High Sierra Topix

I'll put in a plug for Tarptent as well. I had been using a Sierra Lightning as my 1 person tent for a few years but needed to shed some weight and bought the Tarptent Rainbow. I absolutely love my Tarptent it's incredibly spacious and durable and set up is really easy after the first time or two. I am such a fan of my Tarptent that I am thinking about buying the Tarptent Squall for 2 this year and retiring my old REI half dome.

I'd recommend any tarp or tarp tent for the summer in the sierra's. Easy way to shed 3 or 4 pounds.

I've been happy with the Stephenson Warmlite. Roomy, 9'X5', weighs 3 lbs and held up in snow storms. It blew down once while I was hiking, only cuz I didn't have it staked. Not free standing, but most of the time I use only 3 stakes (out of 7).

I used to hike without any form of shelter other than a poncho, mostly in Corsica in Europe (similar to the Sierra climate). However, after a few uncomfortable nights, you begin to see the values of a tent.

I've hiked the Sierras several times with a 1980s model of the Sierra Designs Meteor Light - tight for 3 people, but we managed, and it was about 2.5lbs per head.

A few years ago I got a 2003 model of the Meteor Light because the poles on the old one failed. It is no larger, just as hard to set up, and weighs a whopping 2800g for less space. It was tight for me and two 10-year-olds last year.

This year I'm taking a rather expenisve Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 - but the tent weighs just 1800g while being a full 3-person footprint long enough for my 6'2" size, plus large vestibules. REI has a similar super-light tent that was too short for me but would fit you. It's cheaper, and they make a 2 person version of it as well (REI Quarter Dome T2 or T3)

I never tried tarp tents, as they seem to be a compromise between a bivvy sack and a real tent. If I go for the comfort deal, I like free standing tents that go up fast - saved our hides last year on Donohue Pass, where brutal weather surprised us at 11,000 feet. We were getting soaked and cold, and it became clear we had to pitch the tent in the storm, right where we were, on a switchback on the trail just north of the pass. With a self-standing design, it takes 2 minutes and you have a shelter.

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I appreciate it.

Lots of love for our MSR Hubba Hubba. good living conditions for 2 people. I especially like having 2 doors and vestibules. It is a bit finicky to get guyed out tight in storm, but it can be done. That said I've been itching to get a new 2 person, 3 season tent and the tarpent double rainbow is my top candidate right now

Best tent I ever owned for 2 people was a Moss Solus II. One pole that went end to end and a design that allowed fly and tent body to use the same 6 tent pegs (or rocks if you tied some pc to the peg loops) It was an automatic set up with no tweaking unless you wanted to do something fancy with the fly to maximize airflow for an afternoon siesta on a layover day. finally just wore out after 20 seasons. I contacted MSR (bought out Moss) and suggested that they revive the Solus II with new ultralight fabric. The old version was 41/2 lbs. By todays standard the big weakness is no vestibule. But the fly extends out enough to stash your boots. And I always stash my pack away from the tent inside a garbage bag anyway.

Currently using Contrail Tarptent for solo trips 11/2 lbs. and Big Agnes Seedhouse SL3 for trips with my honey. (Just found out that it is big enough for 2 Exped large delux downmats, just purchased).
SL3 is about 41/2 lbs and has a little more floor space than the Solus II but is more complex and takes more time to set up.

Mike

ps. Eric, How come my posts are always in bold?

Mike, can you weigh in on the Contrail? I'm very interested in getting one- have you ever had condensation problems? Does it set up quickly when you're being harassed by skeeters? Does it keep them out?
p.s. your posts don't appear in bold on my screen

trav867 wrote:p.s. your posts don't appear in bold on my screen

Same here. Top right of the screen where your "Logout [ oldranger ]" link is, you should see an icon consisting of the letter 'A' with up and down arrows on either side. Click on that a few times and see if that helps. If not, let's move our side discussion to the Technical problems forum to work on it.

Trav,

Look at my post on ultra light solo tent thread just above this thread.

Mike