Nail Pegs

Yes! The regular (not the UL) Vargo Titanium Nail Peg is the only one that I’ve found that’s strong enough for truly frozen ground. I use an MSR Stake Hammer to bang them in.

my problem with vargo titanium nail peg is occasionally I’ll drive it into a root and not realize it.  Then it’s difficult to remove.  Like I’ll have to dig a hole around it.

Consider this a recommendation in that it’s so strong it’ll go through anything, even a root.  Of course it won’t go through rocks, but it’ll go sideways around it sometimes.  Some ground you can’t get any stake into.

Big Sky Tube Steak (ugh that name) is an Easton alternative — I bought a set which arrived yesterday, so I have no use with them and can’t give a recommendation yet. Design seems slightly better since the loop goes through the body of the stake; seems less likely for the cap to pop off when pulled. They’re also made in a few additional sizes relative to the Eastons.

Great, thanks all. Ryan – just saw your cold weather field notes email, so perfect timing :)

I admit to being a Vargo fanboy. I have three of their stoves. And nail pegs. I used the nail pegs for years, but while bikepacking on Haida Gwaii I had one break in half. The ground was typically soft and wet there, so I must have hit a rock at the wrong angle. I was curious and tried to break the two halves, but they remained full strength. I kept them, but when I contacted Vargo they didn’t need to see them, but just sent me a complete replacement set. That’s impressive customer service. So now I have spares, which I am sure I will never need. The break was clean, straight across. A metallurgical mystery.

I keep one Vargo nail peg (with a glued-on knob which makes it easy to apply more force by hand/foot  and also to pull it out) in my kit along with a set of lighter CF stakes of similar diameter (shown here). In a packed or rocky ground, I use the nail peg to make a hole, then I pull it out and replace it with the CF stake. This isn’t needed very often, but replacing one stake in a kit of ten with the nail peg is just a small price for the versatility it provides.

I have three sets of vargo nail stakes and have been using them for years.   I had the head break off one of them but other than that they have survived dozens and dozens of uses.   I highly recommend them.

I’ve never done this while winter camping, but while working one winter in New England installing thermal solar systems on roofs, we’d heat up the base of the aluminum ladder with our torches, letting it melt into any ice puddle and then refreeze, making it much more secure and less likely to blow down (there were still some times when Joe and I would be yelling to Jeff in the basement to come set the ladder up again – sometimes shouting into the chimney worked best).

But we have Bic lighters and camp stoves along, right?  So we could heat a small screw or nail and melt it into a frozen puddle or lake if needed.

Mostly, don’t camp on solid ice – packed snow is softer, but in case you ever have to. . .

Bravo! to those who backpack on frozen ground.

Does anyone have any tips for quickly extracting titanium nail stakes that have been hammered into frozen ground? Last winter I had some that were so stuck that the loop of cord in the head of the stake actually snapped from pulling up on it. The final resort was to pee on the stake, and even then it still required some kicking and wiggling to break free. Would rather not pee on my gear, or bust out the stove while trying to take my tarp down in the future.

Maybe I just hammered them in deeper than necessary? I wasn’t trying to sink them all the way to the head, just about halfway from what I remember.

if you can get something through the hole on the top and rotate the stake, that might work

I’ve had that same problem but I have been able to pull stake out without cord breaking

I just looked at those cords on my stakes and there’s a little damage at a couple places.  I wonder if that cord is dyneema or something else super strong

If you’re using a stake hammer or rock, give it a couple of whacks downward to loosen the bond with the soil, then it should pull out more easily.

Thanks for the tips! Will probably replace the stock cord loops with some 1.75mm Dyneema line I have. Tried pounding them down, which helped for all but one, maybe the problem stake found a root. Looking forward to part 2 of the winter webinar.

yeah, good idea, give it one wack downward

although I try to pound stakes in as far as possible to not pull out when I don’t want them to

maybe if I know the ground will freeze, I shouldn’t pound it in completely

Worth remembering that aluminium metal (eg E Nanos) will freeze hard to ice or snow, but titanium metal won’t. As Ryan said, a whack downwards on a Ti stake should break the bond. I have crumpled Al stakes in frozen snow a few times.

I guess if you have pounded the stake into a tree root, then you can expect serious problems. More care during insertion. Sorry, but.

Carbon fibre stakes are nice, until they shatter. Which they can do. OK in soft soil.

Cheers

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but this thread motivated me to do so.

Bottom is a Vargo as bought.

On two stakes, the loop was partially abraded so I cut them off.  It seemed like it was just nylon.

I replaced the middle one with #14 galvanized wire.

Top one with 4 strands of the thin dyneema I had on hand.

I’ll see which one works best.

Big Sky Tube Steak (ugh that name) is an Easton alternative — I bought a set which arrived yesterday, so I have no use with them and can’t give a recommendation yet. Design seems slightly better since the loop goes through the body of the stake; seems less likely for the cap to pop off when pulled. They’re also made in a few additional sizes relative to the Eastons.

I’ve been using these for a year. My favorite stakes.

Who wants to carry a hammer?

The ground is now frozen and covered with lots of snow, no rocks in sight to pound in tent stakes.  Fortunately, I had grabbed a lightweight 14 oz hammer from my garage and used it the other night.

Today I received this:

I will leave my multitool at home, so only a 5 oz weight gain to have a hammer.  I think it has enough heft to get the job done.  The tool’s assessment of my parental skills is very thoughtful.

This is BPL – no hammers!  Just let your fist freeze solid and use that.

cheap you could mod to make lighter but comes in at 13oz, only 2oz heavier than MSR

MSR knock off at half the price and same weight

i picked up these, we’ll see how they do but the price is right