Recommended Trekking Pole Height For Golite Shangri-La 1

According to the tech specs: 45" / 114cm in the front. 27" / 68.5cm in the rear.

Stuart,
I will have to give those dimensions a try. Thank You

Those pole heights are about right for the lowest setup. YOu may want to try a few inches higher for ventilation. The trick is to really get your ridgeline tight before you tighten your corners.

Nice tight pitch on the SL1!

Can't figure out why that shelter doesn't get more love….

The customer service department at GoLite actually e-mailed me their recommendations for pitching the Shangri-La 1.

"The front pole should be 3'9" or 114cm and the back pole should be set at 2'3" or 68.5 cm. Stake the "foot" end of the tent first, pitch the foot end pole. Next important point to remember: the distances between the stake widths are very important to giving the tent a proper shape for one person. The stakes at the opening of the tent should be at a distance of 4 ft or 122cm. Any wider, and the tent will be very low, wide, and not particularly protective. Any more narrow and the tent will sag. After staking the single back stake and the two opening stakes, pitch the front pole and stake out the vestibule stake. You can now stake out the rest of the tent. The orientation of the tent will be important if wind is expected, but with the tail to the wind, the tent should shear most winds. There are vents on the head and foot end of the tent that can be tied down with cord in colder weather conditions. If you are camping in terrain with canopy cover, you can use the external webbing loops instead of the trekking poles to pitch the tent."

I was surprised with how quick they responded to me.

Here are some pictures of my Shangri-La1 setup according to the instructions GoLite provided me.

The SL1 is a great shelter.
One of my preferred shelters is the Gossamer Gear SpinnShelter. It's very similar design but weighs significantly less. The SL1 material is way overkill. OK for boy scouts, but way to thick for UL backpacking.

As far as pole length goes, it varies for me, depending on conditions.

Before I had the Spinnshelter, I added extra line to my SL1 so that it could be pitched higher for warmer weather. I have pitched it almost 12" off the ground in warm rainy weather to keep dry, but not suffocate from the heat.

The poles of course need to be adjusted accordingly.