Twenty-Five Years of Trekking Pole Shelters

Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar on the GR5 Through The Alps in 2018

Recent years have seen an upsurge in tents designed to be pitched with trekking poles. This isn’t a new idea however. I’ve been using trekking pole tents and tarps for twenty-five years. Before that I had used poles to pitch tarps as cooking shelters on walks in grizzly bear country where cooking in the tent porch was not a good idea. These camps were usually in sheltered forested areas rather than open windswept places so stability wasn’t a key consideration. The main use of a tent was mostly to keep off insects while sleeping.

Tarp used as a cooking shelter at a wet camp in the Yukon Territory, 1990

I soon thought about using trekking poles for my main shelter. Why carry the extra weight of tent poles as well? Searching round for something suitable I came across a shaped tarp called the Basha-Tent from a long-gone tiny British company called Kathmandu Trekking. This could be pitched as a pyramid with a shorter pole holding up one end as a doorway. I took this on a two-week walk in the Queyras Alps in 1999 and was impressed at how it stood up to storms and how roomy it was for the weight (1.2kg with groundsheet and pegs). Far roomier in fact than tents that weighed a fair bit more.

Kathmandu Trekking Basha-Tent in the San Francisco Peaks on the Arizona Trail in 2000

The next year, 2000, I took the Basha-Tent on the Arizona Trail. On many nights I slept under the stars but there were enough camps in strong winds, and even once sleet and rain, to make me glad I had it.

GoLite Cave 1 in the High Sierra in 2004

After the Arizona Trail I was hooked on trekking pole shelters for long-distance walks. At the time the ultralight movement was just getting going with GoLite producing Ray Jardine’s minimalist designs. In the early 2000s I used one of these, the Cave 1 tarp, on two-week walks in the Uinta Mountains in Utah and round Glacier Peak in the Cascade Mountains in Washington and on a 500-mile walk in the High Sierra in California. On these walks I didn’t need insect protection and was mostly camping in woods so a tarp was adequate. The Cave weighed 794 grams with groundsheet and pegs.

Mountain Equipment AR Ultralight tents on the GR20 in Corsica in 2005

In the 2000s outdoor brands started to make tents that pitched with trekking poles. Mountain Equipment had one, the AR Ultralight, which I used on the GR20, which I walked with Cameron McNeish in 2005. I wanted a tent with a door I could close on this trip as we would be camping on sites with other people most nights. I took the two-person version without the inner to save weight. I think it weighed around a kilo with groundsheet and pegs. Cameron took the smaller AR Ultralight 1 with the inner, the latter a wise choice for protection against the dustiness of many camp sites. After windy nights I woke with a layer of dirt covering everything.

GoLite Shangri-La 1 on the Pacific Northwest Trail in 2010

In 2010 I hiked the Pacific Northwest Trail that runs from Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains to the Olympic National Park and the Pacific Ocean. This was likely to be a wet walk (it was!) and there were likely to be mosquitoes in places (there were!) so I wanted a double-skin tent. GoLite had expanded by then and produced several good models from which I chose the Shangri-La 1, a sloping ridge tent with a mesh inner. It weighed 963 grams and stood up to torrential rain. I still miss GoLite.

The MLD Trailstar at a very wet and windy camp on the Scottish Watershed in 2013

A year later I discovered the trekking pole shelter that has been my favourite ever since, the Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar. This hexagonal shaped tarp is similar in design and size to the Basha-Tent but even more stable and weighs 767 grams with groundsheet and pegs. After using it on the 2012 TGO Challenge across the Scottish Highlands I knew it would stand up to big storms so in 2013 I took it on my Scottish Watershed walk. As this was in midge season I used it with a mesh inner for a total weight of 1.16 kilos. It performed brilliantly in some severe weather. It has since been used on long walks from Yosemite Valley to Death Valley in 2016, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean on the GR5 in the Alps in 2018, and through the Colorado Rockies for 500 miles in 2019 plus several more TGO Challenges and many shorter trips. It’s still going strong.

The MLD Trailstar below Mount Whitney on the Yosemite Valley to Death Valley walk in 2016

All the above shelters used two trekking poles, although with the Basha-Tent and the Trailstar one was just to hold a doorway open. The last two years I’ve been using a single pole tent, the Mountain Laurel Designs SoloMid XL, which I like very much. I took this on my recent Cape Wrath Trail walk and it performed well. It weighs 1020 grams. On other trips I’ve just used the outer with a groundsheet, brings the weight down to 865 grams.

MLD SoloMid XL on the Cape Wrath Trail, 2024

I’ve tested other trekking pole shelters in recent years. Four of them are pictured below. I particularly like the Hilleberg Anaris and I’m delighted to hear that a solo version is planned. 

Hilleberg Anaris on a week-long walk in Knoydart, 2023

Vango Heddon 100 in the Cairngorms, 2021

Durston X-Mid 1 in the Cairngorms, 2023

Sierra Designs High Route 1 in the Cairngorms, 2022

I haven’t stopped using tents. Aside from testing them for The Great Outdoors magazine I often use one for short trips where weight isn’t that important. I wouldn’t take one on a trip of more than three or four days though.

Lightwave Sigma in the Cairngoems, 2023

I wrote about all the tents and shelters I’ve used on long walks from 1976 to 2019 here.

Interview on long-distance walking for Ultralight Outdoor Gear.

Not an ultralight load! Ready for the High Sierra section of the PCT in 1982 with 21 days food plus snow and ice gear.

I've done an interview for Ultralight Outdoor Gear which you can read here. It's always interesting to thnk about my walks!

What I ate on the Cape Wrath Trail

Wayfayrers Vegan Breakfast in pot, coffee bag brewing in cup. Noodles packet from dinner the night before.

On long-distance walks I buy food along the way rather than send food parcels. There are a number of reasons for this – supporting communities along the way, curiosity as to what I’ll end up eating, reducing pre-walk chores. On some walks this has resulted in a peculiar diet at times!

Foods need to be lightweight and compact. I don’t take cans or jars. Food needs to survive being squashed in the pack too, sometimes for several days at a time. Soft easily squished food is a bad idea as is food that can go off quickly. I’m vegetarian, which cuts out quite a few items, and prefer organic wholefoods, though I wasn’t expecting to find many of them along the way.

I didn’t know what I’d find in small stores along Cape Wrath Trail. Only Ullapool had a supermarket and an outdoor shop that sold specialist backpacking meals. As it was, I was pleasantly surprised at what was available.

I started out with five days food so could take exactly what I wanted for this section. In fact when I reached my first supply point at Morvich I still had a fair amount of food left as I ate in cafes and restaurants on the first day and a half along the Caledonian Canal and the very hot weather meant I didn’t have much appetite anyway. That changed at Morvich. The weather turned cool, wet and windy. The cafes disappeared. My appetite rose.

At Morvich Kintail Crafts had a reasonable choice of suitable foods, though no instant soups. I was delighted and surprised to find Firepot dehydrated meals here. This was unexpected. The owner told me I had a previous CWT walker to thank who had suggested stocking them the year before.  I bought two packets of Posh Baked Beans, which were good for breakfast and dinner, and a Vegan Orzo Bolognese. I hadn’t tried either of them before. I really liked the beans – I’ll be buying them again. The Bolognese I found “a bit dull, needs more tomato or some chilli, but OK”.

From Morvich it was four and a half days to Kinlochewe where there’s a café and a couple of places that sell groceries. In the Village Store I had another pleasant surprise – Adventure Food dried meals. It was only two and a half days to Inverlael where I was meeting Tony Hobbs and going to Ullapool so I just bought the Pasta Al Funghi as I still had a meal I’d carried from Morvich.  It was the best dried meal of the walk.The Village Store also had my favourite Ainsley Harriott instant soups – I bought several packets – and various snack foods from Highland Wholefoods in Inverness.

At Inverlael Tony whisked me off to Lochinver, the nearest place with anywhere to stay (see this post for the story of the walk). I reckoned a week to the next grocery shop. Supplies for this were bought in the little Spar shop in Lochinver, where I was delighted to find Taylors Coffee Bags and more Ainsley Harriott soups, and Ullapool Outdoor which had Expedition Foods dried meals – I bought three - and  Wayfayrer Vegan Breakfasts, which I really like but which are quite heavy so I only bought one. As bad weather stopped the walk at Inchnadamph five days out from Inverlael I never ate the Expedition Foods Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta – I still don’t know what it’s like. The Macaroni and Cheese I found “quite tasty and filling” and the Scrambled Egg with Cheese & Caramelised Onion excellent for breakfast.

Of course food needs to be tasty and enjoyable. This differs from person to person. Below is what works for me.

Breakfast

My usual breakfast consisted of oatcakes with Primula Cheese Spread or Tartex Vegetarian Pate and coffee. Three times I had a hot breakfast – the Wayfayrer one, the Firepot beans, and the Expedition Foods Scrambled Egg – which made a nice change.

Day Snacks

On long walks I don’t have a lunch stop but a series of snacks whenever I feel hungry. Mostly these are a mix of bars – flapjack, fudge, tablet, dried fruit - and boiled sweets. Occasionally oatcakes and cheese. The only drink was water.

Dinner

The evening meal started with two packets of instant soup, restoring liquid and salt. The main meal was either one of the specialist dinners – cook in the bag and mostly healthy ingredients – or much cheaper supermarket meals like Idahoan Mash and Batchelors Super Noodles – cook in a pot and rather more in the way of not so healthy additives.

Overall I was happy with my food choices. It was tasty enough and kept me going, I was impressed with the specialist meals. The quality really has shot up in recent years.

 

 

A forced change of plan and a walk in a little-visited part of the Cairngorms

An Garbh-choire

Sometimes plans don’t quite work out. Sometimes they don’t work out at all. Knowing recovery from a forthcoming hand operation would keep me off the hills for at least a couple of weeks I planned an overnight trip in the Cairngorms. The day I was due to start I first picked up the friend who’s going to drive me back from the hospital after the operation – aside from being unfit to drive after the anaesthetic I’ll also have a hand in plaster. We got in my car and I turned the key. Nothing. Not a sound. A few more attempts and I range the local garage, who have been dealing with my cars for over thirty years. We’ll get back to you soon, they said. We went for a coffee. It was disgusting. I won’t be going there again.

The garage rang back. We’ll come and look at the car (they were only about half a mile away). Two mechanics turned up and fiddled with a diagnostic device. Nothing. At one point a mechanic thumped the steering wheel. Still nothing. Probably the starter ignition they said. We need to take it back to the garage for a proper look. We bump started the car – nothing wrong with the engine – and off they went. We went for another coffee, a good one this time. Eventually I rang the garage. Starter motors dead. We should be able to get one in tomorrow and may be able to fit it then. I need it in two days to get to hospital. We’ll try our best.

Home was only five miles away but my friend had awkward luggage so we weren’t going to walk. We rang the only local taxi service. Happily, a taxi could come straight away and we were soon being whisked home by a friendly and chatty taxi driver. Thank you, Johnny’s Taxis.

Now a nervous wait to see if my car would be fixed in time for the hospital appointment. But thankfully not a long wait as the next morning the garage phoned and said it was ready. Phew! Relief. Thank you, Woodland Service Centre.

Rather long preamble over. Now to the hills! Without the time for an overnight or even a long day I unpacked my big pack and packed a small one. I decided to have a wander round the northern end of the Cairn Gorm massif, a complex area of ravines, knolls, terraces, and bogs between Ryvoan Pass and Strath Nethy. It’s a quiet, little-visited area (I’ve never met anyone here) with hardly any paths.

I remembered that the walking could be tough here. I had forgotten just how tough. Deep tussocky heather, spongy bogs, steep slopes. Progress was very slow. Once I left the path from Ryvoan Pass and started the ascent of appropriately named An Garbh-choire (it means the Rough Corrie) I reckon my pace slowed by at least three-quarters.

Brilliant bell heather in An Garbh-choire

I didn’t mind the slowness though as the corrie is a wonderful place; hidden, secretive, magical. There are old pines and birches here and even some aspens and plenty of regeneration. In the boggy areas the orange spikes of bog asphodel, the white fluffy flowers of bog cotton, and the pale lilac of orchids gave touches of brightness to the brown landscape. But the real outrageous brilliance came from the stunning deep purple patches of bell heather that glowed with an almost unreal brightness.

Aspen in An Garbh-choire

An Garbh-choire ends in two steep narrow gullies. A line of broken crags lines one of them. I climbed the very steep slope on the edge of these rocks, exiting the enclosing confines of the corrie to a sudden expansion of the world before me. In the distance I could see the broad ridge running from Stac na h-Iolaire to Cairn Gorm.

Cairn Gorm from the top of An Garbh-choire

Below me lay another ravine, Eag a’ Gharbh-choire, this one level and choked with rocks. The remains of a small shieling lie inside. A breeze dried my sweat-soaked clothes.

Eag a' Gharbh-choire

I continued upwards more easily to Creag nan Gall, whose steep west face towers above An Lochan Uaine in Ryvoan Pass. Bits of sketchy path led across the mix of bog and heather, less tussocky here. This was the easiest walking of the trip. From the summit I could see the curving summit of Bynack More rising towards dark clouds. Rain threatened but did not fall.  

Creag nan Gall & Bynack More

I descended south from the summit, plunging down the heather tussocks towards a trickle of a burn. Reaching this I followed it towards Ryvoan Pass. Soon the slopes steepened as I reached the first trees. A narrow dirt path appeared. It felt familiar. It was. I soon remembered I had come this way before, many years ago, and the descent was desperate. The path was wet, slippery and very steep, in places with drop-offs where it had collapsed. I slid down a few of these on my backside. Progress was only marginally faster than on the ascent. Again though the surroundings made up for the arduous walking. I was in a wild tangled luxurious forest, an astonishing mix of trees, shrubs, grasses, heather, and bracken (head high in places). This is how a forest should be.

Even so I did feel relieved to reach the path and easy walking. Although I hadn’t gone very far this was a very tough venture. Far more strenuous than the walk across the Cairngorm Plateau to Ben Macdui I reckon. Perhaps that’s why no-one hardly ever comes here. I’ll be back.

A Look At The August Issue Of The Great Outdoors

In the August issue of The Great Outdoors I review six backpacking stoves, Alex Roddie reviews six two-person tents, and Fiona Russell and John Manning review a pair of budget sleeping bags apiece. There are also reviews of the Highlander Women's Ben Nevis 52 Litre Rucksack by Lucy Wallace and the Alpine Parrot Ponderosa Trousers by Mary Ann Ochota.

In the main features Vivienne Crow looks at seven mountain challenges including the Cuillin Ridge, the Cairngorms 4000s, the Lakeland 3000s, and the Welsh 3000s. Alex Roddie goes west to east along the challenging Aonach Eagach in Glencoe. Roger Butler explores the Stiperstones, a beautiful and fascinating corner of the England/Wales border. In Switzerland Richard Hartfield takes the new Via Glaralpina trail round the Glarus Alps and meets the volunteers who built it. 

Also in this issue Creator of the Month is artist and writer Bryony Ella, Francesca Donovan reviews Wild Service: Why Nature Needs You edited by Nick Hayes and Jon Moses, in the Opinion column Debbie North says improving accessibility does not mean paving the landscape, Jim Perrin recalls learning rock climbing on Helsby Hill in his Mountain Portrait, James Roddie looks at things to do in and around Inverness, mountain leader Keri Wallace gives advice on moving faster in the mountains, and in her Notes from the Edge Emma Schroeder laments our lack of biodiversity. 

In Great Walks Ian Battersby goes scrambling on Stac Pollaidh in the NW Highlands and has a gentler walk on Windy Gyle in the Cheviots. There are four walks in the Lake District. Vivienne Crow explores Rannerdale Knotts above Crummock Water and Sheffield :Pike and Glencoyne above Ullswater. Also above Ullswater Alex Roddie climbs Place Fell. The fnal Lakes walk is Norman Hadley on Beda Fell above Martindale. Great Walks then jumps to Wales where Francesca Donovan explores Holyhead Mountain on Anglesey, Fiona Barltrop traverses Pen y Fan in Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons, and Roger Butler follows paths over the Sugar Loaf in the Black Mountains. Finally down in Surrey Nike Werstroh visits the Devil's Punch Bowl on the Greensand Way.

Two little videos from my recent camp in Gleann Eanaich

Two little videos from my recent camp in Gleann Eanaich

A Wonderful New Midge Net!

The midge season is well under way in the Scottish Highlands. Trying to avoid these tiny winged horrors now becomes a major factor in outdoor trips until the autumn. Camp high in a breeze, avoid damp places, (as if!), don't stop walking. But whatever you it's just about impossible not to encounter midges at some time. 

Insect repellent and tightly woven clothing can stop midges biting but doesn't stop clouds of them whining round your face and head searching for an unprotected bit of flesh. This is intensely annoying and distracting. The only answer if you want to do something that requires staying still - pitching a tent, having a rest, belaying a climber, taking a photograph, watching wildlife - is a headnet. But headnets restrict vision and can feel claustrophobic. The solution is a headnet with built-in glasses. I've been trying a new one designed by photographer and climber Tim Parkin called MidgeSpecs. Short review: they work, they're excellent.

Nearly a decade ago I tried a similar headnet called the Netspex, which I wrote about here. That product is long gone and until now nothing has replaced it. It worked quite well when new but the glasses were quite small, fogged easily, and soon became scratched. 

The MidgeSpecs are a big advance. The glasses are standards compliant safety ones made of strong polycarbonate and have an anti-fog treatment. They're big and clear for good vision and the arms are adjustable for fit. The net is industry standard too. It has a solid top and a bottom drawcord. MidgeSpecs come with a soft bag for carrying and a cardboard tube for storage. The weight is 58g. They cost £28 from the MidgeSpecs online shop.  

I've worn the MidgeSpecs over a baseball cap, a wide-brimmed hat, and my bare head and they fit fine in every case. I've also worn them over my reading glasses and that's fine too. The wide view through the glasses gets rid of the trapped feeling of standard midge nets and lets you get on with what you're there for. I highly recommend them.