything you could think of. He made a tent, a sleeping bag, gators, a jacket… I wanted in on the fun!
Anything that involved tubes of Goose Down and an antique sewing machine was not something I wanted to miss out on. So I made a pair of mittens. Mittens with a 1/8″ thick leather palm and that were good down to about negative 80 (I lived in Indiana…). Damn that “extra” Goose Down option! Of course we ordered extra goose down for everything. I probably lost 5lbs in palm sweat over the next 5 years. I also made a goose down coat that lasted me 3-4 years of heavy use and then when vests became trendy I removed the arms and got another few years out of it. Seam sealer made the perfect patching material for all the goose down leaks that developed (wasn’t much fingernail polish in our house).
Then I made the hockey bag. This was the days well before the monster $200 Sherpa packs you see rink rats carrying today. Laundry bags, military duffel bags, an occasional real sport bag for well to do kids. Me, I made my own damn bag! Sucker did every travel game and practice for 5 years. Then it went to college, then it went camping, then bicycle racing, then relegated to the closet only seeing occasional duty for various tasks.
Then my daughter started hockey. Hell yes it stunk. But I made it and if it was good enough for me and it still worked no way was I paying $50 for an inferior Chinese product with a logo slapped on the side. The bag was still as solid as ever. No holes, no zipper issues. Frostline Kit. She used it for the next 4 years. Until the day came. Dad she said, I can’t fit everything in the bag. She was right and the time had come. We retired the Frostline kit bag ending 33 years of service. Frostline Kit. Amazing.
About Frostline: http://www.oregonphotos.com/Frostline1.html
Wikipedia – Frostline Kits – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostline_Kits
Frostline Kit may be history but… – https://www.kunc.org/business/2015-12-29/frostline-kits-may-be-history-but-the-diy-gear-is-still-beloved-in-colorado