Critique my pitch – Z-Packs Altaplex

Brett, looks pretty good! Crank down those corner guylines (the main 4) a little more.

And play with the pitch height of the poles in both directions by an inch or two, so you get a feel for how this changes the tension along the bottom edges – that geometry is worth noting, because you may want a higher pitch (more headroom) in fair weather and tighter edges in storms.

Will do, Ryan. I see where Z-packs recommends a 60” pole.  I think that’d be kind of tall. I’ll try a 58+ and then look at a 56” for worse weather and a lower edge.

I really  like this shelter so far.

Looks good.

I used to carry quite a long piece of Z line to pull the center panel upward by attaching to a nearby tree. This gave me more headroom.

You can achieve the same thing with a pole or stick; wrap the line around the top and stake it down.

A buddy has one and seems to get a taughter pitch.  If I remember correctly, he angles the front pole out a bit and then guys out the peak at a more relaxed angle than you.  It seems like that may tension the larger back panel more effectively.

I would say that pitch looks darn good.

I do not own, nor have I used an Altplex, but I suspect many of the pitching “tricks” that work for the Duplex apply.  This thread is but one compendium of BPL members Duplex experience and hacks.

As Ryan mentioned, it is important to understand the effects of pole height on pitch…with a long pole you can get a high and breezy pitch with a taut floor, or a low and buttoned-down pitch with a less taut floor with a shorter pole.  Practicing in the backyard really paid dividend for me.

As you have discovered, door closure is greatly influenced by the placement of the apex guy line.  As in the link above, I recommend keeping the guy line as close and as parallel as possible to the doors (if you can, even closer than in your 2nd photo).  The door closure works best if the angle of the adjusting cord is an extension of the line of the door, so you are pulling the doors in a straight line from the apex to the stake.  If wind is a concern, perhaps a second apex guy that can be placed further out would help stability?

Also, if you know you will want the doors buttoned up, loosen the 2 front corner guys, tighten up the doors, then re-tighten the corners.

Linelocks attached to the body of the tent really helped to firm up the pitch on my old Hexamid solo, which looked a lot like the Altaplex. You rarely get perfectly flat ground when out on a hike.

Fantastic feedback, y’all.  I’m going to take some of each!  What a great community!

actually it looks like the Altaplex solved two things I didn’t like about my Hexamid solo–which I liked a lot overall. first, they got rid of the net floor and integrated the bathtub floor with the tent (is that right?) Second and most importantly, Zpacks lowered the front “beak” as they called it to come down closer to the ground. I imagine you can get the door panels even closer than six inches to the ground, as shown here (?). Great tent!

Looks good. I suggest trying it on a surface other than grass. Grass gives unfair advantage. Try dirt that won’t accept stakes, etc.