The other iconic piece of gear that made Rivendell Mountain Works famous was the Bombshelter tent that often lived up to its name. Like with the Jensen pack, this was a design that Don Jensen had worked on developing for several years with his friend and fellow climber Chris Goetze. In fact, the photo below is Don Jensen himself with one of his early designs.
Chris routinely designed and made tents to test in the harshest conditions, and sold 15-20 Bombshelters before Rivendell Mountain Works produced them. The name “Bombshelter” came to mind on a particularly challenging trip to the north side of Denali in 1963. Doug Robinson (of Chouinard Equipment at the time) was working with Ivan Kletka to produce some early Jensen-designed Bombshelter tents and passed his patterns and design improvements along to Larry Horton in 1971.
The Bombshelter stood out among the other A-frame tents on the market thanks, in part, to the ridge pole that offered increased strength and stability in unpredictable weather. The ridge pole provided tension between the two A-frame poles, keeping the tent fabric taught and resistant to high winds. The patterns of the Bombshelter panels were slightly curved to also help maintain tension. The vestibule, pointed like an upside down prow of a ship, was pitched into the wind to shed wind energy that would otherwise damage other tents.
Bombshelters frequently thrived in extreme conditions that destroyed other tents. Grant Petersen of @rivbike recently shared a story of winter camping on Mt. Shasta in 1973. After a night of 80-100mph winds, his Bombshelter was the only one of 14 tents still standing. You can tell by his grin in the ninth photo that he was quite pleased with his tent! Bonus photo of Grant on Shasta in summer with his Rivendell Mountain Works Bombshelter and Jensen pack.
Will we make Bombshelters in the future? Short answer: it’s possible! There are a few challenges to overcome, like the enormous size of the fabric and patterns, as well as the manufacturing of the pole sets.
(Credits for several of the photos in this post go to Bruce Johnson, Grant Petersen, and others)
2 comments
Send me an address that is deliverable for a longer package and i will send you my set of Bombshelter poles….they need to come home….lol
Bomb Shelter kept me alive in questionable conditions for two years until we didn’t make it back to CMC camp and had to bivy. Upon return, we found our faithful companion shredded by marmots. They didn’t have to do that. I think they were pissed because there was no food inside. Never trust a marmot. There were two bottles of wine left which made the trip down to Leigh Lake iffy at best. The canoe and portage were even better. Viva Moran!