New Rule on Ultralight Tents

New rule: don't stuff your ultralight tents any more. You've got to fold 'em or roll 'em. 

I've come to this conclusion after a few seasons of endless tent repair on my BD Hilight, a single wall.

Dainty ultralights (made from fabrics lighter than 10 denier) have their appeal, but toughness isn't one of them. The micro holes seem to be caused by abrasion inside the pack. This is being confirmed all over the web by other ultralight tent testers. And it's something that none of us can fully prevent.

It spells good news, though, for pricey footprint sales. Buy one for all your ultralights, then wrap them up inside like burritos for travel. You've got a backup in your tent floor, after all, in case the footprint tears on a rock or a root.

Don't be wet. Just buy a footprint.

This season I'm comparing two double-wall 2P tents with double doors: the Copper Spur UL from Big Agnes and the Nemo Hornet. I'll let you know how it goes.

S-Clips

S-clips. You need 'em in camp.

This is what turns your vestibule into a closet, your privy into a bathroom, your cook station into a kitchen. S-clips let you hang your lamps and light your tent from above. S-clips civilize your trek. They're just the right size and weight when carabiners are too big and bulky.

The next improvement will be an S-clip with a key lock like the gate on a Petzl carabiner, instead of a notch that catches on hang loops and jackets.

Gearline Organizer by Nite-Ize

In the meantime, Nite-Ize makes a great assortment, including this s-clipped daisy chain. It's great for sitting out storms when you didn't bring a gear loft for your solo tent.

I use S-clips at home in the laundry room, too. Good value.

Glamping lantern

Every once in a while, a simple innovation makes all the difference in base camp comfort.

Take the Luma, Kelty's lantern that does everything you ask it to do in camp. Its dual arrays swivel and pivot like arms, throwing the light just where you want it. There's nothing fussy about the controls, which you can easily operate with gloves on. This lantern is really bright--and fully adjustable. It stands sturdy on its base to work well as a cooking and reading lamp; it hangs in your tent, too. It folds up smartly and packs down fairly small.

With one on a picnic table and four hanging from the corners of your screen house, you've just transformed another dark night in camp into a party with designer lighting.

What other uses have you found for the Luma?

Most Liveable Tent

I used to be the only mum I knew who’d spend a month living out of a tent. Times’ a changin’.

More of my friends are shipping out to foreign ports (domestic ones too) to recharge and restore themselves in retreat. And more of them are being asked to bring a tent.

So which one works?

The Kingdom 4 by REI. 

I’ve logged 50 nights or so in this one, and it has been the most liveable tent I’ve ever owned.

They make a larger version that “sleeps six.” That’s code for a tad more room for you and your companion. It sounded appealing until I realized that the four-person footprint maxes out the space for most NPS tent platforms.

 What makes this one so liveable, above and beyond all the others?

• Medium-sized people can stand up and walk around inside this tent 
• Bright and spacious with great air circulation 
• Bedroom and sitting room are divided by a curtain 
• Nice décor and ample, well designed storage 
• Numerous “ceiling hooks” for hanging lanterns or clothes 
• Roll-up panels on the rainfly reveal floor-to-ceiling mesh windows and front door; roll them down for privacy and warmth 
• Two big doors, front and back, each accessible from left or right, with covered storage outside the back door 
• Cook and eat on rainy days inside the front door, in the foyer-size vestibule 

Very civilized setup.

Even though it isn’t cut or made to the bomber specs of alpine tents, the Kingdom 4 holds up well in heavy gusts. Battens down dry in rainstorms. The fabric quality is good, if not great; the mosquito netting is even better. With two huge windows, one in each room, you definitely feel the cold. But on hot buggy days you couldn’t wish for a breezier hideout.

And it even has that luxury feature every base camp needs: 3M reflectors on the fly, so you can find it when you’re returning home at night with your headlamp on.

Fully deployed at a summer campsite

To get all this functionality, you need to pay attention to details. Buy the vestibule. Buy the footprint. Stake it out at every point, and add guy-lines. It sets up easily, even for one person. Turning it into a home will take the better part of a morning or afternoon on arrival in camp. I block out two hours to strike this camp, too.

If you long for a flush toilet and running water on your getaway, and if your approach allows for driving, you’ll prefer glamping.

The whole scene has come so far in the US over the past few years that we’re nearly European. Check out these four-star trailer interiors on Pinterest.

A railway sleeper car converted into a house. A schoolbus converted into a mobile home. Teak paneled Airstream travel trailers with cozy twin bedrooms handsomer than a ship’s cabin. Tonke campers for flatbed trucks. Eggs, teardrops and Serro-Scottys with beds, galleys and built-in storage. It’s endless. Talk about liveability.

But I can see why people need to spend a month chanting in an Ashram after paying these glamping bills.

Oh, James, behave!

Next you’ll be towing your travel trailer with your Porsche two-seater, the way they do in the Tyrol near Ehrwald, at the foot of the Zugspitze.

And you’ll be catching my eye, of course. But that’s another story.

My Favorite Tent for Two

My favorite 2-person double wall tent of all time... What's yours?

See if you can get your hands on a pristine Room with a View by Mountain Hardware, shown here on a sea kayaking deployment in semi-privacy mode. Love the two weather windows!

Mine's still like new after 15-plus years and more than 60 nights out in all 4 seasons. (I stopped counting.)

Hard to spend a happier night in any other tent. Solo, it's a palace. À deux, a cosy nook. More storage than Carrie's closet in Sex in the City.

Heavy, at like 6 lbs dry with the footprint and the gear loft, but worth every ounce.

Breezy in hot weather. Gets you through bad weather days relaxed and in style.

Tent Tips: Store your tent clean after every use. I've taken to washing mine in a front-loading washer on the "hand wash" setting using Sportwash detergent. Air dry.

Never store a tent in its stuff sack. Ever. Fold it loosely and put it on a shelf out of direct sunlight.

Before you use it the next time, reproof the fly with Tectron spray and let it dry fully before you pack for the trip.

Never fold a tent for travel. Tents aren't like sails. The creases that come from folding it over and over will produce weaknesses in the fabric. So don't fold your tent. Stuff it.