Question regarding trekking pole tents

You could always make a pole extender out of say 5/8" aluminum tubing cut to the proper length to get the desired height needed for a particular shelter. Like the pole jacks that MLD sells.

The specs say 43" interior height. So the pole is probably a 44" or 45".

How tall are you? What poles do you have now?

Find the required height, borrow someones adjustables and try them out at that height. They might be just fine.

If you have more pole than the tent requires you can always angle the bottom out to get the job done.

I don't currently have poles. The wife expressed interest and reading around, it seems like a DIY set would be pretty cost effective and lightweight. They would have definitely come in handy during a few river crossing we did on our last trip.

It was rather demoralizing to spend 20 minutes at a double crossing, only to soak our feet in the last seconds and then watch a group of 10+ boy scouts fly over it with poles and not even come close to getting wet.

I'm 6'2" and she's about 5'9". I figured that if I extended the grip with handlebar tape, you could "adjust" the length just by moving your hand.

Oh and what is this MLD you speak of?

I use a 120 cm (47 ") fixed pole under a GG Spinntwinn and other tarps. I'm 5'10". It works fine. I do have about a 14" extension aluminum tube that works, too. even though the pole will not be straight. To add couple more inches of height, if needed, I'll just find an appropriate rock. I use the extension pole or rock only if the pole is being used as a center pole.
With the SpinnTwinn the front pole works when pitched at an angle as they (GG) suggests. When the full height of the fixed pole is not needed, eg. in the rear,
a knob of tape is used at the desired height so the guy cord will not slip down the pole.

I am on my second set of poles. The first where 3 section and heavy the second are from GG 2 section and very light. I have used them with 2 shelters that required about 53" to pitch. I had thought about cheaper fixed length poles but they would be a problem for air travel in a suit case and I would have to add a piece of the correct height for the current shelter. Neither are big issues and I am sure you can make some. I had been hiking for 30 years before I tried trekking poles and found I really like using them. I am thinking about one piece poles for my daughter.

To the OP:
GG=Gossamer Gear (www.gossamergear.com)
MLD=Mountain Laurel Designs (www.mountainlaureldesigns.com)

These are two of the most popular / respected cottage manufacturers serving the UL community. Both make excellent quality high end lightweight backpacking products. Personally, I only have direct experience with Gossamer Gear (never owned an MLD product), although their reputation on this forum is stellar.

I have the GG SpinnTwinn tarp and GG LT4 (short) trekking poles. This combo gives a great lightweight flexible shelter system which can be pitched wide or tall, touching the ground or elevated by a few inches.

Good luck on your quest!

Cheers, James.

Jonathan,
"MLD" is Mountain Laurel Designs, a purveyor of fine ultra light equipment. For some pole supported shelters Ron Bell supplies a 12" section of tubing to "extend" an otherwise to short pole.

Yes, wrapping some grip tape below the handle will give you purchase when you "choke up".

And, finally, try "Search Forums" to look in Make Your Own Gear for "trekking poles". It will take some time to wade through the results, but the info is there.

To answer your second question, I'm having fair luck with my Walmart (Outdoor Research) treking poles. I bought the flicklock, not twistlock ones. They are $12.88 each. It took a few trips to get them to stop slipping(proper screw torque). Only failure I've had is loosing a tip – put the pole in an existing treking pole hole, in frozen ground and it cracked. I also spent $5 on raquet ball tape to wrap the handles – they are rubber and get sweaty easily. I have about $33 in them and I'm still using them. I think they are a good, low cost way to experiment with the treking poles. BTW, I swear by them now.

I've used a variety of trekking pole tents and tarps and have used the following:

1) my trekking pole

2) a stick (my trekking pole was slipping so I searched the surrounding woods – found a nice limb – broke it to fit – left it when I left – that's light)

3) a guy I knew used to have one of those collapsible golf ball retrievers that he used as a tent pole for a large teepee tent he made. Workd well.

Good luck.

One thing I have noticed is that soft ground can cause problems. If the handles of your poles sink into the ground, then you either 'need' adjustable poles to make up for the sinkage, or something solid to put under the handles to stop them from sinking.