Alternative to hiking poles for Durston's XMid 1p?

[lisa r]

I’m intrigued by Dan Durston’s XMid 1P tent but wondering if there’s a way to sub out short lengths of pole to pitch it rather than using hiking poles – I’ve seen other UL tent companies offer substitute poles as an add-on if you want to go without hiking poles. I typically build in a day or two of scrambling/exploration during my backpacking trips where I leave my camp set up while I’m out and about for the day. I’d want to be able to use my hiking poles and not leave them to hold up the tent. Thanks!

[Russ W]

Check out
http://www.rutalocura.com/Tent_Poles.html

A fantastic little company with the best customer service I’ve ever experienced. You’d be hard pressed to find something better or lighter.

[Rex Sanders]

Several companies sell standalone aluminum or carbon fiber poles for their trekking pole tarps and tents. The key things to look for are correct length, and whether you want an adjustable pole. Most tarp/tent companies sell only fixed-length poles.

Examples include:

Mountain Laurel Designs

https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/shelter-accessories/

Six Moon Designs

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/search?type=product&q=pole*

Tarptent

https://www.tarptent.com/product/vertical-support-pole/

— Rex

[jscott]

I used a fixed length pole for my Hexamid solo plus for exactly the reason Lisa mentioned. Worked great. It would certainly work for the day and you could sub out a hiking pole at night. I never had to do this.

[NoCO-Jim]

I use the Tarptent 122cm long, 12.4 mm poles (as suggested by Dan Durston)…work just fine on X-Mid-1P.

[Kevin Babione]

Since you’re talking about the XMid 1P…Drop.com has it on sale now for $160.  I’ve used nothing but a hammock for the past 10 years but I couldn’t resist picking one up at that price.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

The ideal poles would be 5 piece so they fold as short as the tent, carbon fiber so they are as light as possible, adjustable so you can fine tune the pitch, and designed for a range of 46-48″. I think Ruta Locura would make you exactly that but it is pricey. Most other options aren’t adjustable, in which case 48″ works but 46-47″ is ideal.

Zpacks makes a 5 piece folding carbon pole in 48″ but without a way to connect to the peak grommets so it’s not ideal in a storm. Tarptent makes an affordable 4 piece folding aluminum pole in 48″, and then there are many other options like the SMD and MLD ones mentioned. SMD seemingly only offers 45″ and 49″, which is really outside the ideal range but you could likely hacksaw the 49″ one shorter.

FYI, The current $160 sale runs through Jan 2 but the tent might sell out before then (it’ll be close). Once it does it will seemingly be out of stock for at least a few month and maybe until mid-summer (depending on how on the ball Drop is with ordering more).

[JCH]

I seem to repeat myself each time someone mentions where to find the “optimal pole for X shelter” to replace trekking poles…it’s incredibly easy to make your own to your precise specifications.

See Bob Moulder’s post for the specifics of making collapsable poles.

[Mark Ferwerda]

I’ve been using the X-Mid for bikepacking and have been looking for some compact poles. I bought some poles from Zpacks, cut them down to 47″ and had my son print some pole tips on his 3D printer. Weight for the pole is 74 grams. Folded the poles are 11 1/4″.

[Dan Madden]

Could you supply a link to the $160 sale of the 1P X-mid tent… thank!

[S Long]

Yup…let me just get my time machine. Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Check out the date of the post. You might find one on gear swap here for that price if you wait long enough.

[Author]

Posts