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Sitting Out Extreme Winds
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Home › Forums › General Forums › General Lightweight Backpacking Discussion › Sitting Out Extreme Winds
- This topic has 6 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by Nick Gatel.
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Mar 5, 2023 at 8:51 pm #3774983
Has anyone been caught out in such strong winds (ie. Beaufort scale 10 to 12; gales and storms from 55 mph to over 75 mph) that finding natural cover and sitting it out made more sense than pitching a shelter? If so, what was your rationale for not pitching or pitching, as the case may be. Assume a four-season pyramid, not an Arctic grade Hilleberg.
Mar 6, 2023 at 11:27 am #3775022Yes! We ran into this on the Beartooth Plateau in Montana several years ago during a September trip. We were above the tree line and unable to hike down to the trees safely with our group. We took shelter on the lee side of a large glacial remnant (giant boulder). Fortunately it was dry, and we could be in the open with our sleeping bags and pads.
Mar 6, 2023 at 12:41 pm #3775025My PR in the Lower 48 was 70 mph on top of Mount Washington and having to distinctly lean into the wind. My eyes told me I’d fall over but equal weight on each foot required quite an angle.
One time in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians (“Birthplace of the Winds”) we had winds of 90 mph and gusts to 126 mph (203 kph). Thankfully, we were in town and opted to not work that day and instead watch movies in the Grand Aleutian Hotel while the windows rattled. Many houses in Dutch have steel cables going over the roof and down to anchors in the ground.
Had I needed to hole up in either of those cases, I would first seek a natural wind break or crevice/crack to retreat into and NOT pitch a tent. But I’d use my tent and fly to wrap around me as a makeshift bivy if I didn’t have a purpose-built bivy or bothy.
My logic would be to reduce surface area, noise and the chance of failure. Whatever the tent is rated to, what if the winds increase? My nylon-wrapped human burrito will take higher winds than any tent (which ultimately relies on its anchors and unless you’re using chocks and pitons or trees, will fail at some point). And I’d sleep better not worrying about the storm worsening and the tent failing.
I have been pinned down on a Baja beach by strong winds. We couldn’t all leave the tent at once because it was our weight holding it down – the stakes were in beach sand. Wasn’t a good day to sea kayak either, so we broke down camp and hiked inland instead.
Mar 6, 2023 at 8:34 pm #3775093What good is a tent in 70 mph? the only reason to pitch would be it’s that or wet out and then freeze to death. Find a cranny somewhere and crawl in or huddle under a rock like Ryan’s group and enjoy the show. Stay dry first! And watch out for flying stuff like limbs. Trees are dangerous hazards at 70. Anything that can be blown around.
Dave we play golf at 70. ;) 2×4’s start rattling around at @ 100 preparing for lift-off. And plywood and loose shingles are a real hazard at 70 or above. Anything already “over head” Asphalt shingles can fly like frisbees but you don’t want to catch one! At @ 110 it’s time to get into the closest thing to a bunker you can find. Guys on Hatteras once got into a septic tank but one that was awaiting installation. Whew! A nearby culvert if flooding isn’t an issue.
I walked over the top of Jockey’s Ridge (biggest sand dune on the east coast and my backyard) right in the middle of Hurricane Sandy for the heck of it. Wore ski goggles and taped my wrists and ankles. Very LOUD! Pobably 75 – 80. The strongest I’ve walked around in probably low 80’s. Much more and it’ll possibly randomly knock you over. Plus there’s power lines to consider. But I’m lucky enough to have been through @ 2 dozen hurricanes, Thank God nothing worse than a weak Cat 3. Don’t ever want to see a 4 and a 5 is just a huge tornado. BTW also been close enough to a few small twisters. They’ll also drop stuff on you. Woman around here in the early 70’s sheltered in a small canal behind her house and a waterspout dropped a fridge on her. At 70 the danger’s stuff overhead and falling. Why get inside a “sail” ?
Mar 7, 2023 at 5:41 pm #3775162I have heard people on the PCT getting caught on ridges that resort to burrito rolling up in their tent. As long as it doesn’t rain I guess this would work.
Mar 10, 2023 at 2:10 pm #3775413strong winds … that finding natural cover and sitting it out made more sense than pitching a shelter?
One PCT thru hiker, who’d also hiked the AT and CT = so no newbie, in Idyllwild (Mt San Jacinto) mentioned to me the wind the previous night scooped her up on her DCF shelter floor and dropped her like a flapjack a few times. Figure the stuff sailcloth and there’s high winds, and a solo in a shelter like a DuPlex won’t have a lot of body weight vs the size of the footprint (i.e. the sailcloth thing). Climbers use bivies in extreme mountains now that I think about it.
Anyways didn’t have the heart to tell her l rode out the storm in a cabin with cable. Also grilled a ribeye .. (I got my wind experience coming down to I-10 2 days later and having my cuben single wall continually fall down until doing the DCF burrito thing. The next year, I got under an underpass with 15 other hikers).
Note there’s some wind farms in the desert below specifically to harness that type wind (“wind” maps exist for the US and other countries).
That’s even without considering the type stakes and soil.
Mar 10, 2023 at 5:53 pm #3775434Anyways didn’t have the heart to tell her l rode out the storm in a cabin with cable. Also grilled a ribeye .. (I got my wind experience coming down to I-10 2 days later and having my cuben single wall continually fall down until doing the DCF burrito thing. The next year, I got under an underpass with 15 other hikers).
Note there’s some wind farms in the desert below specifically to harness that type wind (“wind” maps exist for the US and other countries).
That’s even without considering the type stakes and soil.
I live about 1 mile from a wind farm (San Gorgonio Pass). They shut down at around 55 mph. They also need around 10 mph to operate.
Wind is a given problem where I hike, mostly in the spring and fall (desert heating up and desert cooling down). Finding natural shelters in many desert environs is often a no-go. I often use snow stakes in sand, plus big rocks if I can find them. Haven’t had any wind that could collapse my Trailstar nor my Scarp 1 with the crossing poles (yet). Can’t say I sleep like a baby in these kinds of wind.
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