Thanks Ryan for an interesting trip report – it brings back fond memories of winter camping back in the day. Do you think you would have fared better by camping in a dense cluster of trees rather than in the open? What gear choices do you feel would have allowed you to continue spending the night in that location for the least amount of extra weight?

On at least two occasions I remember retreating under similar windy and dark conditions. The first was while setting up a VE-24 tent near dusk, which was anchored with skis in somewhat shallow snow above treeline, the tent actually blew away. We stood and watched it fly nearly 2000 vertical feet up a mountain slope before getting blown far down valley once it reached the ridge line. Miraculously, a mile or so down the trail on the ski out in the dark we found the tent laying just 20 feet off the trail, ripped and beat up and missing a few poles. My buddies headlamp died on the ski out – not a good gear night. The second winter camping retreat was solo near treeline in my North Face West Wind tent – the walls would have collapsed if not for holding them up with my legs – that got really old after an hour or so.

Great storytelling, Ryan.  I’m glad you decided to keep on shooting.

Sounds like thicker cord, 4-season shelter could help. However nothing better than selecting a campsite that is significantly wind sheltered. A storm like that would be a test no matter what gear you bring. Thanks for producing this real life video in a storm!

Great video! Ryan in his element… The structural system of the Dirigo ought to depend on rigid joints between the poles and the short horizontal top pole, if it is not to distort by twisting, so that that top pole rotates about the vertical axis together with the tops of the main poles. The tension of the skin would tend to prevent such distortion, but any looseness in the pitch, worked loose by the buffeting, ought surely to result in such deformation of the proper shape. I have considerable respect for HMG, but to my mind that particular structural design concept is intrinsically flawed. That said, I’ve not seen the tent, and have only a hazy idea of how the tops of the upright poles are held in place; but maintaining the three poles in a (vertical) plane when the load in the two upright poles at their tops is trying to twist the structure just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Well, 65+mph gusts are death to any 3 season tent. I usually figure 40mph is about the limit. I am sure a less exposed location would have helped…but, you have to go by weather/knowledge of those places.

Plastic stuff on tents is always a problem. I much prefer a simple line. Yeah, sometimes, it takes a bit of fiddling with knots. I have had trouble with 1mm spectra in the past. Even with a vinyl coating, they don’t hold up well. The dynema seems to break after about ten years of use leaving only the nylon sheath. Not sure if this is common, since this is kind’of at the extreme end of durability. A loop to loop connection works well with a good surgeons knot locking the knot. Even this breaks at the knot under heavy wind loads, though. I usually use a 2mm line for most of this (1000lb+ test) nowdays, but even this has broken over several days of heavy winds. Anyway, it does not apear to be a “cutting” issue, more of a few dynema strands breaking under load (no stretch.) I assume it gets worse with time… Possibly it is a bending/fracture of the dynema, as seen with some of the older DCF/cuben cloth, due to the size of the cord.

The spindrift was terrible. Better you than me…ha, hey. Everything must’ve been fairly wet when you got back.

Great you had a bailout planned in the scenario!  Awesome adventure… thrilling footage… good test for realistic limitations of the Dirigo in high winds any season.

Gotta love those sleepless nights whapping snow off the shelter as it endlessly accumulates.  Last years northeast Polar Vortex was an intimidating storm for me to “ride out”. I had a bailout planned but was able to stick it out due to decent tree cover and the solidity of the shelter.  Very loud howling winds 40-60mph and 18” of snow in one night. It looked as if the snow was falling “upward”… I slept the next day

the hmg stock guylines slip for me as well, if I tie a slippery half hitch right up against the Lineloc after tensioning it stops the slipping.  But instead I replace using 2.7mm guylines like MLD supplies with their products, even though it’s a touch heavier it is the proper size for Linelocs and don’t seem to slip.  If in stupendous winds like you had that night they might still slip when the panels flap around. Out of habit I just put the slippery half hitch regardless.

Have a great weekend all…

This reminds me a lot of a September night i spent in the Alpine Lakes basin of the Winds. We had snow and high winds, and there was really no way to get any shelter from the wind. We were in a Zpacks Duomid that fared about the same.  Ryan looked much calmer than I did that night. On the other hand,  I was 2 days from the trailhead instead of 2 hours. The pucker factor was real. We spent the night holding onto the poles aand re-staking. We got one image that morning before packing up and scampering away like mice.

As an aside, it’s a little funny that the banner ad for this thread is for the Dirigo.

I don’t see campsite selection as the problem—I see the choice of tent as being the problem.  Arctic adventurers use tents all the time on their treks (often tunnel tents) and routinely deal with these conditions.  If a shelter choice dictates site selection, well, then there’s a loss of freedom where you can or must set up.  The whole purpose of a shelter esp a winter shelter is using it to stay secure—and dry—and warm—for the duration you’re squatting there.

I watched the video and it’s sad you guys have snowmobile noise to deal with in the backcountry.  Thank god we don’t get enough snow here in the mountains of TN and NC to attract ATV types riding in on their loud and noisy snowmobiles.  We have enough noise pollution with overhead Jet traffic and VERY LOUD scenic road motorcycle tourism.  Okay, got that rant out of my system.  I did like the “No Snowmobiles” sign.

I can’t understand why you’d bring a tent with unsealable mesh to let in blowing spindrift.  It’s obvious it results in letting in too much snow which could wet your sleeping bag and clothing and pillow and sleeping pad.  Might as well just have a tarp.

The grommet failure seems to have happened quickly and far too soon for this tent.  Maybe some tent designer in some room decides to make a tent—your Dirigo for instance—and then the online community doesn’t get a feel for the thing because it has no history in tough conditions (like other proven tents I can mention)—and so it has no decent reputation until you post this kind of report.  So your post is a sort of Alert, a needed warning.

And I love tent reviews which show failures.  It’s what a tent review is all about in my opinion—because NO TENT is perfect.

As an aside—I just got back from a March trip and got caught in a real March windstorm on a TN mountain with 60+mph gusts—though no snow—and the big trees around me were swaying like blades of grass.  It was so loud I don’t remember being in such a loud storm.  I counted the “climax gusts”—you know—the Level Fives which break through the Level Fours—and dangit after counting to 20 I gave up and just hunkered in.

Instead of snow spindrift I had buckets of horizontal rain slamming against my silnylon tent fly and of course the driven liquid pushed against my yellow inner tent and caused the inside canopy to get wet—see pic—although no actual water came inside or onto the floor.  What a blow.

Old school if not just old, personally I’d gladly accept the extra weight of a side door zipper to attach a solid panel if needed… sure to help a bit with warmth and with cold winds as well. As well as for desert camping – nights can be hot and still but there were many times when anything to help with the super fine sand  would be very welcome…   as well as the unexpected snow & spindrift in other situations.  Don’t think this would weigh much  more than a power bar or two. Is this such a bad idea?