BLP shelter message, for Ryan et al

i don't know what that is but it made me spill coffee all over my calcs and my lap. Desk is a mess but that is one sharp looking shelter.

Who can elaborate on this?

– Dana

It is discussed in the Photography Forum on the BPL site. Look under the thread "Sigma DP1 in Yellowstone"

The same picture on Ryans site, I believe.

There was a mention of a new BPL shelter somewhere. Double walled with two entrances and under 20oz.

Here's a guess:

Titanium Goat Vertex 8+

Ryan describes the Vertex at his website:

(http://www.ryanjordan.com/)

where a photo that looks similar to what you posted appears along with the following description (a bit more than halfway down the page at the above link):

"Titanium Goat Vertex 8+ and Titanium Stove
http://www.titaniumgoat.com OK, so it's not my first choice for long distance hiking or SUL. But there is something to be said about the benefits (social, practical, and emotional) of having fire crackling in a wood stove inside your tent. Who said car camping and backcountry base camping can't also enjoy ultralight style? The tent with a carbon pole weighs about 5.5 lbs, and the small titanium box stove will only set you back 2.5 lbs. Add 10 lbs of gear and 10 lbs of food, and you're still tipping the scales sub-30 lbs with potential for extreme comfort and high class wilderness living.

"Weight: 8 lbs for both
"MSRP: $1300"

JRS

IIRC Ryan was testing it in Yellowstone. Cuben outer and a mesh inner I believe. Not sure about 2 entrances. I think there's just the one at the front.

According to Ryan Jordan :

This is a Cuben Fiber canopy and a noseeum inner tent with a floor made of the new fabric we are developing for our bivy floor line (silicone coating, about 0.9 oz/yd2). Effectively, it's a double wall tent that weighs about 12 ounces sans poles.

I go along with his description…
(me think it will be over $400 if put into production)
Franco

I agree with Dana, I am DREWLING over that shelter. It is absolutely heavenly!

cheers

I emailed Ryan about this photo last year. I expressed my great desire for a shelter with the following:

cuben fiber canopy
full noseeum netting perimeter
sewn-in floor
sets up with only trekking poles
two-person capacity!

From his brief description this shelter prototype seemed to fit the bill. Unfortunately he said it would be late 2009 or 2010 before any news was available. … If at all.

In my humble opinion, there is a real opportunity for a SUL rainproof, bugproof shelter for two. The Tarptents and one-person shelters, etc. are great, but I'm craving something similar to that picture.

Ultralight gods, please make it happen!!

What size wood do those vortex stoves take (box or cylinder)? Anyone with experience. Looks like it could make long cold winter nights a lot more fun. You could sit around and play cards instead of hunkering down in your bag at 5pm when the sun sets…

Lynn, I have the Ti goat cylinder stove. Guessing, I would say the opening is about 3 inches – 4 max. To keep a nice burn, you'll want to keep the sticks to about 1.5 – 2 inches but can take bigger if you get some nice coals going. Great when killing time in the tent.

Lynn
Everything you ever wanted to know and more here:
http://www.kifaru.net/tipifaqs.htm

more info again inside the forum when it's operational.
Franco

Seems like the Kifaru forums always 'appear' to be down if you click on the link from the FAQ page. This link should work though:

http://www.kifaruforums.net/index.php

Lots of great information and very helpful folks over there.

John,

What thread was that in? I'd be curious to go back and read the dialogue…

Sigma DP1 in Yellowstone:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/14948/index.html

Stoves
My last comment was provably only clear to me…
At the Kifaru site of course the focus is on the Kifaru version of that type of stove, however in the forums there are several discussions about the other types including the TiGoat.
Franco

The way it's set up it looks surprisingly similar to my SMD Gatewood Cape sans hood!

This, I think, is the front of that shelter.
Picture stolen from Simplificato, Ryan's blog
http://www.ryanjordan.com/weblog/
Franco

I should just let this go but…

It seems very interesting to me that people are not more intrigued by a potentially new BPL shelter. (In case we've lost focus see John's photo at the start of this thread or Franco's recent photo with Ryan sitting in front.) The Ti Goat tent and stove are cool and I appreciate quality knives too (115 recent posts), but next to no one is interested in a prototype shelter being tested by Ryan Jordan himself?

Personally, I would love to see BPL offer some tarptent styled shelters. More options and more innovation can only make for better gear and greater enjoyment of the outdoors.

Am I alone on this? Does Ryan or the BPL staff have anything for us to chew on?

but what more is there to say? We don't know the specs yet…and it's a year away from production.

Though I must say, Ryan's expression in that picture is hilarious. He's concentrating on sitting extremely still, I believe.

Looks very much like a self timer shot. I love those colours, (Sigma DP1).
Specs :
"Effectively, it's a double wall tent that weighs about 12 ounces sans poles." RJ
(Ouch!)
That picture was posted to illustrate the quality of the Sigma DP1, Ryan's new toy at the time.
On the third post, someone hijacked the thread by mentioning the tent. From then on till Ryan provided some info we lost interest in the DP1.

I really think that to put that shelter into a production run would be a pretty big gamble and my $400 estimate is likely to be very conservative.
As much as a dozen or two will put their hand up for that, you need a few more to pay for the exercise. But I am only speculating…
Franco

Looks like a SMD Lunar solo. I would like to what the final cost would be. I am definitely interested.

It was shot by his son who was practicing macro photography and needed him to be still for the long exposure…

Robert has just failed his application to the TTC (Tent Tragics Club) and Nathan has done the same as a would be photographer.
Franco

I think there's a market for this shelter, I for one would buy it, crisis or no crisis.

I'd love to know more about it. It seems strange to deliberately tease a highly inquisitive and gear orientated forum with such a potential product, and not respond to feedback or interest.

Like many markets, the UL gear market is a premium market, and cutting edge technology and techniques drive it forward. Many companies use forums to gauge response to potential products, maybe it was the case here. There's no such thing as coincidence.

Anybody from BPL want to comment- that was the question in the OP, please?