Shelter Pitching Demos – In 40 mph wind!

[Ron W]

How would you like to rent one of these to test your shelter before you buy. :) Or practice your technique…

Hilleberg Soulo pitched in the wind

Vaude Power Lizard UL pitched in the wind

The person pitching the Hilleberg Soulo wasted some time staking out the lines before clipping the fly.

[Ultra Magnus]

This guy seemed to have a tougher time at it- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmFUxyFUfDg&list=UUdhiRnXl5fxLUR6EuvQdIGQ&index=2&feature=plpp_video
I was have expecting a pole to break.

Forgive the ignorance, but are those four season expedition tents? I wonder what it would look like if someone were to try that with some of our more common sul shelters- tarp tents, 'mids, tipis, cuben stuff like zpacks hexamid, etc…

BM

[CW]

It's funny this came up. Ryan talked to me a month or so back about testing UL shelters with a machine capable of 200+ mph winds to see how they'd fare and what would fail first.

[Erik Hagen]

Chris, it would be great if BPL bought a wind machine for testing, reviews, and comparisons of shelters. You could build a platform that spins around to rest the wind from the front, sides, etc. I would even be willing to chip in for one and I bet you could get others to do the same.

[James holden]

do it … BPL is known for its no punches pulled scientific testing … its things like that that make a membership worthwhile …

the flipside is that youll likely be persona non grata to a few manufacturers afterwards, and should some of those favorite UL brands not make the cut … there will be UL lynch mobs crying for yr head ;)

[CW]

Eric – you say that as if it would be something new. :-)

[Ron W]

You could charge admission and based on the last of the three videos shared in this thread, it would be worth it. Something of an example of it paying to carry gear which is well thought through.

So along those lines you'll also need a rain machine.

Now we're talking. Gear demos in 40 mph driving rain. :)

[Roger Caffin]

Actually, we do have the 'Survey and Tutorial on Tunnel Tents' scheduled for Real Soon Now. It includes a demo of pitching, and a discussion of 'how-to'.

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

> I wonder what it would look like if someone were to try that with some of
> our more common sul shelters
I think the answer might be 'interesting' – or 'expensive'.

Cheers

[Sam Farrington]

Back in the day, Backpacker mag would find a nice open bluff above timberline and pitch a bunch of tents on it before nasty weather was predicted. All tents subject to the same conditions with very different results. Much cheaper than a lot of expensive machinery. My favorite was the link recently posted to what looked practically like a factory being built around a tent test pad. No wonder we are going bankrupt! How many of us does it take to screw in a light bulb?

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