Why tent stakes?

Miguel,

Is that a transparent Cuben tent?

Very Nice!

You've made my day…

Is that a transparent Cuben tent?

It could very well be. I was too drunk (to combat the cold) to notice. Or it could be a frame of spectra cord. Or maybe that new "molecular film" material?

Miguel, I think a bivy would be more comfortable.

But YMMV :)

Huzefa, you’re probably right there. Then I propose this ingenious solution to the whole “discomfort” thing:

Why go camping at all if you can enjoy being outdoors from the comfort of your own bed?

Miguel
I have noticed on your previous post that you are using what appears to be a commercially made trekking pole. Would it not be more SUL if you just picked up the one that nature provides ? (apparently some always find one of the right size next to their chosen sleeping area) .
On the last post, it's 3 AM you have an amused cat but a pile of snow on your face. Have you tried sleeping on your stomach so that you can use your hair as insulation ?
Franco

As always, Franco, your wisdom precedes you! You are exactly right about the commercial trekking pole. I was thinking that perhaps bringing along a tube of Pomade and growing your hair one meter fifteen centimeters long you could easily form a stiff rod by which to truss up the tarp. The Pomade would serve double purpose, too, by creating a waterproof canopy atop your head to aid in rain protection while walking.

As to the pile of snow on my face… that is part of the outdoor experience, though cats know very well that it is just plain stupidity (hence the amused cat… or bemused cat?). Here again pomade and hair would work very well in protecting the head, so your suggestion to sleep on my stomach would make a lot of sense. The only problem with the stomach method is the inability to see snow owls approaching that intend to land on my forehead and do morning ablutions (not that snow on my face would allow me to fare any better). Perhaps sleeping on my side would fill the prescription?

I use a mount washington pad or several layers of plastizote.

drawing by Steve Lusted

I'm glad to see you fellows have the ability to poke fun at yourselves. I'm certainly laughing "with" you. I feel the same way when I hear of folks putting their gear lists on spreadsheets. The last thing I want to associate with hiking is spreadsheets.

Having said that, I have thought the same thing about the tent stakes and have gone without them. I figured I have a knife, I'll just widdle a point on 4 sticks and voila. But I found it to be a pain in the rear that left me with a knife to dull to cut my salami. The sticks have to be somewhat close to live. If they have been dead for a while, they just break when you try to drive them into the ground. The weight penalty, to me is worth it.

Tent stakes make life a lot easier. Finagling guy-outs and stuff with rocks, branches, and so forth makes it difficult to get a great pitch, too. Why's that important? Because a solid taut pitch will help increase weather resistance. If you've got a double wall tent, you get much better air circulation. Like Roger, I've had tents hit with 60 MPH winds–perched near a granite slab in Canadian Shield area–without a single stake pulling out. I've had tarps pitched in the same conditions without a single stake pulling out.

Eight of my bomber tent stakes weigh 2 ounces or so. The longer versions weigh something like 3.5-4 ounces. They're Easton tubular aluminum, 6 & 8 inch respectively. Absolutely beautiful, bomber stakes. Never broken one. Great stuff. For all those benefits, and not having to horse around, why not carry 2 ounces?

EDIT-I was just thinking, if you ditch your stakes you're probably going to have to carry more guyline, so is there really a weight savings at all? And Miguel, hilarious… love the images.

I hate having to untangle long guy lines. the shorter I can keep them the better, so tent stakes RULE.

I'm not sure that tying my tent to an alpine tussock would be an ideal solution. Trees are never in the right place, and rocks need to be nearby, big enough to hold you down in a gale, but small enough to move into place. In sand and snow, you could just fill your stuff sacks with the stuff and bury them with guylines attached, but I never carry that many stuff sacks. I suppose you could fill all your belongings (rainjacket, empty pack, socks, sleeping bag etc…) with whatever was available and anchor things that way, but I'm not that desperate to shave 70g off my pack weight.

It's good to think outside the square though, and Miguel's ideas are really quite thought provoking! I use to use a North Face Tadpole free standing tent, and although you COULD pitch it without any stakes, you wouldn't dare leave it to answer nature's call in a strong wind, and in a gale there was a real risk of you AND the tent blowing away.

This is an area where the LNT doctrine and the quest for SUL interfere with each other. By making pointy stakes out of fresh wood, or moving rocks or whatever else you might think of to provide anchoring, you are creating an impact on the environment. Arguably, putting holes in the ground also leaves a trace, but a much smaller one. In this particular instance I prefer to use stakes. It's less of a PITA, to boot!

However, there are times where staking is darn near impossible. In those cases you don't have a choice. So, in the end, as with most things in backpacking, it's all about knowing the conditions of where you are going.