Golite Shangri-La 2 Shelter: Keep it Simple Stupid

[Miguel Arboleda]

Erm, Jeffrey, may I ask why you are posting your Gear Swap comment here? It's got nothing to do with the topic at hand and there is a very good chance Ron will miss it. Wouldn't it make more sense to start your own thread in the Gear Swap forum? Ron hasn't even shown up here in the comments.

[Lawson Kline]

Here is a cuben mid that weighs 8.5oz that I built for myself quite a few months back.

Sorry for all the "spam" on the photo. The photo was on my homepage for about a month. It was going to be a potential product but there was very little to no interest in the product whatsoever so I abandoned the idea.

[Miguel Arboleda]

Very nice, Lawson. I guess there are just too many possibilities out there and for something that already has alternatives maybe it's difficult to get people interested.

Something I really like about the SL2 are the catenary cut of the ridgeline and the angled seams of the front and back half of the shelter, which effectively makes the shelter into two pyramids connected by the catenary cut ridge. It makes for a very strong shelter.

[James holden]

i would have been interested but i just went to a single trekking pole and snowscopic (trekking axe) setup …

which means a duomid for me ….

[Dondo .]

Maybe there are different production batches during a year?

The same thought occurred to me, Piotr. Hikers who are buying online or through a Gear Swap may want to ask the seller to weight the SL2 before putting down their money.

[Piotr Antkowiak]

I like my SL2 very much. Especially if I use it as one person tent. I like it because it is not fragile. I suppose I would be scared of using cuben shelter for 400$. Every loop is nicely reiforced in SL2 and the silnylon is quite strong. I like it so much I bought SL5 for my family camping needs (+nest for luxury camping) :) Now I think about perimeter netting to make it a bit lighter. Nest weight and volume is much higher than I want to carry.

[Steven McAllister]

I would think that a cuben SL2 could be somewhat popular.
Although the strength of the Golite shelters is nice, I think they are a bit overkill for me.

Now if it was going to be used by a boy scout troop or something…

[Miguel Arboleda]

Although the strength of the Golite shelters is nice, I think they are a bit overkill for me.

They're rated as four season shelters, so the strength works in their favor when the snow is loading. Also, I wouldn't hesitate to use my SL2 above treeline in a storm, which was one of my main concerns, since mist hiking in Japan tends to be alpine. Another thing, it can be quite sturdy as is without using guy lines, and therefore doesn't have a overly huge footprint, another concern in Japan.

[Steven McAllister]

I do agree that the Golite material is probably more abrasiveness resistant than other common ultralite materials.
But as far as the ability to hold up in strong winds, remember silnylon is what modern parachutes are made out of, spinnaker and cuben are the materials of choice for racing yacht sails.
I would say those materials have proved themselves in the strongest of wind tests.

Of course you can walk all over the Golite material without it failing and I have seen this with my Golite shelter:-)

Which makes it a better material for lots of users.

[Miguel Arboleda]

Steven, don't get me wrong. I've had a h@ll of a lot of UL shelters over the years, made out of silnylon (I don't like the misting, which has on a few occasions done more than that), silpolyester (it does wonderfully well in rain, doesn't stretch, and is far more UV resistant, but too heavy, or, if light, too fragile), spinnaker (I love my SpinnShelter and of all of my lightest weight shelters it is the one I always come back to. I also like my The One), and cuben ( have a duomid, which I like, but don't like how I have to baby it. I also don't like having to use a pole extender for the peak, too wobbly in the wind), kerlon (my 1999 Akto is much beefier than the current verson and my Soulo, which uses the lighter material, is the shelter I'd use in really nasty winter mountain storms… which I rarely encounter). I have so many shelters simply because I love tents and tent-like structures, as an architect the design part of it is exciting. I've designed and made quite a few of my own shelters, too, mostly out of silnylon, including simple tarps, catenary tarps, teepees, and tunnel tents, because it is cheap and rather easy to work with.

But the SL2 is a little different. I bought it because I am moving more towards durable and long lasting backpacking gear, with an emphasis on not changing gear so much and one item doing most of what I want year-round, replacing all the specialized gear. Some of this thinking I've garnered from what Dondo has written, some of it from years of being UL and accumulating too much gear, and wanting to return to something simpler, more aesthetic, and less wasteful. I've had my love affair with super light weight, but am not so interested in tipping the scales anymore, and much more want to get out there with my camera and sketch pad and not think too much about the gear at all, just settle down, pitch a reliable set up, have the space I need without scrunching down under a poncho-tarp, sit out long rains, read, write, sleep in, and enjoy being out there simply for being out there. After all that is what I started and loved backpacking for when I started as a boy. Back then I hardly had any gear and I was always ecstatic to be out there. I want to get back to that sense of being alive and being simple, rather than thinking and talking gear all the time.

[Steven McAllister]

Thanks Miguel,

Regarding:
"I want to get back to that sense of being alive and being simple, rather than thinking and talking gear all the time."

I hope to some day get enough time off from work to be able to do more of what I like, rather preparing while at work.

Many of us on this forum are here because we don't get enough time out doing what we want to do, but instead spend our lives trying to pay the bills and get out of debt.
In the mean time we discuss and mess with our gear on weekends and occasional vacations.

I hope some day I can keep it simple and just go for it.

[Miguel Arboleda]

I hope some day I can keep it simple and just go for it.

Amen to that! I can certainly relate to your sentiments about being swamped with work and not getting out enough. It's hard reading the accounts of people like Ryan Jordan and Andrew Skurka, who are living the way I've always dreamed of living. But at the same time they are very inspiring, and give me something to live for. For now I make do with the weekend jaunts and try to find happiness and contentment in the short time I get to spend in places I love.

It's also wonderful to talk to and occasionally meet in person people of like mind, who can understand where I am coming from and why I love all this equipment and can spend hours talking about walking in a torrential rain and enjoying it!

[Miguel Arboleda]

Here's what Ryan Jordan had to say on his blog about single-pole shelters in heavy winter storms: "single pole pyramids are abysmal in heavy winter snows due to their high surface area:structure ratio.

[Steven McAllister]

That's funny that he should say that, he often uses single pole pyramids.
I'd guess that a double pole would do better in the snow, but single pole pyramids are good enough in anything but heavy snow.

I do know cross country skiers that prefer single pole pyramids. I guess they don't mind having to kick the snow off so much.
But then again I know cross country skiers who use dome shelters:-)

[Miguel Arboleda]

Actually I'd prefer a single pole shelter if it meant the walls didn't hang in so close without making the pole really tall, like the duomid. I prefer to only carry one trekking pole rather than two when walking, so the extra pole, for me, is just redundant weight. I like the SL2 because I can use regular length trekking poles, but still have a lot of room in the shelter.

[James holden]

they have used single pole pyramids in antarctica since robert falcon scott ….

[Misfit Mystic]

I know this sounds strange, but snowfall usually isn't a concern in Antartica. It's one of the driest places on Earth, with ~6.5 inches of precipitation a year. Compare this to the interior of the Grand Canyon at ~8.5 inches anually. Wet heavy snow just never falls in Antartica. Wind on the other hand…

[Franco Darioli]

they have used single pole pyramids in antarctica since robert falcon scott ….

well, no offence but the Scott Pyramyd tents are nothing like the Golite and co…

BTW, yes Antarctica is the driest continent but the windiest…

Franco

[James holden]

marketing jedi mind tricks? … well this was back in 80s around return of the jedi ;)

[Franco Darioli]

yes , that picture tells the story (to me…)
Franco

[James holden]

how about this one …

add some colour and it'll look like this one from andy howell's site … minus the snow of course

la plus ca change, la plus c'est la meme … the price amazingly ain't all that far from a modern pyramid …

[Jason Elsworth]

I am waiting for the return of the Whillan's box.

[Gabe Joyes]

I have used a BD Megamid and I own a 2009 GOlite SL2

I prefer the shape of the Golite over the Black Diamond. Without stakes or stuff sacks, my Golite SL2 weights 21.5 oz. The seams aren't taped, but according to golite they use some sort of silicone covered thread so you don't have to seam seal the tent. So far it has worked, I only had a couple drips in a ranging downpour once, and I can live with that. So far the Golite SL2 has been perfect for the Wind River Range where I live.

I used a BD Megalight to see if I like pyramid shelters enough to buy a Golite SL2. I used it in October in the Winds and woke up to a foot of snow. The interior volume of the shelter decreased quite a bit, but was still very useable. It stayed very warm and day inside and I couln't have asked for more.

[Dan H.]

Hey Guys, this is quite an old thread but whatever.
How do you pitch your SL-2 with the full mesh inner, first the inner and then somehow put the fly on? Or stake down the "fly" first, then crawl inside, spread the inner, insert the pole, get strangled and and then erect both fly&inner at the same time?
I just recently got the SL2 with Inner (I think one of the later versions, has side-guyouts on fly and "small" inner that leaves a small vestibule)
Tipps appreciated! :)

[Brad Rogers]

I have an older SL2 but no inner but I do have a couple of other mids with inner nets and always set the "fly" or shelter up first then put the inner net inside.

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