HMG Ultamid 2 for Solo in Alaska?

I have done all my recent solo trips in a MLD Duomid with a modified Zpacks Hexanet inner. I drop the Hexanet on the ground and use it as a ground cloth when there aren’t insects, or raise it if there are. There is lots of space for me and my crap, and once in an emergency I squeezed 4 people into it for a night. Maybe the Duo isn’t different enough from your Solo XL to bother and you want the extra width of the Ultamid 2. Duo XL?

I’m sure I will get flack for this, but why a HMG ‘mid? A number of my friends have them and I’m not impressed. The caternary cut on the MLD ‘mids leads to better taut pitches and wind shedding in my experience, I don’t like the HMG dual vents or the vent construction, the lower HMG panel edges seem to stretch and get all flappy, and so on. I’m kind of splitting hairs here, but after spending time around the HMG 2 and 4 Ultamids, and owning a Solo-, Duo-, and Super-mid, I’d go MLD no question.

I am not dead set on a HMG mid, and a Duomid is on my radar, as well as just sticking with the Solomid XL have.  I just wonder about how much if any more usable space it would have.   The Solomid XL was 48″x112″ (I think) and I use it with my trekking poles in an inverted V, which I doubt I would be able to do with the Duomid (maybe with pole extentions – my poles only go to 130cm).  The Duomid is 60″x108″x54″high, so it it’s about a foot wider and higher (though I am not sure what the height of my Solomid XL is) but a bit shorter.

My only thought is it is just so similar to what I already have.

I really appreciate your insight though as you have lots of Alaska experience and I really enjoy your trip report videos.

I have no experience with the HMG, but I find the extra roominess of my duomid to be very nice when I actually expect rain. It has plenty of living space, but not too much. I can sit inside with my wet rain gear on without getting my sleeping bag wet. That’s important for exiting and entering your tent with your rain gear on during the night.The trips I do in California that involve significant rain usually don’t involve bugs, so I don’t need a net tent and prefer not having an integrated bathtub floor for moisture management issues.

I agree with checking out the duomid. It certainly is close to what you have, but it has that extra room you’re looking for. Without the inner it’s a palace for one, and even with the solo inner I’m super comfy and even have enough room in the front part to, ahem, pee in there without getting wet if the weather is nasty out.

I’ve spent MANY, MANY hours holed up in my duomid + solo inner and have never once felt too claustrophobic (which I kinda did in my zpacks solplex on occasion). I’m 5’7″, if that matters.

I guess the first thing I would do is play around with ditching the V-pole setup and get a pole link if necessary. That would free up interior space since it’s easy to work around the center pole, but two outboard poles narrows the living space inside the shelter. Start with voile straps as a cheap experiment to make a single offset center pole. If it still seems too tight, look into a Duomid. Having half the shelter as sleeping space and half for gear/organization/changing/cooking is awesome. Just watch the gear swap and pick one up used since you have lots of time. Most of my shelters I got here used. That helps ease the pain of buying cuben. :^)

Also keep in mind that there is an external apex loop on most (all?) of these mids, so it is possible to run a cord between 2 trees and support it that way.

However, although I have a Duomid I’ve never pitched it in this manner and cannot personally say how welll, or not, it actually works. But quite a few years ago I had a BD Megamid and pitched it many times using the apex loop and it worked fine.

I will be using this often above tree line.

If I were to use a HMG Ultamid 2 I would probably use a half pyramid solo inner such as the SMD Serenity Net Tent and strapping my two trekking poles using voile straps.

If I were to use a MLD Duomid I would use a solo inner-net and would either angle my pole (with pole jack) or I might try something like the DPTE to open up the inside.

I camped with it only one time using a single-pole arrangement and that was enough to convince me that the inverted V was absolutely the way to go. Since then I have always pitched mine with the inverted V pole arrangement and that works fine.

For this I use REI (Komperdell) PowerLock CF poles (because they are more robust than my MYOG CF poles) and some CF pole jacks.

For pitching on snow, you can modify the pole jacks to permit the use of your pole baskets on the pole jack sections so that they don’t sink in. These photos are of my original aluminum pole jacks, but I have since done something similar with CF, lightening it up quite a bit… those big cotter pins really aren’t necessary. Obviously, tons of room for me and the pooch.

I had the Ultamid 2 with the Serenity Net Tent and loved it.  The guy lines on the net tent line up perfectly with the tie outs on the tent so I just left the net tent clipped in. This gives you a dry-net enclosed side with a great bathtub floor and a wet gear side- works great in the rain. I used the HMG Ultamid Pole Straps to put my trekking poles together- very easy.  I most loved the 5’4″ height of the tent because I did not have to crawl in and out.  I sold the tent to someone on this site and replaced it with a Zpacks Duplex because that is a more suitable tent for the southeast humidity.

If you use the solo inner net with the duomid you actually don’t have to do the inverted V.  You actually offset the center pole just a bit, and it perfectly aligns with the edge of the inner so it never feels like it’s in the way.