What is your favorite pitch for a 5×8 tarp with bivy?

[Dale Wambaugh]

What is your favorite pitch for a 5×8 tarp with bivy? I'm thinking rain and moderate wind, not for snow.

Lean-to is the first that comes to mind, laying sideways. My favorite for quick and dirty pitches.

A long A-frame is possible, but seems to be a little narrow. MLD adds the tab towards the rear, creating a "hip roof" to close the end.

Golite shows their poncho tarp with all the corners staked and the center peeled up.

Integral Designs shows an A-frame with the back corners staked down. This seems weatherly.

Ultralight Outfitters shows a modified lean-to

I found this military illustration. I hadn't seen the bottom one before.

[Ken Thompson]

I like the one pole pitch. I cheat a little in that my tarp is 5×9 so I can lay in there and not be smashed against the walls.

I hadn't seen the bottom one either. Like a mini mid.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Looks like the short guy lines add a little room too. The GoLight variation looks like you need a wedge for a head :) What are the worst conditions you have weathered pitched like this?

I wonder if the "mini-mid" could be pulled off with a pole on each side with a line between. That center line could nab a poncho hood and keep it from drooping. It might require two guys on each pole to stabilize them.

[Joseph Reeves]

Foot box is closed and toward the prevailing wind. The hiking pole is set at waist level and the sides could be dropped easily if the wind shifted.

It snowed the next morning and this kept me dry.

[Tom Clark]

The single pole pitch that Ken shows provides lots of coverage, but if there is a heavy rain with hard ground you will get a muddy splash from the runoff. I've learned that lesson and wished that I had pitched lower.
Tom

[Larry Dyer]

I'm a fan of the pitch Ken showed but with a second pole pulling the roof up and out. It's quite cozy but a bit more room can be achieved for us tall guys by pitching foot end into the wind a touch and propping the head end up a bit with a short stick or something.

Here I have both end pitched high and the back into the wind. Forgive my cosmetically impaired pitch. It's definitely taught though. :)

My second favorite is probably the modified a-frame where the foot end looks like an a-frame and the head end looks like a lean-to. If the weather gets squirrelly it isn't hard to reach out and pin the lean to portion down low.

[Ike Jutkowitz]

There was a really good thread on this a while ago with great pictures.
I usually use the modified A frame Larry described for max headroom. Tight A frame with windward side tight to ground for heavy rain.

For those that use the half pyramid (one pole pitch), do you have trouble with your head brushing the side?

[Mike M]

most often I use a 1/2 pyramid, head sometimes gets a little close to the tarp if it's raining (sags a little), if I'm pretty sure it's going to rain I go to a A frame or modified A frame

[tommy d]

Call me boring, but the vast majority of the time I just pitch a lean-to with my 5×8 tarp or a do a modified lean-to that can be dropped into an A-frame. Around here, our weather seems to change quite frequently – rain for an hour, stop, some wind, clears up, stars, drizzle… So, I like having a pitch that I can modify easily during the evening and night.

[Aaron W]

I was playing with a poncho tarp last summer. I liked the two pole pitch, this gives me a little more head room and more foot coverage. I have only used the setup for wind and mist protection.

A stealth site just off the PCT in San Jacinto.

[Steven McAllister]

The closed end A-frame is what I pitch if I suspect snotty weather under a 9X5.

I usually sleep with my head near the open end, and if the weather changes to blowing rain, I turn me and my bivy around so that my head is at the closed end.

Otherwise a flying diamond, lean-to or something in between is what I would do.

[Frank Deland]

In the wind and cold, I pitch 'em low:

Here is an 8×10 for two:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1198228962045831896KXVCDT

[Ken Helwig]

A Frame!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well as soon as I get mine down!

Ummmm this is a joke BTW

[Mike M]

Ken- what the heck is up w/ that pitch? – looks awfully wrinkled and un-taut ;)

[Ken Helwig]

Pretty bad huh???? Just having some fun!

[Mike M]

^ yeah I saw your other thread :)

[Ken Thompson]

Busted by the Warden!

[Mike M]

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