Which Lightweight Tent

[Kenward Vaughan]

Hi! I'm new to this forum, and am looking as well for a good lightweight shelter (bad knees/hip forcing me over to new gear… ;-) and the tarptents have intrigued me. Can anyone (Michael perhaps?) relay their experiences with some of these in conditions one finds in the Sierras? Windy, etc… (the wind in particular).

I'm shying away from the Squall/Cloudburst/Contrail as they appear to lack a way to completely shut down the tarp to the ground. The Rainbow appears better suited as a result. Others?

Thanks!

[Steven McAllister]

Also check out the Six Moon Designs Vamp/net combination. It is more money, but there are some advantages.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Samuel,

The tent is my avatar is a REI Quarterdome T2 with a homemade cuben fiber fly. See here for details on the fly construction:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=34135

Inner tent + fly + poles is currently 2.94 lbs but I have some carbon fibre poles on the way which should chop that down to ~2.45 lbs. That's pretty good for a 2 person, 2 door, 2 vestibule, freestanding tent.

[Trill Daddy]

I have the Skyledge 2.1, last year's model. This year's model is 10oz's lighter, thanks to lighter clips, buckles and fly material, but the floor is 70D and not 30D like mine.

Honestly though, its not really a two man tent unless you are under 5'9". I recently took it backpacking down in Coyote Gulch in the Escalante and it performed fantastically. I could keep all of my stuff in the tent and vestibules, and the 'porthole' on the fly is quite hand for when it rains.

It is, however, a small tent, like 28-29sq ft IRCC. It was dwarfed by my buddies Black Diamond Mesa, which I personally prefer. I'm 6f 2" ~180lbs, so the Skyledge 2.1 isn't comfy with another person.

I've done it though. I had the skyledge set up as an 'rain shelter/gear storage' because my 4 man Kelty was missing the fly. Needless to say, it started raining so myself, my girlfriend and her dog all piled into the tent. She is 5'4" and her dog is ~ 100lbs. He fit fine in the vesituble curled up, while we were fine sleeping on our sides. Oh, and the tent performed awesome. No condensation, no leaking.

I've also used it 'winter' camping (here in the Wasatch, it gets 20 degrees in April sometimes) near Cardiff Fork. With a good bag, pad and stakes/snow anchors this would be a fairly decent setup for winter camping, although I haven't used it in below 10 degree temps.

Long story short: The skylege 2.1 is great, and is now even better, but if you're a larger gent like myself, I would suggest you get something else if you are looking to fit two people comfortably in it.

I hope this helps.

[Sam Farrington]

Dan,
Thank you much for the reply and info.
Nice job on the fly! Will check out the link.
Sam

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