Phew, just got back inside from a freezing cold, raging storm (not quite a gale; I was able to stand up okay) outside my apartment. I had gone out to attempt my first set up of my new GG The One tent, in conditions similar to the worst of what I expected in the mountains in the summer… basically to test the tent for what I had bought it for.
The package arrived earlier today in a small box, and hefting it it felt just as I thought it would, slightly heavier than my other GG shelter, the SpinnShelter. Opening the box The One was packed away in a grey spinntex stuff sack that crinkled as loudly as my Spinnshelter. No surprise there either.
It was dark out when I went out to set up the shelter, so I used a headlamp to locate a good site. I used my GG hiking poles and the small GG titanium stakes for the tent. With the wind blowing as hard as it was trying to wrestle the fabric into place was quite a chore! It kept wrapping around my body and twisting out of shape so that I couldn't locate up or down. And locating the guylines at the ends of the tent took some doing, too, but because of the florescent cords it was just a matter of hunting with my headlight. Following the instructions in Glen's video I secured the guylines facing windward and then pulled the floor taut with the guylines on the leeward side. And just as in the video I trussed up the rear of the shelter with the trekking pole, fitting it between the vents up to the grommet. Then the front pole, up into the apex under the vestibule. The way that the pole handles fit into the webbing is truly elegant. Very simple and without using the velcro that always drives me nuts, I loved the way it tightened around the pole handle when the guylines were pulled tight. With a few tugs on the cord adjusters and cord buckles and the tent went taut and trim.
One thing I realized is that you have to be very careful with the sharp tips of the trekking poles when fitting them into the grommets, making sure the fabric isn't punctured. And The One needs some practice to get the fabric taut. Setting it up a few times should get it down pat.
I have some reservations about the strength of the mitten hook that holds the tip of the vestibule out along the front guyline. In the winds tonight it broke loose twice, so I may have to exchange it for one of my stronger, plastic S-hooks that I found a while back.
Once the tent was adjusted right it was tight and barely shook in the strong winds. It did crinkle rather loudly, but the winds I had pitched it in were not the winds you'd usually encounter while walking and such crinkling sounds were to be expected with spinnaker cloth. Still, I was very reassured that the tent did well in strong winds.
The inside left ample room for my 5'10" height and because of the second pole in the rear the walls of the tent did not close in around my head, even with the canted rear apex. This tent definitely would comfortably fit someone taller than me, something that the well-made and light tents here in Japan always present a big problem with. My sleeping bag wouldn't touch the ends of the tent. The floor space is not as wide as that of the Tarptent Rainbow, but then it is not touted as a 1.5 person tent.
It was too dark and windy and cold to take photos, so I will have to wait until daylight and nicer weather to get some photos up. But so far I am VERY happy with what The One looks to be. This is exactly what I wanted last summer when I walked in the Alps! I'm going to use it as much as I can in the coming months and have a feeling this will be the shelter I'm going to use all the time except in snowy weather. A good balance between the lightness of a tarp and the protection of a full tent, I may very well have found THE ONE!
