Tall person’s support thread

I'm pretty sure Arcteryx has tall lengths in their rain pants.

Andy at Outaware makes gore tex pants…he'll custom make them to fit your size, you just need to give him your dimensions.

http://www.outaware.com

Kuhl makes many of their pants waist size in inches (not just m-l-xl) and with 36 inseam, have to hunt for them or special order at REI. Try them on, I think the 36" waist runs a bit large, YMMV.

I'm fond of my 11 foot Dream Hammock, solves many too short tent issues.

I have a SpinnTwinn that I use with a custom Borah bivy, or a 90" Yama NetTent2. John at Borah is great to work with on custom stuff with very little upcharge.

Still looking for the "perfect" lightweight 1/2 person tent, side door long length. I second the comments of many that there are not many 90 inch floors that have 90 inches of usable floor.

Love the exped SynmatUL7, LW

Love Tim's extra long size quilts, great stuff.

My pet complaint: Reading tent review that a tent is "spacious" without the reviewer at least disclosing their height.

I'm 6'6" and skinny so I hear everybody. As far as tents I've found that several tarptent models work well. I also have a big sky evolution 2p that fits very well. I use it s lot and can stretch out without hitting the ends in my bag. Sierra design use to make an extra long vapor light I still have

I'm a bit under 6,2 and the Scarp 1 has plenty of room while in my Moment DW, it's tight because the ends taper inwards and as Max said, the Borah Bivy is generous in size.

My favorites for tall stuff:

Shelter – Lightheart Gear SoLong 6
Quilt/Bag – Western Mountaineering
Clothing – Crapshoot. Try Luke's Ultralight for some custom-sized gear.
Pack – Gossamer Gear Mariposa XL is the tall version of this popular pack. Custom shops like ZPacks and Hyperlite Mountain Gear will adjust the straps to your torso.

Im only 6'3 but only have a 32" in seam. This means I have very long arms and torso. I just have given up in well fitting jackets so short arms are a style for me.

>"I have very long arms and torso"

I got a chair massage in an airport and she couldn't get the torso-length adjustment long enough (I'm only 6'0") and she asked, "Celtic?"

Yup, Scotch-Irish-Welsh more than anything else. Since then, I've noticed that correlation in others.

At 6'4", 220, I'm at the border of finding clothes that fit from big name brands. For a few years now, I've bought Arc'teryx because their XL fit without being shapeless balloons like Patagonia, Columbia, etc. They are designed mostly for climbers, which means longer arms. I've worn the same pair of Rampart hiking pants with 35" inseam for 3 yrs now. Expensive, yes, BUT I've never paid full price because I buy from GearTrade. However, like BPL, you have to get lucky or be diligent in finding a deal.

Over time I have settled on 3 shelters: 8×10 HMG flat tarp, Duplex, and recently, a Solomid XL. All 3 provide just enough length, but in bad weather there's not a lot of wiggle room. What saves me is sleeping on my side with my legs curled.

As far as packs, my base weight fluctuates between 9-12lbs so I find that it's not as crucial to have that perfect, dialed in torso length as it would if I were not focused on ul backpacking. I recently completed the Wonderland in 7 days with a zpacks zero with their 1" webbing hip belt (although for shoulder's sake, I wouldn't recommend such a flimsy belt for that long of a trip).

It does seem like cottage industry makers design gear for their own height, but that is also what makes a company like zpacks so damned awesome: their willingness, no matter how much they've grown over these last few years, to customize their products for those who live beyond the height norm.

At 6'6" 245 I hear ya.

I've been using Mont-bell Super-spiral long bags (love 'em, that spiral cut is totally worth it) and a GoLite Shangri-La 3 with no center pole (use hiking poles and webbing) to cut weight. Run without the nest for even more savings. It's nice because you can pitch it Hex or pitch it rectangular … just fold two opposing corners under.

whalen e wrote: "At 6'4", 220, [snip]

Over time I have settled on [snip] and recently, a Solomid XL."

Am looking seriously at Solomid XL for primarily winter, primarily solo (me=6'4" plus) but then noticed how a Duomid is only 3" shorter (and is 105"), a foot wider, taller, about 2oz heavier, and only $5 more (talking silnylon).

Are you plenty happy with Solomid XL and wouldn't give up an inch? Do other campers over 6'3" happily sleep on the diagonal in a Duomid as their solo tent? Is sleeping diagonal highly un-fun?

Charley that's a good question and, since I owned a duomid for 18 months, I'm happy to relate my experience.

I still prefer the solomid xl to the Duomid. It was great having the extra width, and honestly, I don't really notice the difference in length too much, (although at our heights, every inch counts, especially especially especially in foul weather). However, for me, it came down to the pole set up. I just couldn't use the center pole on the duomid. Even if I wasn't tall, I would hate it. You'd always have to be aware of knocking it over and in bad weather you want to be dry AND comfortable, as much as possible. So with the duomid, that means you'd have to go with pole extenders. I used two carbon extenders from Gossamer Gear, slipped them over the trekking pole tips, and they worked ok. But not perfect, and in truth, I wouldn't put too much confidence on any extenders in strong winds. It wasn't a huge PITA carrying them around but it was something else I had to remember to pack. So I sold my duomid and thought I was done with mids. I went back to tarps, and for bug season, Zpacks Duplex.

But I missed the ease of setting up the Duomid, the space, the shape . . . there's just something about the mid that really appeals to me.

Then the solomid xl came out. And I fought buying one for awhile, felt too redundant. But I broke down, and am happy I did. Everything that bothered me about the duomid has been eliminated with the solomid xl. I use bd fl zpoles which extend to 145 cm and are a perfect fit for the solomid xl. No more fiddle factor. I have a 32×90 DIY cuben bathtub floor which clips perfectly into the inside mitten hooks. I have not missed the extra width of the Duomid. I used the solomid xl for 7 days on the Wonderland trail this year and it was like returning to an old friendship.

Hope this rambling helps. Go with the solomid XL.

"Hope this rambling helps. Go with the solomid XL."

So glad you could answer my post when my buying impulse was surging. Thanks…I'm on it!

Ok, older thread, I realize, but tall people haven’t gone extinct in the last few years, right?

6’5″, 235lb here.  Clothing-wise, I feel like I find a good model here and there from random brands, but no one brand that always works.  Tailors are my friend.  Probably the single brand I own the most of is actually Under-Armour; anything they make in size XLT with raglan sleeves (which isn’t a lot) I can usually count on fitting.

Some of the best tall-centric gear I’ve found is:

– Big Sky Chinook 2P; Solid, true 4-season double-wall, free-standing dome tent at only 4lb.  91″ floor length with fairly steep walls: don’t have to choose whether it’s my feet or my head that touches the inner wall.  Easy setup, and the two-door, two-vestibule layout is a pleasure to use.

– Seek Outside Unaweep; never had load lifters that worked until this pack.  Especially with winter loads, I would always end up with sore traps and neck muscles.  Unaweep with 4″ frame extensions and fully dropped hip belt puts the lifters around my ears.  Life-changing!  Not uber-light at 3.9lb, but the functionality of the frame far outstrips the weight penalty.

– Enlightened Equipment quilts; expensive, but so nice to have the room to move.

I’m also 6’5″ so I feel your pain.  My go-to source for clothing (tops only) is Eddie Bauer’s First Ascent line.  But I’m just LT, so I don’t know how their XLT stuff is sized.

I haven’t found a good source for pants.  Those that are long enough usually have WAY too much rise, so they generally end up hanging too low in the crotch (which is sheer misery when lifting legs up anything steep).  I’ve taken to wearing shorts almost all the time, with some custom made wind pants for camp.  Unfortunately, Luke’s Ultralight isn’t quite back up to dependable yet, so I’m babying the ones I’ve got.

I have two packs from ULA Equipment (Catalyst and Circuit)  that work well.

Tents are harder.  Tarptent’s Rainbow has enough length if I stay centered, and I make the Notch work even though it’s sort of like sleeping in a sock.  I don’t have a 4-season tent.