Rab eVent “bivies” on sale

[Pieter Kaufman]

I was so stoked to find this.

The vaunted Rab Summit Superlite and Summit Mountain, at $356 and $396 respectively.

I've been watching these for a long time, and this is by far the best deal I've seen (28% off retail), so if you were looking for these, run.

I asked about stock on the phone, and they were down to two of the larger ones, one of which I bought, and something like five of the smaller ones, and their online page doesn't update stock on hand, so fair warning to anyone who's sensitive about these kinds of things.

[Bob Gross]

Why wouldn't you call those tents instead of bivies?

–B.G.–

[CW]

eVent can't be used in "tents" so Rab renamed them.

[David Ure]

Hi Bob – because they are made out of eVENT and GE does not permit eVENT in tents. These are lower profile mountaineering tents and RAB has somehow got around the issue by calling them bivi's.

Bizarre, I know.

[Bob Gross]

Let me see if I understand. The products are tents, but Rab made them with eVent fabric, so just to make it legal, they called them bivies. ?

But, really, they are tents.

On the web page, Rab called them shelters.

I couldn't figure out how a bivy could have a price tag of nearly $400.

–B.G.–

[Pieter Kaufman]

Hence the scare quotes.

[. .]

If you tried to sit up inside of one and sip some tea, you may also understand another reason why they are referred to as bivies. Bivies have a maximum height allowed before they are called tents.

[Pieter Kaufman]

I don't drink tea. Strictly coffee. My lack of understanding is my bliss.

…

Okay, joking aside, the height of the Summit Mountain is a hair over 39 inches, which is about three inches less than a BD Firstlight. That's why I bought that one, and not the smaller one. I'll take the weight penalty, especially given that I'll only be using this in fairly much the conditions for which it was designed: alpine winter travel/climbing.

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