Tarps pushed to the limit – tell us your stories

I've been in open ended tarp in 30 MPH winds and fairly heavy rain. Obviously, I survived, because here I am. I concluded all edges should be close to the ground – pyramid tent/tarp. I guess I'de call it a tarp because it has no floor. Now, when it's 30 MPH and heavy rain, some of the rain blows in under the edge. Or sand or dirt will blow in, but much better.

I set up a tarp in strong winds once so my friend's Jetboil would stop blowing out and the windscreen for my White Box wouldn't blow away. I was so protected in there that with all my stuff sitting under my hammock, only one item blew out. Of course, it was a large hammock tarp with the flaps folded in like doors, suspended between two trees and pitched to the ground all around tightly with groundhogs. It was a nice night I spent there – the oaks I was hanging from were sturdy and the wind howled, and I slept like a baby. Pitching nose into the wind and letting the tarp shed it works.

The only thing about pitching nose into the wind, is sometimes the wind direction shifts. At least that's what's happened to me.

yes, true. But I wouldn't know if the wind shifted since I slept all night, and nothing was disturbed.

I don't think I would take a tarp above treeline, either.

I assume you have read Tarp in inclement conditions?

As you may have gathered from the stories and articles on this site, using a tarp in bad weather can take some skill. You can read all the tips and tricks you want, but sometimes it really just takes a royal screw-up to figure things out.

I overconfidently set up my little 5×10 tarp in a lean-to somewhere in the badlands to watch the sunset and a thunderstorm roll by in the distance. I set up for the view, not using the natural protection. Fell asleep to peaceful conditions and was rudely awoken sometime in the middle of the night as a gust blew my tarp down like a plastic bag and sent my teeny ti stakes sailing away. As I jumped up to retrieve it, my ultralight quilt and pad also blew away! Cursing the wind shift, my tiny tarp, my tiny stakes, my tiny headlamp and the huge thundercloud that was now over my head, I jammed everything in my tiny pack and ran back into the hills. With the weather in the forefront of my mind I found a little hole in the leeward side of a knoll and set back up. Didn't sleep well after that, but it worked out.

Point is, I took my ultralight gear and Internet knowledge out into conditions I didn't know how to deal with. The gear could have, but only if I knew exactly how to use it, which I obviously didn't.

It was a hell of a view though

I play in Colorado and I have been in several strong storms in my Tarp (GG SpinnTwinn) including one last summer that hailed on me pretty good. Using natural wind breaks (Trees, rocks, terrain) and using a Bivy or Net Bivy with panels on the ends will see you through most anything. I do avoid exposed camping because in a Thunderstorm no UL shelter will protect you from lightning.

Having said that I have recently added a MLD Solomid for trips where I expect higher winds or camps at higher elevations where natural protection is more limited. I expect my SpinnTwinn will still be my primary shelter.

James’ pitch looks like he was asking for it. I wouldn’t wanted to have been there at midnight when the storm rolled in!!

I have read tarp camping in inclement conditions and have to wonder how this pitch works in 48mph winds when the wind could shift. You could have a rain storm blowing straight into you. It seems inconceivable but I am sure Ryan go it to work. Can anyone shed some light?

That's why I think actually having both ends open is best. At least if wind shifts it can blow through without lifting the tarp, pulling the stakes, and well, you get the picture. Below is an example of what I referred to earlier. Having the silnylon panels at the end has been more than adequate to prevent light wind blown rain. If I was to do it over again I would probably put a fully solid panel at the head end. The foot end is already fully solid.

Exactly! While I wont make excuses, at the time the wind was blowing from behind me towards the storm, and though I know little about meteorology that seemed to mean the storm was leaving. I was clearly wrong.

As to your question about the exposed side of certain pitches, I think it boils down to being "on call" if the wind changes and re-pitching your tarp. This may be of some use:

http://dzjow.com/2011/06/08/tarping-with-the-grace-solo-spinntex-97/

http://www.andyhowell.info/Colin-Ibbotson/Colin-Talks-Tarps.pdf

While that is certainly possible, not wanting to deal with changing winds and re-pitching I bought an SL3 for more unpredictable weather.

I definitely should have known better growing up a sailor and all, but starting off tarping with too much good luck set me up for a wake-up call!

Edited to add another link

Several years ago, I was on the top of a small mountain in Arkansas. I knew to expect a storm so I set up my Spinntwin low to the ground with the sides touch the ground. The storm hit my tarp at a 45 deg angle, not quite from the side but not directly into the front either. Because of space issues I did not have another orientation available to me. The storm hit and lasted for over three hours, with very heavy rains and winds in the 50 mph range. I used a bivy on that trip and it was the item that helped me not freak out that night. Once I realized that the tarp was not going to be torn to shreds and that I could stay dry, I relaxed and made it through the night, even getting some sleep. In the morning, I realized that I did have some minor abrasion damage to my tarp where one side kept rubbing against a rock, and one tie had slightly torn away from the fabric, both of which my wife graciously repaired.

Most of the time now I use a tarp in conjunction with a hammock but if I do use a ground tarp, I always take my MLD UL bivy for insurance.

you can get through nasty weather by pitching a tarp a-frame as low as possible. so low that your sleeping bag is almost touching the tarp. a miserable and cramped set up, but it works.

I used my MLD cuben grace solo on my PCT thru hike. We had a really bad storm on San Jacinto where it dipped into the 20's had some really strong winds and snowed all night. At PCT kickoff a storm rolled through and some unfortunate people who had never set up their beautiful new zpacks hexamids or tarptents got blown over and had to spend the night in the bathroom! I'm glad it happened there and not somewhere they could have been in a real dangerous situation. Another time in Northern California it started pouring down rain and some crazy intense winds tried their hardest to blow my tarp down. I used non adjustable zpacks guy lines and would just use rocks or some wood or anything heavy to put on my stakes if I expected to encounter wind. Worked great and even with my small tarp I didn't use a bivy and never got wet!

there is also this awesome setup, but it requires being in a forest with lots of trees/branches to tie off to.

I like your account Richard. Even with a tarp you made the whole PCT without a bivy – wow! The use what you have mentality of finding rocks, some wood or natural shelter seems key.

Here is how to do the back end of a tarp like Justin's using just sticks or hiking poles. It is how we did it on outward bound. Only tarps were used all season throughout the Pacific Crest area. In may we used pyramids.

Yeah, that method of pinning down all the edge guy lines and guying out the center guy lines is the best way to get a storm pitch.

This is the tarp I used for many years:

It was made by the Gerry Company of the 1.9 oz PU coat 70D nylon that was common at the time, and was a completely flat tarp with beaks front and back. The beaks don't show in the photo, as they were kept rolled up when not being used to deflect rain or snow. When extended, they covered out to the point where the two guys converge on each side into one line that leads down to the stake point.

Pole sleeves were sewn on to the sides above the beaks to make a tunnel shape. The poles were stiff ALU at each end, with flexible fiberglass in the middle so the poles would form a more parabolic shape for a solo shelter about 4' wide. A floor was connected inside by mini snaps and came up inside about 3" on the sides. There was also insect netting that rolled down inside the beaks at the front and back.

Condensation was mostly along the sides, 6-12" above the floor, but with the 4' width, was not a problem.

The tarp was used year round, once on a X-C ski trip to Little Rock Pond on the Long Trail during the winter where the temp fell well below zero F. The above photo was taken on Mt Madison in the Whites in May going through the Presidentials. There was ice and deep snow everywhere below the tree line. We had to change our route back down due to the thigh-deep post-holing. After Mount Washington, we enjoyed watching some skiers tip over the lip above Tuckerman Ravine, but we couldn't see them plummet down because the drop-off was too steep for us to look over.

As you might guess, whether I stayed dry depended on how strong rain was, and from what direction it was blowing. But windwise, the structure never failed, and it never leaked. A number of times rain did blow in, usually at the head end, and I got soaked at that end before kind of scrunching up toward the other end.

Eventually, I got tired of getting wet in windy downpours, and moved to tents.

Samuel – you moved to tents ??!

Once you have become a member of the tarp cult I thought you weren't allowed to leave …lol

Yes, people are forever telling me I'm headed in the wrong direction.