Backpacking - tents, bags, and 4x5's.

[Stephen Willard]

Exactly what I was asking several posts above. Thanks! I just saw it's available here in Argentina, have to check the service in central and southern Patagonia. At least we have a legit distributor.
What radio are you using Stephen?

I have the XMp3i. If you search Google you will find it. It is extremely light and usable. I subscribe to the XMradio.com service for $10 and month. I can turn the service off for the months I do not use it, and I will be credited for those months on the following year. Unfortunately, the weather station only cover the US lower 48.

[tgtaylor]

The "Rocket Tent" http://www.brooks-range.com/StoreBox...et_tent_a2.htm that Rakesh posted looks like a great replacement for my current winter tent which is a 7.5 lb Sierra Designs (Meteor?). It's a good looking tent and bomb-proof but heavy and bulky. Two pounds! Now we're talking!

Thomas

[NicolasArg]

I have the XMp3i. If you search Google you will find it. It is extremely light and usable. I subscribe to the XMradio.com service for $10 and month. I can turn the service off for the months I do not use it, and I will be credited for those months on the following year. Unfortunately, the weather station only cover the US lower 48.

Thanks Stephen, I just did and it looks really interesting!

[Drew Wiley]

Thomas - please refer to my previous post. A tent which might work well in mid-winter
snow might be terrible in sloppy sleet or continuous rain. I can't personally find any
feedback on that Rocket tent, and wonder what kinds of climates it has actually been
tested in. Sounds too good to be true, despite the price. Bibler, on the other hand,
has a tremendous track record all over the world for decades. So if you want to be the
guinea pig at $600 please let the rest of us know how well it works. I'd love to find a
lighter tent, but realize from experience that most of these innovations don't really
work out when you need them the most.

[tgtaylor]

Thanks Drew.

$600 is a lot of money so I'm going to check the Bibler out also when the time comes. It's worth paying extra for high quality gear as it last much longer than the cheap stuff and the makers usually stand behind it. Gregory sent me a replacement sternum strap after mine dry-rotted from use; LowePro replaced my AWII with their new Pro Trekker 400AW just last week even though it was well out of warranty; and Arca Swiss repaired my ball head last month even though it was out of warranty by 1 month.

Thomas

[Rakesh Malik]

Rakesh - ultralight tents are being used in certain conditions by backcountry skiers.
But winter powder snow is reasonably "dry" stuff. A wetter spring snow or heavy rain
is another matter altogether. And a heavy snowload or blizzard is something else too.
A number of my friends have tried ultralights, and they're fine for a mild rain or keeping
out mosquitoes, but are guaranteed misery or danger in a serious storm.

That's exactly why I wouldn't plan on using my tarp/net-tent combo if I were expecting harsher weather than what it's suited for. The Brooks Range tent is supposedly designed for the sort of harsh weather you'd be likely to encounter in high alpine zones, but I haven't enough about it to have any idea as to whether or not it holds up.

My 4-season tent weighs in at close to 3 pounds, but it's a lot sturdier and more stormproof than my tarp/net-tent setup. It's essentially a variation on a tunnel tent, though I don't think that it's designed to withstand truly alpine or arctic conditions, and therefore I wouldn't try it in those.

[Rakesh Malik]

Interesting Rakesh. I must confess I'm not a big fan of the pyramid style tents. I actually prefer the tube ones. I sent an email to the shipping agent that buys me stuff in the US and he will quote me the Bibler during the next few days.

I don't have a personal opinion of the pyramid vs tunnel type tents yet, because I haven't tried a pyramid. I have heard a lot of positive feedback from people who've been using pyramid tents lately, and they're all so far happy with them. I don't think that they've been taking them into the alpine zone though

[Rakesh Malik]

Thomas - please refer to my previous post. A tent which might work well in mid-winter
snow might be terrible in sloppy sleet or continuous rain. I can't personally find any
feedback on that Rocket tent, and wonder what kinds of climates it has actually been
tested in. Sounds too good to be true, despite the price. Bibler, on the other hand,
has a tremendous track record all over the world for decades. So if you want to be the
guinea pig at $600 please let the rest of us know how well it works. I'd love to find a
lighter tent, but realize from experience that most of these innovations don't really
work out when you need them the most.

The fabric that the Brooks Range tent is made from is a metalized variant of Cuben, which is extremely strong as long as you build the tent properly -- i.e. be careful about where you put your stitches. A friend and I spoke to a local sailmaker and learned that they use a lower weight (which isn't as strong -- the reduction in weight is from using fewer layers of laminate) variant of Cuben for their racing sails.

The stuff doesn't sag when wet, either; it's basically layers of Mylar with Dyneema threads in between for tensile strength.

It's also rather expensive -- and not surprisingly, un-breathable. My tarp is made of .74 oz per square yard Cuben, and quite a few people have used it on PCT through hikes without trouble -- the guy that makes the Hexamid (ZPacks.com) used a lighter Cuben variant (.6 oz/sq yd) on a PCT through hike without problems.

None of that answers the rather important question about ventilation though. Neither my tarp nor the ZPacks one are fully enclosed, so the fact that the fabric doesn't breathe at all isn't a problem, unlike with the Brooks Range tent we're talking about. I don't have that answer either, since I haven't found any user reviews of it yet, either.

[Drew Wiley]

Thanks Rakesh - and the Backpacking Light website has some blogs on fabricating the
Cuben material. My main concern would again be the risk of condensation. A tent which sweats inside can be almost as bad as one which leaks. Had a friend along with
me one time who learned this the hard way, and ruined his entire trip. The Toddtex
fabric on the Bibler is a variant on the Goretex technology, but a little tighter - in other
words, water doesn't seem to get in at all, but neither do the walls sweat or drip. But a 1+ man Bibler is realistically 5 lbs. Pretty light for an expedition quality tent, but cutting that weight in half would indeed be wonderful for someone my age. I've rolled the dice way too many times already to take any more chances with severe weather. Last summer I was holed up for three day of every kind of sloppy snow, sleet, hail, and rain you can think of - and remained totally dry and cozy in the Bibler. My hiking companion was a trying to decide whether to bring his lightwt tent or his own Bibler, and wisely chose the latter; otherwise, he would have had to cram into
my tent - the light tent would have no doubt collapsed. But I'll keep investigating this Cuben material, and hope that someone has enough real-world experience with it for
tents to give realistic feedback. Teepe-style pyramid tents are out of the question
when it comes to high winds or heavy snow loads, or even water blowing in the bottom.

[John Kasaian]

First, I'd suggest cutting down on the number of holders you're planning on, given you mention a changing tent.

Or get a couple of Grafmatics.