Alaska/Yukon long distance 2 person tent reccomendations

First off please post pics when you do your trip(s)!.   I have the XMid 1P and it’s a really nice shelter.  I haven’t had it in any really high winds, but it seems like it would do OK, so I think the 2P would be a decent choice.   I’ll also throw in the MLD Doumid XL as a choice, and for the ultimate in wind worthiness, the MLD Trailstar though it has some disadvantages in livability compared to the other two.

Thanks Brad. I will try and post pictures of the trek for sure. I’ve taken a hard look at the duomid XL and trailstar. I own the duomid and use it as a winter/above tree line shelter.

What is holding me back from using those MLD shelters is the pole in the middle. I will be trekking with my partner, she is a cold sleeper and I am her primary source of heat. She would have no use for me if a pole got between us.

Considered a 9×9 mid with a half inner tent but that seems like the type of shelter that you would need to use a helipad as a camp site. Maybe not the best for the off-trail routes we take. Also this combo is expensive through MLD and I haven’t read any reports on this combo.

I would consider an MLD Trailstar

I agree with the suggestion of Dan Durston’s X-Mid 2-P. I haven’t had mine in quite strong winds yet, but it seems like it would handle them well.

BPL article on tent properties for windy and snowing weather: https://backpackinglight.com/storm_resistance_ultralight_shelters_part_1_intro

70km/hr = 43.5 mph

I would cross shop with the Kuiu mountain star to compare to an arched pole shelter.

While it sounds like you are planning on carrying at least 2 pairs of trekking poles, if you add dedicated pole weight to the SS2 (using Ruta Locura tent pole weights as an approximation I’ve added 6.7oz to the SS2’s 45oz list weight) I get a total weight of 51.7oz. The Kuiu Mountain Star weighs only 1oz more (52.6oz, so same weight +/- a few stakes…), has a lower peak height, and will put less tension on guy outs in windy weather.

With 4 trekking poles you might being able to pitch a Mid style shelter with an inverted V pole setup. If you don’t need a floor that will save weight…

Have you thought about getting a DPTE or similar (MLD makes something similar) that would allow you to pitch your Duomid with trekking poles in A-Frame configuration? That would be the lowest cost solution.

Freestanding:

Kuiu Mountain Star 2p; 3 pounds 2 ounces; (check out 60 mph windtest of the 1p version on Youtube); looks like it might get a little flappy around the vestibules, though.

Big Sky Chinook 2p; 4 pounds; totally freestanding, supposed to be very quiet in high winds

Trekking Pole without pole betwixt you:

X-Mid 2p, as others have recommended. I had one in steady 30mph with 40mph gusts and didn’t like how badly the long sidepanels deflected. Not sure I’d want it out in stronger winds than that. To it’s credit, though, it was quiet under those gusts. Extremely liveable! Very spacious inner, perfect-sized vestibules, and true dry entry with legit ability to keep both doors open in light, persistent rain. 2 pounds 6 ounces not counting the poles.

Tarptent Stratospire: a little heavier than the X-Mid. Similar sized inner, bigger vestibules, bigger footprint, a bit of a fussy pitch but I reckon not so bad in the silnylon version (I have the DCF one). Better wind-shedding shape than the X-Mid, but I’ve read that it flaps in high winds. EDIT: That autolink goes to a shelter unsuitable for high winds.

Tarptent Strat Li: Very light, 26 ounces plus poles. Lets in a lot of light. Narrower inner compared to the silnylon version, but no tighter than the popular domes by Big Agnes, Nemo, et al. Big vestibules, true dry entry and similar to X-Mid in ability to keep doors open in prolonged rain.

Supermid or similar (4p) mid with 2p inner; Depending on outer and inner fabrics chosen, between 2.5 and 4 pounds. Pole in the middle, but the 2p inner leaves the entry side entirely free for cooking, storage, hanging out, and dry coming and going. Category includes the square Ultamid 4p (DCF), Locus Gear Khafra (silnylon or DCF) and BD Megamid, as well as the octagonal Jumperhome Studios Mountain House 4p (DCF or silnylon) and Knot (Aliexpress) 4p mids. I use the last one with my wife and dog with a 4p mesh inner on trips where the big footprint isn’t an issue. It’s 20d silnylon has improved in recent iterations, and the octagonal shape allows for a square 4p inner with the four remaining points of the octagon serving as four small vestibules. We offset the pole a bit inside the 4p inner if we want to cuddle, and the dog gets the palace on the other side of the pole. Would I take the Knot, with it’s lower tier silnylon to Alaska? Yeah, I would, but I’d be sure to have some Tenacious Tape silnylon repair tape and put it on pronto if I saw any holes or scuffs on the fly, but then I’d do that with any silnylon shelter. I know many in Alaska use big mids without inners, even with mosquitos around, saying that the tipi shape funnels the bugs harmlessly to the top. That does happen, but in Minnesota mosquito season it’s not good enough, so we always bring the mesh inner; plus, it keeps the dog contained at night. The Knot plus 4p inner is about 4 pounds and ~$170. For barely any more money you could get an Octagonal tipi of about the same size from Jumperhome Studios in Xian made with higher quality silnylon. I plan to upgrade to the Mountain House 4p fly. In general, I think the octagonal shape spills wind better than square mids, and I like the combination of an octagonal fly and square inner for the vestibule space if offers. Aesthetically, the octagons tension into a very pleasing tipi shape.

Tipik Aston; 15d or 20d silpoly and heavier silnylon options, with weights including inner from 2 pounds and up. Hybrid hex/tipi shape with pole offset toward the entry by design. Spacious 2p inner in the back and tall, massive vestibule in the front for domestic activities and dry entry/departure. Great design if you are asymmetry-tolerant. Supposed to be very windworthy, but it looks like the back side, which is round like a tipi, will require guying out a bit more often than some other designs, but I could be wrong. Smaller footprint than the bigger mids above. The Aston is somewhat analogous to the Duomid XL, but with a more aerodynamic and romantic shape.

Thanks for the info. I will look into those shelters. I have pole extensions that allow and inverted V pitch with my duomid. We found that the space isn’t the best for 2 people. I would imagine on longer trips we would want something a bit bigger.

also the person closest to the door in the duomid sleeps directly under the zipper that does fail and it difficult to field repair. Mine has failed in the past.

We will use an inner for this trip. I like the semi solid inners from TT like the one I use in my notch. Works good for cold winds.

So far I guess these are the options I’m looking at:

Durston Xmid 2

Looks like great liveability and I like the low sag fabric for cold temperatures. I see this shelter as meeting minimum requirements for wind resistance on these types of trips.

Tarptent Stratopire 2

its a palace for 2 people. I have a tarptent and really like the pitch lock and semi solid interiors for cold windy places. I would think it’s quite wind worthy if the pitch locks are staked with larger stakes or backed up with rocks.

yama mountain gear swift line 2

looks like a wind worthy design. Lots of stakes required not sure if this is a benefit for wind or if it’s just an inconvenience to pitch. It’s a single wall shelter so there is that weight tradeoff. The doors open up for great ventilation but it looks like the inner is exposed when the doors are open. I really like leaving doors open on my tents in light rainy conditions. Not a ton of reports on this setup.

Oware 9×9 mid with half inner

There is something about the mid that I love. The space would be amazing for the group to wait out bad weather. The pitch is easy enough. I worry on a mid this size about the pressure on the long pole (2 trekking poles together) during high winds. The footprint will be very large. The setup will probably be on the heavy end of the shelters considered above.

im researching the suggestions you all gave. Thanks for the input.

If you like mids check out Seek Outsides stuff. I believe their tipi design is better in wind. My trekking pal loved his

Edit after rereading your post (that included kph and apparently Celsius temps): Ignore if you’re Canadian and enjoy your own American-free National Parks!  But if so, you’ll probably have to stay on the Canadian side of the border (or quarantine at your own expense for 14 days in a guarded hotel upon your return, based on Trudeau’s most recent order).

Don’t know how far in advance you’re planning, but the US-Canada is currently closed except for essential travel.  That includes seeking medical care, commercial trucking, Alaskans returning home, and people relocating to Alaska.

Early last summer, they were taking people at their word, but enough Americans lied in order to take a vacation during a pandemic, that one now needs documentation of Alaskan residency, a job offer, apartment lease, or college acceptance to be allowed in.  And then, THEY proscribe the direct route you will take, you must complete it in 5 days, only 24 hours through the Yukon Territory (you’re checked in at Watson Lake and checked out at Beaver Creek) with no stops even in Whitehorse and expecially in no small villages.  You must wear a mask when outside your car, even where the locals don’t have to.  You get a hang tag identifying you as an transiting Alaskan and can be heavily fined for ANY tourist activites even just getting out of your car to take photos at an overlook.

My go to tent for the windy Aleutians has been Black Diamond’s MegaLite but it’s a pyramid with a center pole.  Arguably, though, plenty of room on either side for a couple and you can always extend the center pole an inch or two and cant it 10-15 degrees to the side, giving you an extra foot of width.

The Duomid XL doesn’t have a pole in between the sleepers as both sleep on one side of the pole.   I have a regular Duomid and it’s too tight for two in my opinion, but the XL should suit you well .

Duomid XL for more extreme conditions. A-frame or off-set the pole.

I am Canadian so the travel restrictions don’t apply to me at the moment. Things can change from province to province but for now I think travel is straight forward especially from my home in British Columbia to the Yukon. I’m planning hikes inside of Canada for now until restrictions ease up. Hopefully restrictions ease up soon so we can all enjoy both Canadian and American parks again. Covid stopped my AZT hiking plans last spring.

ah maybe that duomid XL would work then. Thanks for pointing that out.

yama mountain gear swift line 2

looks like a wind worthy design. Lots of stakes required not sure if this is a benefit for wind or if it’s just an inconvenience to pitch. It’s a single wall shelter so there is that weight tradeoff. The doors open up for great ventilation but it looks like the inner is exposed when the doors are open.

The inner isn’t exposed when the door on the vestibule is open. It is slightly exposed on the other door on ours but the design has been changed since our version to add a small vestibule so that might have been changed.

The mesh inner also covers the walls at the head and foot end so the only part that is  single wall is the fly above your head.

It is wind-worthy as long as you don’t have the very large vestibule oriented into the wind.

It’s good to hear that they did that with the doors. I think it’s a good idea to just leave the roof as single wall.

The sloping sides of mid style shelters help to allow condensation to run down the wall instead of drip on you. In windy situations this isn’t much of an advantage because it shakes off the roof and walls. Also I find it frustrating to wipe condensation off of mesh above my head.

It’s awkward in a double wall shelter to while down the roof in the middle of the night with the inner getting In the way and all

obviously best just to pick dry campsites and ventilate the shelter when possible.

Thanks for the information. Sounds like the swift line is a solid contender.

Kyler, while striding out in my favorite local open space yesterday, I was thinking about your tent choice. I still will stand by my Durston X-Mid 2-P suggestion, but I would think about having some longer tent stakes for the possible high wind conditions. I usually use MSR Groundhog stakes for my tents, but you might go with something like their 9.5″ Cyclone stakes for better holding power.

I did a lot of research prior to my cancelled trip and went for a very heavy duty tent rather than the lightest that would do the job in 99% of the cases.
I asked around and decided on a tent that would survive a worst case scenario.
Went for a larger and heavier tent to allow for extreme bad weather and very high winds.
Additional weight because we were planning to use the same tent in winter.
Naturally your planning might be very different but I’ve always tried to plan for the worst

I think 43mph winds are in the range of the more stout lightweight tents mentioned in this forum. I do own more wind worthy tents but they are heavy and bad for condensation on these trips. If I were to plan on camping in areas with a bit higher winds I would certainly do as you did.

yea I plan on bringing a couple of large stakes for the more weather loaded tie outs. Especially if I go the stratospire route. Pitch locks are awesome if they are anchored good.

Yama doesn’t ship internationally so the swift line is no longer an option.

I don’t own a MegaLite but my old Megamid did survive gusts exceeding 110kph, although it did once break a pole at the top section in a wind that might have exceeded 140pkh. Was being held down by skis and several deadman anchors.
I think the lack of flat panel guy points was the reason the pole couldn’t handle that particular storm and I made a bad decision in using the top hanging loop as a guy point to hold an additional small diamond tarp on the lee side

I have no experience with them, but Hilleberg makes tents for high winds.

Edward,

do you ever guy the peak towards the wind? If so does it make a difference on pole deflection?

Yes and don’t do it would be my advice. In hindsight I think doing so previously has stressed the pole at the point where it broke; which was just above the last joint.
What works better I would think is adding internal guys on the diagonal but I didn’t know that technique at the time.
If I get another ‘mid I’ll go with oversized CF poles, same weight but much higher strength.

Just bought an Xmid 2P. Won’t be home for a few months to try it out on a shakedown hike or two. Where do I post trip photos on here?

There is a Post Trip Reports section as well as a Photo Gallery.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the X-Mid 2 especially after using it in rough weather.   I ‘ve used my X-Mid 1-P for two years, but no really bad weather – just some rain with little wind.  The next chance I have to see much wind is a trip in WRR planned for August.