Berghaus began life in 1966 when two climbers, Peter Lockey and Gordon Davidson, took the first letters of their respective surnames and opened the specialist outdoor store LD Mountain Centre in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Not quite sure why but they named their range of innovative outdoor gear, Berghaus (mountain house in German) and so began several decades of success in the world of outdoor gear – the company is still going strong in 2019. Rucksacks have always been a forte of Berghaus and in 1972 the first Cyclops appeared, probably one of the first in the world to have an internal frame and certainly one of the top ten best rucksacks ever produced. Founder of our collection, Mick Tighe, a young Royal Marine Arctic Warfare Instructor in the 1970’s, was surprised to see that a lot of Marines had ditched their military issue rucksacks in favour of the Cyclops. Berghaus was awarded a contract to make military rucksacks as a result. The Serac version of the rucksack seems to be little more than a variation of the original and would seem to date from around the same era. Our donator, Sally Lindsay, explains a little more:- “Crawford, my husband,has now decided he doesn’t need his ancient rucksack either – it’s also a Cyclops, but a bigger one(Serac) and a bit newer(it has plastic buckles whereas mine has metal ones- it’s bright green/blue with a single big compartment,zipped side pockets and a suede base.” Thanks to Crawford and Sally