Stratton Bear Patch, Sealed (Red Frame) — c. 1970s-80s

A vintage Stratton ski patch, probably late 1970s or early 80s, still sealed in its original packaging, header card reading International Imports — washable — made in U.S.A. Through the cellophane: a cream rectangle with a white merrowed border, a red elongated hexagon with Stratton in black blackletter inside it, and the black bear standing upright at the right with one paw over the frame.

Stratton opened in 1961 and spent the back half of the eighties quietly becoming the most important mountain in American snowboarding. The US Open ran here year after year while other resorts were still printing the word FORBIDDEN on their lift tickets and throwing people off the hill.

A mountain with a bear on its patch and a half-pipe on its trail map was not the obvious bet at the time. It aged extremely well.

Nobody at the time thought the bear and the half-pipe belonged on the same mountain.

Embroidered on twill, merrowed edge, unopened in the original packaging. Photos are the condition report.