Looking for my first mid, what size do I need?

If you’re trying things and aren’t convinced that you’ll love it, I’d be inclined to look at the offerings from Luxe Hiking Gear.  Their stuff isn’t the lightest, but it is reasonable and you could probably get at least half of the value on Gear Swap if you wanted to upgrade to something fancier.  I was looking at their Megahorn Tipi 4 person with the stove jack (in case I ever wanted to pack along a stove).  For $200 it might be worth considering.  It’s heavy at almost 9 pounds (stakes & pole included), but for the two of you it might be palatial inside and you have the option of adding a stove.  Just a thought.

They also have lighter 2P options…

Another budget option is Oware https://bivysack.com/

They have light silnylon options. Reach out to the owner, David. He posts here often.

For a totally different approach you could do a no sewing myog tipi tarp. Check out the video below. You might be able to downsize it a bit. Not light but also not expensive if you want to experiment.

https://youtu.be/wtLdMIaIIFw

My mid is 9 feet long

I’m 6 feet 1.5 inches tall

Sometimes the foot end of my sleeping bag touches the inside wall a little, especially if I’m not centered perfectly.  My sleeping bag fabric has a good DWR so it doesn’t matter if it gets a little wet, the down inside never gets wet.

If I really wanted to avoid touching the walls, maybe I’d get a 10 foot wide mid

My mid is 64 inches peak height.  With less peak height, the walls angle up less, which takes away from usable inside width, but not that much.  MLD solomid is 49 inch peak height so that would make a little difference.

More than usable width, the peak height allows me to sit up on my sleep bag without my head touching.

If you are a back sleeper, you will want to add the height of your pad, your foot length, and your bag loft. If you are a side sleeper, take your pad, the width of your two feet, and bag loft. For length, take your height and add 3-4 inches, since your feet will have a tendency to point a little.

For a standard pyramid, you’ll want there to be a minimum of your calculated stack height to be available at half your calculated body length; if you are 6 feet tall, a back sleeper, use a 3” pad, have 12” long feet, and use a bag with 3” loft, you will want the pyramid to give you 18” of vertical space at a length of 39-40” from the center of the tent. This doesn’t account for silnylon sag, but can get you in the ballpark, and will be pretty good with silpoly or DCF. It is pretty easy to calculate wall slope on a regular pyramid, but I am unsure if the manufacturer list there lengths and heights with the perimeter at ground level.

Everyone sleeps a little differently, so if you curl up into a ball, or hang your feet off the pad, or deflate your pad a bit, then you could likely work with less space, but this math will get you a conservative estimate.

An example, below, the duomid XL will not give your bag the required clearance unless you increase the height of the peak to get the perimeter a few inches off the ground, but it may work for you depending on how you sleep.

The sides bow in a little, they’re not straight, so you have to add a little for that

Both the catenary curve imposed by gravity, and being blown in by the wind

For sure. There will always be fudge factors.

the link to the skurka article would be useful here as well.

Thanks for the quick replies. All of that information is very helpful as well as the reference to Skurka’s article.

I found for six + foot tall people that  8.5′ long by 5.5′ tall gives just enough room, with enough clearance for wind pressing on the sides.

5.5′ tall?  66″  That’s pretty tall.  Good idea.

It seems like most tents make them shorter.  Maybe it saves a little weight?  Makes better looking spec if you’re ultralight.

After sitting in my tent in the rain I like it taller.

I have made some shorter ones, but Oregon customers complained they didn’t shed that wet cement you call snow as well.

I’ve been using the hmg ultamid 4 for the past few winter seasons and I’d recommend that size for two people for sure. I’m 6’2″ and when pitched low to the ground, my head and feet are somewhat close to the walls. In snow, I prefer the pitch the shelter high and build snow walls around the bottom for extra room and warmth. When the weather gets bad, its really nice to have all that extra space, which I think is well worth the slight weight increase if a 2p model. Its nice to be able to sleep on one side of the mid pole with your partner and have the other side free for cooking in a storm or gear organization. I think 2p one pole mids are better for solo camping.

I think many mids are made shorter to utilize standard trekking poles without a jack pole. Shorter mids also catch less wind, but I think the height for that is less critical that overall projected surface area.

Oh, trekking poles, that makes sense