Shelter Systems
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Staff Picks 2025
Our staff selects their favorite hiking, backpacking, and other backcountry gear that they’ve used over the past year – the next edition of our infamous Staff Picks!
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Cottage Gear Guide: Ultralight Hiking & Backpacking Gear from Small, Startup, and Cottage Brands
Discover the most unique, innovative, and ultralight backpacking gear from small, startup, and cottage brands in our Cottage Gear Guide.
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Episode 135 | Field Notes – The Metabolic Cost of Bushwhacking
Understand how brush work, impedance work, and hazard work explains the true metabolic cost of bushwhacking and how resistance, rhythm, and stability impact energy.
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Nemo Equipment Hornet OSMO Elite 1P Review
A review of the Nemo Equipment Hornet Elite 1P ultralight tent, evaluating its design, setup, weather resistance, and durability for backpacking.
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Episode 130 | Bivy Sack Camping
Discover Ryan’s discreet bivy sack camping methodology for alpine environments, encompassing essential gear, requisite skills, and a critical analysis of tent practicality. Embrace the experience of open-air slumber.
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Backpacking Chairs: A Comprehensive Guide to the Science of Seated Recovery, Ultralight Chair Design, and Market Landscape
In ultralight backpacking, chairs are often dismissed as luxury. This guide reframes them as recovery tools — exploring their impact on performance, biomechanics, and thermal management. From sit pads to suspended seats, we analyze the design tradeoffs and field use cases that shape the modern camp seating landscape.
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Market Report: State-of-the-Art Fabrics for Hiking Backpacks and Backcountry Shelters
Ultra-light backpack and shelter fabrics: Explore materials, performance, and construction. Nylon, polyester, UHMWPE, coatings & more.
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Nemo Hornet OSMO 3P vs Nemo Dragonfly OSMO 3P as a Family Shelter
The Nemo Dragonfly & Hornet OSMO 3P tents for family backpacking are ultralight, durable shelters tested here with toddlers.
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Gossamer Gear Whisper Review (Updated)
The Gossamer Gear Whisper is a 1-person, 2-pole, floorless full-perimeter shelter made with Dyneema Composite Fabrics. It includes an attached noseeum mesh netting skirt, is pitched with 7 stakes, and weighs 9.8 oz (280 g).
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Family Tents for Backpacking
A gear guide summarizing the state of the market of 3-person double wall tents and ultralight backpacking shelters.
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Episode 115 | Tiny Things
In episode 115 of the Backpacking Light podcast we’re sharing Big Talk about Tiny Things: Those little ultralight bits of gear that have an outsized impact on our experience in the backcountry.
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Staff Picks 2024
Our staff selects their favorite hiking, backpacking, and other backcountry gear that they’ve used over the past year – the next edition of our infamous Staff Picks!
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Episode 106 | Tent Stake Holding Power
In episode 106 of the Backpacking Light podcast we’re going to learn about tent stake holding power and have a chat about tent stake design with Suluk 46 founder Steve Evans.
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By the Numbers: How does Tent Design and Materials Influence Cold-Weather Camping Comfort?
An overview of the complex heat exchange mechanisms between the tent occupant and the outside environment – and how to test tent construction’s impact on comfort.
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How do tent stakes interact with soils to create holding power?
Tent stake holding power, especially in adverse wind conditions, relies on principles of engineering and physics, including cross-sectional shape, length, soil interaction, and insertion angle.
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How to Choose Backpacking Gear (Shelter Case Studies)
In this video, we walk through a framework for making decisions about how to select gear based on benefits, features, and design attributes, with a focus on shelter systems.
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Episode 99 | How to Hide Your Food from Bears
In episode 99 of the Backpacking Light podcast we’re going to learn about how bears smell, and what you can do to hide your food from the nose of a bear.
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Terra Nova Equipment Starlite 1
Gear reviews from our staff and members, buy/sell used, shopping tools, and more about the Terra Nova Equipment Starlite 1.
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Backpacking Light Staff Picks: Our Favorite Gear
Our staff selects their favorite hiking, backpacking, and other backcountry gear that they’ve used over the past year – the next edition of our infamous Staff Picks!
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Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid 1
Gear reviews from our staff and members, buy/sell used, shopping tools, and more about the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid 1 shelter.
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