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.

Nortent Vern 1 in Glen Feshie video

 

Here's a little video I shot in Glen Feshie during the trip described in my last post. In it I say I'm planning on going up Mullach Clach a' Bhlair as it was made before I decided to stay in the glen.

Of Winds & Tents

Rainbows and strong winds on the Isle of Skye. As the storm was forecast and I wasn't walking far I took a heavy geodesic tent that really handles strong winds well. The story is told in this post.

Wind speed is the most important factor for me when camping. On short trips forecast wind speeds can determine where I go, where I plan to camp, and what shelter I take with me. On long trips the wind can determine where I camp. Rain and snow aren't a problem. I know whatever shelter I'm using will keep them out. Wind is another matter. Whilst, mostly, my shelters have stood up to very strong winds buffeting and roaring are not conducive to sleep. Sometimes the wind is so strong I do worry that my shelter might collapse, enough that at times I have moved camp in the dark, as told in the story below. Of course I always try and find a sheltered pitch but sometimes I can't and sometimes it's not as sheltered as I thought.

I'd been thinking about tents and wind anyway as I'm currently finishing a review of tents for The Great Outdoors (June 2023 issue) when my friend Tony Hobbs contacted me to say his Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar, a shelter both he and I really like, had been damaged by high winds and he'd abandoned the camp. He's since posted a video of the trip in which you can see the moment part of the already damaged Trailstar actually fails and also see just how strong the wind was. I'm glad he wasn't anywhere very remote and that this didn't happen in the middle of the night.

Over the years I've learnt what makes a sheltered site and what doesn't, though I don't always get it right. I've also learnt how the wind is likely to act given the topography and its overall direction. I've never gone into this in detail though.  Geoff Fisher and Helen McKerral have. They've posted an excellent detailed piece on their Slower Hiking website called Tents in Strong Winds: Terrain and How to Choose the Best Pitch. I hadn't come across this great site before but they saw Tony's video and contacted him and he told me about it. I still love the interconnectedness of the internet!

Thinking back on windy nights I've experienced I remembered a couple with Terry Abraham in the Cairngorms and the Lake District and one on my Scottish Watershed walk where the wind changed plans. 

Just after we'd decided to retreat from the Lairig Ghru

The first was when making the video called The Cairngorms In Winter. Terry and I had planned to walk through the Lairig Ghru pass and camp. As the day progresses the wind grew stronger and stronger and in the mouth of the pass we decided to retreat back down into the forest, which we did, pursued by clouds of spindrift. 

Terry looks out of his tent with spindrift swirling all around

We found a seemingly sheltered site but the storm reached us here and after a wild night I suffered a bent tent pole. Terry's tent was bending down to the ground and springing back up. The full story is told in this post. 

Camp in the forest just before three pegs pulled out and the tent pole bent

A couple of years later I was in the Lake District with Terry and we planned on camping on Threlkeld Knotts where Terry Wanted to do some filming for Life of a Mountain: Blencathra. The forecast wasn't good but we reckoned we could find a fairly sheltered site. 

Terry watching the approaching storm. I took no photos of the camp.

We failed. As I wrote in this post I went for water and then  "stumbling back to camp dripping with rain, clutching heavy bottles with numb fingers and knocked about by the wind I began to wonder if camping here was a good idea. My tent appeared, one side pushed in and out by the gusts. Terry was outside, filming with his phone. His heavier more solid tent was moving less but he said the vibrating flysheet was really noisy. In my tent I’d have been hit repeatedly by the fabric. I held up my anemometer. The wind was 25-30mph with gusts to 54mph. We decided to seek a lower site and wrestled the tents down and into our packs. We were only at 470 metres here so there wasn’t much lower to go before reaching fields and farms though. The wind was strengthening as we descended. A prospective site was considered during a brief lull. Then the big gusts returned. No go, we decided. A full retreat was in order". 

That's the only time I've abandoned a camp before I'd even settled in but there have been others where I've repitched the tent to face a different way during the night and sometimes even moved camp. One of these was the Scottish Watershed night when I camped on a high col and then moved camp twice to escape the wind. The story of that night appears in my book about the walk Along The Divide and I retold it again for for The Great Outdoors last year in the short piece below. 

First pitch on the col before the storm arrived

                                                        Moving Camp In A Storm

The day had been cloudy, but the skies cleared as I reached the summit of Beinn Dubhcraig to give a superb view over the hills to distant Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond. The light was glorious. For half an hour. Then the clouds covered the sun and the brightness faded, but that view had been magnificent and sent me off to the next Munro, Ben Oss, feeling exhilarated and energetic. After crossing the latter I camped on the col below Ben Lui with the wind picking up. It started to rain as I fell asleep.

The big storm came in just before midnight with ‘ridiculously heavy rain’ and very strong winds that shook the Trailstar violently. I didn’t think it would collapse but I also didn’t think I would get any sleep with the noise and movement. Reluctantly I donned waterproofs on my bare skin and staggered outside in bare feet. In the dark and mist and rain I dragged the tarp with all my belongings bundled in it a little way downhill and pitched it again. The winds strengthened. I got out and repeated the process. I was now only about fifty metres from where I’d first camped but the difference was enormous. Here the hillside sheltered me from much of the wind. Tired now I slept well, waking occasionally to the sound of heavy rain. It was still hammering down the next morning and I dawdled over several mugs of coffee, happy to stay in the dry. The barometer on my little portable weather meter showed the lowest pressure of the trip so far.

The third pitch, sheltered enough for sleep

Eventually I hauled myself out into the rain and packed up. Often when you do this it turns out not to be so bad outside after all. That wasn’t the case on this occasion. The rain and wind were both fierce and dense cloud shrouded the hills. A good path led up Ben Lui where four others stood by the summit cairn, the only people I saw all day. They were going on to the fourth Munro in this group, Beinn a’Chleibh. It’s not on the Watershed so I watched them disappear into the mist before starting down the north side of Ben Lui.

Tips for Pitching a Tent or Tarp in Stormy Weather and Snow

This article is expanded from one that appeared earlier in the year as part of a series of articles on tents and backpacking I wrote for The Great Outdoors in conjunction with Hilleberg. I posted the first article on choosing a tent last month.

Shelters, whether tents or tarps, really come into their own when the weather turns stormy.

The way you pitch a shelter is often key to how secure it will feel. It can be immensely comforting to be warm and dry in the wilds inside a shelter you know is sturdy and well-pitched while rain, wind or snow whirl outside. Conversely, being inside a poorly pitched shelter which seems at risk of collapsing can be a very unnerving experience and guarantees a poor night’s sleep.

To maximise storm-worthiness there are a number of things you can do. The first is to ensure you are familiar and well-practiced at pitching your shelter so you do it quickly and efficiently in poor conditions – a howling storm is not the best time to be fumbling with a confusing mass of flapping nylon. Knowing the capabilities of your shelter is important too.

On a showery very windy day I found a sheltered site by dropping down into the top of a forest in the lee of the wind

1.     Pitch selection

In very windy weather, a sheltered site is well worth taking the time to find, though sometimes an exposed pitch may be the only option there is. Often, though, there are options; even a gentle bank or a pile of rocks can help cut the wind. Passing by that lovely hillside pitch and continuing downhill to a less windy spot is a good idea. In heavy rain, be wary of damp hollows though; these could fill with water. In woods, look up. Camping under a dead branch is a bad idea.

On a day of heavy rain and strong winds I descended into a glen to find a sheltered spot and then spent some time finding a slightly raised spot in case the river rose.

2.      Pitching

To stop your tent blowing away, peg down one end securely before inserting any poles or laying the tent out. In really strong winds you can put your pack on the tent while you do this or even lie on it. Then peg down the other end before inserting the poles (you may then have to unpeg each corner in turn to get the poles in).

 

Tunnel tents should be pitched with the rear into the wind for best stability. With other designs the door should be away from the wind if there’s only one.

3.      Pegs and guylines

Pegs should go in at about a 45-degree angle (leaning away from the tent) right up to their heads. Carry a selection of different pegs for different ground conditions – thin ones for stony and hard ground, wide ones for soft ground – so you can do this. In hard ground pegs can be pushed in with your feet or hammered in with a small rock. Don’t hit them too hard, even the toughest pegs can bend or break (a good reason for carrying a few spares).

If pegs really won’t go fully into the ground, pegging loops and guylines should be looped round the peg at ground level – higher up and they could lever the peg out. All guylines should be pegged out and tightened. I do this even if it’s calm – the wind may pick up during the night.

  

 Pitching in snow

 

It’s always preferable to pitch on dry ground rather than snow – it’s easier to do and the tent will be warmer, especially under you. When snow cover is extensive camping on it may be the only option. When this is the case a snow shovel is very useful for preparing the site (and transporting snow for melting for water). I always carry one. 

In soft snow, a platform should be stamped out then levelled for the tent. The platform should be as flat as possible – any lumps will harden under you. Leading the platform to firm up is the best way to avoid this but in a storm you’ll want to get under cover as soon as possible.

Special extra wide and long pegs are useful for snow. In soft snow these should be buried horizontally with guylines looped round them. Extra cord may be needed for pegging points round the edge of the flysheet for this. Ordinary pegs can be buried like this too. Stamp down on the snow above the peg to harden it – they’ll freeze in place and you may need an ice axe to dig them out the next day. Ice axes, trekking poles, and skis can be used as pegs in snow too.

 5.   Securing gear

 

Before pitching the tent, ensure all other gear is in your pack and the lid is shut so it stays dry and doesn’t blow away. Tent stuffsacks should be pushed into garment or pack pockets to stop them being lost to the wind.

Final checks 

Before getting inside the tent check all pegging points are secure and tighten the guylines. In rain it’s worth getting out last thing before sleep to tighten everything again – some tent fabrics stretch when wet. If it’s snowy, knock any snow off the tent. In very heavy snow you may need to do this during the night too. 

7.     Keeping the inner dry

Fill up water containers and do any other outside chores before entering the tent. If your outer clothing is wet, strip this off in the porch. A small sitmat is useful for kneeling on to do this. The idea is to keep any damp gear out of the inner tent so it stays as dry as possible. 

 

 

A Look At Different Types Of Backpacking Tents

 

This article is expanded from one that appeared earlier in the year as part of a series of articles on tents and backpacking I wrote for The Great Outdoors in conjunction with Hilleberg. I will post the other articles over the next few weeks.

Backpacking tents come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Which is best depends on where and when you’ll be using it and how many people will sleep in it. All lightweight tents are a compromise between space, weight, and stability. Which is most important to you? For low level camping outside of winter I’d go for low weight and plenty of space over stability. For high mountain camping in winter stability comes first.

They are often designated three and four season. The latter tents are heavier but have good snow resistance and stability. For most British use three-season tents are fine.

A key problem with lightweight tents is condensation. In really humid conditions no tent will be completely free of this but ones with good ventilation options will have less than ones without. Of course, in a big storm being able to close vents is essential. It’s more important to keep rain or snow out than to stop condensation. In small tents it’s harder to avoid contact with condensation.

The length of a tent, the angle of the walls, and the headroom all matter. If your sleeping bag pushes against the walls it may get damp from condensation. Walls that angle in sharply restrict living space and being unable to sit up is uncomfortable. Note that inflatable mats are often quite thick and reduce headroom. For the most comfort the highest parts of the inner should allow occupants to sit up without pushing their heads against the fabric.

Whichever design of tent you choose practising pitching it is important so that it’s second nature when you’re doing so at the end of a long, wet day when you’re tired and cold.

Tents may pitch as units, inner first, or flysheet first. The advantage of pitching as a unit is that it’s fast and the inner can’t get wet in rain. With inner first pitching tents you need to be able to erect it really fast in rain to minimise how wet the walls and floor get. An advantage of inner first pitching tents is that you can just use the inner on dry nights, which means no condensation, and which keeps bugs out. It the inner has a mesh roof you can see the stars.

In my view tents suitable for use in the British hills should prioritise weather resistance so I prefer tents that pitch as a unit too or flysheet first.

Ridge

This traditional design has seen a resurgence recently as trekking poles can be used with it. The ridge runs between two poles and may be horizontal or tapered. The stability of ridge tents depends on the number of guylines and pegging points. If trekking poles are used the weight to space ratio is quite good. However, the angled walls mean headroom is low away from the apex. Ridge tents are easy to pitch.

The ridge may run along or across the tent – the latter is known as a transverse ridge. 

A modern ridge tent design uses a long curved pole as the ridge with a large hoop at the front and a short one at the back. This gives better headroom than a ridge with upright poles.

Pyramid

Pyramid tents, often just called Mids, only require a single central pole, though an A-pole can be used. Pyramids have good stability and a good space to weight ratio. Headroom is excellent. Most can be pitched with trekking poles.

Tunnel

Tunnel tents have two or more parallel curved poles. They have an excellent space to weight ratio and are easy to pitch. Stability is good as long as the rear is pitched into the wind. Side winds can make tunnel tents shake. Headroom is reasonable in two or three person tunnels but lacking in solo ones.

Single hoop

Tents with a single hoop in the centre are ideal for solo use as they have a good space to weight ratio and good headroom in the centre. Because the ends are low good single hoop tents usually have short upright poles to increase the height here. With a good guying system single hoop tents can be surprisingly stable.

Dome

Dome tents have two or more flexible poles crossing each other at one or more points. In the simplest versions the poles cross at the apex of the tent. This gives excellent headroom but isn’t the most stable design as it leaves large unsupported panels of material that can shake and depress in strong winds. Domes where the poles cross each other more than once are more stable. There are many types of domes with different pole configurations. Some domes have a short ridge pole for added stability.

Because of their structure dome tents are free-standing – they don’t need pegs or guylines to keep their shape. However, except in calm weather they still need pegging out to stop them blowing away. Domes have good headroom and a reasonable space to weight ratio. They are usually easy to pitch.

Geodesic dome

Geodesic domes are complex designs in which four or more poles cross each other at several points so there are no large unsupported sections of material. Geodesics are very stable and can resist heavy snow loads, making them popular with mountaineers. The space to weight ratio is poor however and they’re not as easy to pitch as other designs.