Solo tent recommendation for high winds

I’ve had very good luck with my Aeon (probably 20-ish nights out with it); it does pretty good with wind, but I’m pretty careful where I set up at night too.

If I truly want very wind worthy and light (and had a lot of dough, ray, me!)- I stand by my post that the Locus Djedi is what I would go with

The most wind-worthy solo tent I own is the Hilleberg Soulo (#1). I simply never, ever worry about it. I’ve used it in gales up to sustained 70 mph winds and with earplugs, have slept ok!

I’m also *lucky* enough to have a 3-pole Caffin tent – that’s a close second (#2). I’d be OK with either of these tents in just about any condition. I have legit fears about the carbon poles in the Caffin tent, because I’ve broken them during setup (my fault). They’ve never broken in a storm – just max out the guyline options and be careful. It’s worth it! @rcaffin, c’mon, mass-produce these things!

The Hilleberg Akto and Hilleberg Enan really need a double arch pole to be considered “storm-worthy” in serious conditions. They’re a bit wobbly otherwise, but strong enough not to fail for the most part. I’ll rate them later.

The Trailstar is as good as it gets for a 1- or 2-trekking pole tent, but it has to be pitched pretty low to get that benefit (the geometry allows for this) AND it has to be the silnylon version. DCF doesn’t fare well when large panels are involved. If it’s pitched high enough to be “comfortable” the wind actually caves in those big walls quite a bit. I’m not as enamored with the sil Trailstar in extreme winds as others.

The most wind-worthy DCF tent I own is the Locus Gear Khufu DCF-B. It’s quite a lot more stable than the Akto/Enan. Low stretch, great manufacturing precision, lots of tie-outs, low profile. It’s my #3 preference for extreme winds.

#4 is the Trailstar or Akto/Enan with 2-arch poles.

#5 is a tie between the Tarptent Notch Li and Locus Gear Djedi.

Hillberg Akto or Enan with 1 arch pole is #6. Akto is a little better for winter/snow. Enan is better ventilated for summer, and lighter.

Most of everything else I own (1- or 2-pole trekking pole tents) I wouldn’t trust *much* in a real storm (with sustained wind speeds > 50  mph winds) above the treeline.

I no longer own geodesic domes (except the Hillberg Soulo), except the Nemo Dagger 3 (my wife and I use this now for it’s livability:weight ratio), so there’s a caveat here…(real geodesic domes like the NF VE-25 are very good) – I just don’t spend a lot of time in environments where wind destroys tents.

Most “ultralight” tents do fine with occasional 40 mph “gusts” (not sustained), which is what we mostly experience during the “extremes” of summer above treeline here in the mountain west.

A bivy sack pitched in a strategic location is actually pretty awesome in extreme winds…

How much does the aeon flap in the wind? Ian it loud? I’m looking for a lightweight tent that’s quiet in the wind.

it’ll flap some if the wind is going pretty good; I’ve never found it too be excessively loud or bothersome though

I know I am in the minority here, but there is something about Tarptent tents that does not agree with me.  I used to own a Stratospire and sold it because of the fairly fussy setup.  However, I was never happy the stpipped down design (no internal pockets), the perceived flimsiness of some of the components used (mitten hooks and elastic loops they hung off, zippers on the inner), the rain flaps routinely catching in the external zippers, and the quality of the sewing in comparison to every other tents left me wanting something else.

I echo the recommendation to look at the Big Sky Chinook tents.  For a free-standing tent they offer no-fuss setup, superb worksmanship, good attention to detail, decent weight to volume tradeoff, and most importantly for me – a dual vestibule (I am never again buying a single vestibule 1P tent).  Unlike many of the freestanding tents their peak heigh and door height are great for bigger not terribly flexible hikers (ahem).  Their wind performance is great, but as another poster noted a judicious choice of a tent site makes a half decent tent great shelter in high winds.

A 1-pole mid from MLD is the defactor standard for truly demanding applications, but with the tradeoffs of a pole in the shelter space.  I have used the DD x-Mid i fairly nasty weather (30-40 mph gusts) and it did well, the sil-poly did not sag at all when wet.

Perceptions don’t always correspond to reality.

European tunnel tents – Hilleburg and Terra Nova are some well known brands – are considered by many to be head and shoulders above ‘mercan style tents in terms of snow and wind loading.  The former have the poles inside, while the latter have the poles outside.  The former are a hoop design, the latter a dome design.  Even your BA is considered to be a dome tent.

For a good discussion go to the MYOG section (I think) and find Roger Caffin’s discussion of the tunnel tent he made, it would be time well spent to read it!

I’m also *lucky* enough to have a 3-pole Caffin tent – that’s a close second (#2). I’d be OK with either of these tents in just about any condition. I have legit fears about the carbon poles in the Caffin tent, because I’ve broken them during setup (my fault). They’ve never broken in a storm – just max out the guyline options and be careful. It’s worth it! @rcaffin, c’mon, mass-produce these things!

That’s the sort of thing that would dissuade manufacturers from putting that design into production. (Hard to believe that Easton would have not thought of it from that perspective). The relative fragility of the thin diameter carbon poles is a customer support and repair service nightmare. At the cost of adding a little extra weight, why not modify the design slightly to make it robust enough for the unwashed masses?! If it were 3 or 3.5 lbs instead of 2* (1.6 kg instead of 0.9) but could exponentially reduce potential CS issues, perhaps that could be a realistic way forward. (*That weight is what Ryan reported for the solo tent in silnylon that Roger made for him).

As for solo tents stout enough to stand up to high winds, I think there is a case to be made for polygonal mids with 5 or more sides.

The Trailstar has 5. I used it a lot in some very nasty weather but it has a lot of downsides. The footprint is huge and it’s a bear to set up alone in very strong winds.

The six sided Luxe Hexpeak Sil has a following in the UK. The hexagonal Astagear First Snow on Aliexpress might be great budget alternative.

I’m still putting a small octagonal mid through its paces, but I think that it is probably the ideal choice for people under 175cm.

I have the Aeon… I would not consider it a good tent in wind unless you add an apex tie loop on the back side. I also have a Notch Li which does better in wind.

but, really, none of these ultra light tents do well in high winds unless you have apex tieouts and take so many stakes that they are no longer ultra light… :)))

when the winds are super bad, if its not raining, I just pull the poles and let the tent down… stop fighting the wind and sleep better without the noise and worry about collapsing… heresy , I know, but works…

A 30d Mid with lots of tieouts ( 16+)  and over reinforced tripple stiched seams + corners.   Mid Note: Many  guess that an external Mid peak tieout is for overhead suspension, but it’s more for really high wind auxillary guylines. We’ve heard of more pole breaking  vs any mids failing and keeping the pole centered and stable and helps reduce stress on all the tieouts.

That’s reassuring.
One of my octagonal mids is made with 30D. 8 perimeter stakeout points with 8 mid seam (1/3 of the way up) tieouts plus four tieouts 3cm below the apex.

We’ve heard of more pole breaking  vs any mids failing and keeping the pole centered and stable and helps reduce stress on all the tieouts.

Hi Ron, I’m curious to know if the use of a Dual Pole Connector (aka DPTE) mitigates that (I think so) and if so how much? Thanks, Jon

The DPTE makes for a less stable structure. Now you have introduced a pole setup that needs to be rotationally stabilized to keep it stable in a vertical plane. A gust of wind hits a side panel and the inverted V rotates and pivots at the point of the V. That’s hard to stabilize with standard guyline configurations.

Hey Ryan, thanks for fielding that question. That’s not what I was expecting but I’ve only just started using a DPTE since last year. Does the “standard guyline configuration” include the sort of apex tieouts that Ron was talking about? Again, it seems to me like the addition of apex guyouts in a mid (and I’m thinking especially of an octagonal mid) would effectively stabilize that rotation.