Hilleberg Tent thread

[Matthew H]

Has anyone had a chance to compare the Allak and Kaitum? Any findings? Room, snow shedding ability?

[Stephen M]

Two very different tents, the Kaitum will be far roomier.

I spent about 20 nights in a Kaitum in winter and it always shed snow well. I do suspect the Allak will be a bit better, but how much

I can not tell.

[Matthew H]

Appreciate it Stephen. I am leaning towards the Allak due to the freestanding capabilities and ease to get a good pitch for my photography.. also a little weight saving (though in reality the difference is that that huge). Just wanted to see if there were any reasons that I shouldn’t lean that way.

[Stephen M]

Mathew,

I see you live in Boulder, go in to the local dealer and

ask them to pitch both for you.

 

Edit: It’s Neptune Mountaineering

 

 

[Doug Smith]

Warning, long post inbound:

I haven’t been on BPL in a while.  My last backpacking trip a few months ago was absolutely miserable, and I nearly swore off backpacking.  I went hiking with a buddy in our local mountains, and spent 2 days hiking in clouds/ drizzle, and rain.  The trails were overgrown to the point that we were shoving our way through thick manzanita and poison oak most of the trip, which dropped sheets of water on us all day.  Ticks were plentiful, and as I said, the poison oak was overwhelming.  None of that was bad, though, compared to the wet and cold.

Now of course, this was the first trip where I vowed to go super light.  I took my lightest down quilt, borrowed a down puffy jacket, used my hammock and tarp, etc.  I discovered that in wet weather, down does not stay dry.  Hahaha.  I can laugh about it now but I sure wasn’t laughing then.  I’d left all of my usual fleece and synthetic insulating gear at home.  I had trickles of water running down my back all night.  I survived, but it was absolutely miserable.  As I said, I nearly vowed off of backpacking, and I did make some important determinations.

So why am I sharing this on my Hilleberg tent thread?  I’m never backpacking again with a hammock.  That’s for starters.  I realized, and this is going to sound like heresy to most, that UL shelters are good for situations in which you don’t need a shelter.  Down is good if you know you can keep it dry, and if whether is wet enough, there is no keeping anything dry.  I may actually re-think down all-together.  I haven’t totally sworn off it, but I came real close after that last trip.

I would have given anything to be in one of my Hillebergs on that last trip.  Which brings me to what I actually wanted to discuss, and that is the Enan vs Akto.  I need a solo backpacking tent.  The weight of the Enan is appealing, but I think about it in terms of my recent trip, where I actually needed a shelter.  All of that mesh, especially the inner door, does not sound cozy.  I know from many previous trips that inside a Hilleberg inner can be an easy 15* warmer than the outside temps because of the solid inner tent.  I think you’d lose a ton of that with the Enan, which would in turn require a heavier sleeping bag or warmer clothes.  Second is the color.  I GREATLY prefer sand to the red or green that the Enan comes in.  That alone could nearly sway me, but I do like the single pole ends that the Enan design has, as well as the head and foot end ventilation.

So in the end, I’m still torn between the two.  I’d really like to see the packed size/ weight, and look at them both in person.

[Ryan Jordan]

Welcome back, Doug.

To me the Elan looks like a tent you’d use when you don’t really need a tent. Fine for warm weather and bugs.

The Akto is great for cold weather, but I’ve spent miserable, noisy nights in one when there’s anything more than a few inches of snow falling or very high winds.

Hilleberg’s best offering for “serious conditions where you need a tent” is probably the Soulo.

[Stephen M]

Hi Doug,

Good to see you posting, that sounds like a nasty trip.

I have never used an Atko but have seen plenty of them

In Ireland and the Uk, they are a really nice tent.

[Doug Smith]

Stephen and Ryan, thanks for the posts!

 

Ryan, it’s interesting you mentioned the Soulo.  As soon as I worte my last post I went to Hilleberg’s website and couldn’t stop looking at the Soulo.  Ease of set-up may sound like a goofy thing to consider, but I absolutely suck at staking, and the ground in areas where I camp makes it very difficult as well.  This has always concerned me about the Akto and Enan.  The Soulo and Unna take the cake for being the most stable regardless of staking.  I was surprised to see that although the Soulo is heavier than the Unna fully loaded, their “minimum weight” is identical.

I briefly owned a Soulo and returned it as soon as I realized it took my pup all of 1 minute to figure out how to push the 3-way zipper apart with her nose.  The truth is, in the future I don’t plan on taking a dog backpacking as much, if ever.  It’s a sad realization, but food weight is a big consideration, and I know she never enjoyed the trips as much as I did.

[Stephen M]

Soulo user here also Doug, I think the Enan and Soulo cover all bases.

[Brad Rogers]

Sorry to hear about your trip.  I wouldn’t swear off down as it’s my top choice even for the southeast and Alaska.  You can’t wear it on the move for sure but if your careful with it I have had no problems (including Alaska this year where it rained the first 4 days and night straight.

 

I tried a es a hammock years ago in heavy rains and I got wet too. I am sure it was user error but it still turned me off of them and a lot of my backpacking is above treeline nowadays.

 

What conditions are you expecting?  High winds? Rain? Snow?  If you need a real hilleberg get a real hilliberg, but if you are looking at the Élan I would look at the tarptent moment dw.

 

Perhaps i I am wrong but a hilliberg is about is good as it gets for winter trips with high winds and snow but I am not sure they are the best for summer trips.  There are lots of tents that can keep you dry and comfortable in the rain and below treeline (or even above tree line)

 

 

[Matthew H]

Hi Stephen, I was actually going to go there today but I would have felt bad wasting their time having them set up both when there’s no way I would buy from them. You can get the same price online without having to pay tax, plus get a free Exped mat that I could sell for $200 and recoup some cash.

[Stephen M]

Last time I was in their they had and Allak pitched.

 

You will still need to pay sales tax online at the Colorado rate (new rule came in recently). Also Neptune often have a 10% off coupon in some local free newspaper that they have in the store (ask the clerk)

 

So you are looking at Moontrail?

[Stephen M]

I got a chance to compare the Enan to the Moment DW and much prefered the Enan.

 

I would say outside snow conditions the Enan is every bit as capable as the Atko.

 

[Richie S]

I have both an Akto and an Enan and I’d say I’m as confident in the Enan as the Akto in foul weather. Neither is really built for a snow load – but could probably handle an unexpected snowfall. Neither is a full-on winter tent.

[Richie S]

They are also releasing a lightweight unna, the Niak, in 2016.

 

[Matthew H]

Yeah I was looking at Moontrail. Or Moosejaw where I have $350 worth of points saved up.

[Doug Smith]

Wow, I just checked out the Niak!  Now that has promise!  I badly wish Hilleberg would be able to source their new Kerlon 1000 in a sand color though.  The red is very bright, but I honestly think that if I only have a screen door, I’d pick red just because it’s so much cheerier than dark green.  Sand is the perfect compromise color, but they need to start making it in the lighter fabric.

[Brad Rogers]

Red orange or yellow tents look best in pictures IMO.

[Matthew H]

Definitely, that’s what I’m sticking to for sure.

[Stephen M]

Good plan to use your Moosejaw points.

[Crow]

Been busy – still haven’t gotten to do any camping in the Keron.  Felt restless though, so I took it to a local park and set it up properly outdoors:

I like being in this tent so much, I can’t wait to get some actual camping time in it.  Of course the weather is still warm and what I’m really looking forward to is camping in a snowfall.  Last time I packed it all up separately – so here I first pitched just the outer tent, then installed the footprint, then lastly the inner tent.  Went pretty quickly, but I don’t think I will do that again.  This time I rolled it all up together and it fit nicely into the stuff sack.  I think that is the thing to do whenever weather isn’t bad.  If I wake up in the rain, I am thinking it may be ideal to take the inner tent out and pack it up separately in a dry place, then pack up the wet outer tent and footprint separately (but still connected).  Not really sure if that’s necessary to keep the inner tent dry or not but I figure it can’t hurt, and is easy enough to do.

I have been thinking about getting another lighter-weight Hilleberg to use primarily for 3-season use but which would suffice in winter conditions if need be.  In addition to losing some weight, another advantage would be a smaller campsite footprint required.  The Nallo 3 (5lbs 12oz, plus 1lb footprint) and Anjan 3 (4lb 3oz, plus 11oz footprint) are the ones I’m considering.  I am hesitant about the Anjan as the outer tent doesn’t come all the way down to the ground, but it has an attractive weight!

[r m]

On the topic of Nallo’s, if you’re curious how a GT one did under 30cm of snow checkout the end of this post

[Crow]

Great info, thanks!  I wonder how the Nammatj or Keron would have done in that case, with about 20% more pole strength.  It may be worth replacing the stock 9mm poles on the Nallo with 10mm DAC poles.  The Nammatj isn’t a whole lot lighter than the Keron, and I’d feel a lot better being in the Keron in such conditions where the sag of the angled end under snow weight wouldn’t be a big concern.

In terms of design, I guess the Saivo is closest in principle to the EV, but quite a bit heavier (and presumably stronger) and double wall versus single.  I wonder how they would compare head-to-head in such conditions.

[Stephen M]

That Nallo got badly thrashed. It’s definitley  a good advert for the thicker poles.

[Matthew H]

Took my new Allak out for a night in RMNP in the snow at Black Lake. It was super calm when we arrived, but the wind picked up overnight. Didn’t even stake the tent out but it barely moved with some pretty hefty gusts. Pretty impressed so far. Love the large vestibules and the weight was reasonable with my wife and I sharing the gear.

Did get some condensation on the inside near our heads and feet which froze a little. This was due to having to hunker down the tent because of all the super dry powder that was blowing around with the wind. If I had anything open the snow was just blowing in.

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