High Sierra Topix

Also following this post closely, as our various tents have zippers blown-- North face, or destroyed inner tent-- BA Fly Creek. We too have found the Big Agnes Fly Creek tents problematic overall-- Difficult set up, flimzy zippers, brittle material, and the WTF! sticking together fly material. No one has mentioned this, but both Carleton and I have experienced this sticking fly problem. Is it the material, or us putting away the fly when still slightly wet-- which is unavoidable in certain conditions.
mschnaldt, you make a compelling case for the Tarptent Moment Doublewall; is that a single, or two-person@34 oz.? Thanks all for the info.

My previous Tarp Tent was the original Moment, single wall. I prefer it to the Notch. However, free standing tents can be pick up and moved around easily which is handy to move it out into the sun if you need to dry it in the morning. I have never been able to look at ground and tell which is uphill or downhill and often end up on a sidehill.

Both on the Moment and the Notch I had to sew in new zippers when the originals broke. Copper Spur too. I even tried new zipper pulls- and that did not work. My older mountaineering tents had good zippers and I now use them as car-camping tents. Regardless of brand, silicon nylon stretches a lot when wet. When wet means in a storm, and that is exactly when you do not want to go outside to tighten ties. I do not know why they just do not put slightly larger zippers in the first place. It likely would not add more than a few ounces. The stupid "game" all tent manufacturers play to compete in tent weight, is annoying. Or making a 2-person tent so small that you basically have to sleep on top of someone.

Harlen, I think you would do fine with the Moment, but there are other tents of that weight that may be equally good that are free-standing. MSR tents are a bit heavier, but some are made of slightly sturdier material.

Wandering Daisy wrote:

Harlen, I think you would do fine with the Moment, but there are other tents of that weight that may be equally good that are free-standing. MSR tents are a bit heavier, but some are made of slightly sturdier material.

Yes, but I have looked at it now, and though I like it's versatility and design it is, in fact, just a single person. Lizzie and I, and usually 2 dogs need to be housed. I will continue to look for the best, lightest, self-standing two person tent. MSR next. Thanks.

Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 11:45 am My previous Tarp Tent was the original Moment, single wall. I prefer it to the Notch. However, free standing tents can be pick up and moved around easily which is handy to move it out into the sun if you need to dry it in the morning. I have never been able to look at ground and tell which is uphill or downhill and often end up on a sidehill.

Both on the Moment and the Notch I had to sew in new zippers when the originals broke. Copper Spur too. I even tried new zipper pulls- and that did not work. My older mountaineering tents had good zippers and I now use them as car-camping tents. Regardless of brand, silicon nylon stretches a lot when wet. When wet means in a storm, and that is exactly when you do not want to go outside to tighten ties. I do not know why they just do not put slightly larger zippers in the first place. It likely would not add more than a few ounces. The stupid "game" all tent manufacturers play to compete in tent weight, is annoying. Or making a 2-person tent so small that you basically have to sleep on top of someone.

Harlen, I think you would do fine with the Moment, but there are other tents of that weight that may be equally good that are free-standing. MSR tents are a bit heavier, but some are made of slightly sturdier material.

Hi Daisy, The Moment DW can be freestanding with the optional crossing pole. The pole adds 8 oz though making the tent a little heavy.

Harlen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 12:03 pm Wandering Daisy wrote:

Harlen, I think you would do fine with the Moment, but there are other tents of that weight that may be equally good that are free-standing. MSR tents are a bit heavier, but some are made of slightly sturdier material.

Yes, but I have looked at it now, and though I like it's versatility and design it is, in fact, just a single person. Lizzie and I, and usually 2 dogs need to be housed. I will continue to look for the best, lightest, self-standing two person tent. MSR next. Thanks.

Hi Harlan, check out Tarptent's Triple Rainbow. It's 3 pounds with plenty of room. https://www.tarptent.com/product/triple ... /#tab-id-2

And no, I am not affiliated with Tarptent. I just like their tents...

mschnaidt, I checked it out, and the extra area would be great, however, in my quest for a lighter pack I am keen on the versions of their 2-person tents: the "Double Rainbow," and the "Double Rainbow DW." Have you any experience with these? I am leaning toward the slightly heavier, but double- walled DW, still only 41 oz. The Triple RainbowDW" is just about 7 oz heavier-- do you think I'm lame (or weak) to care about the 7 oz difference?

We were recently pressed against the sides of our current, tight, BA Fly Cr. tent, and our bags got pretty wet. That's pretty luxury room in the Triple. Costs $100 more though. Thanks a lot, we are getting ready to pull the trigger on one of these Tarptents you are selling.... we will hold you responsible for any future Tarptent problems mschnaidt, where do you live? Did you have them do your seamsealing, or do it yourself? Thanks, Ian.

Harlen, have separate bags for tent, fly, poles and stakes and the dogs can carry their share of the tent! Then you do not have to worry so much about weight. If you are heading towards more "base-camps" and less long mile days, which may be due to everyone's aging, including the dogs, then I would not worry about a slightly heavier tent.

Have you considered a one-pole tepee type tent? NOLS uses the Black Diamond Mega-Mid with 4 people per tent. They are bombproof. I think Black Diamond also has a light-weight version for a bit more $$. A removable bug-inner can be used during mosquito season. I think there are other brands of similar tents. You know more than me about this, but an open floor tent is often used in winter. The steep slope design is also considered a 4-season feature that sluffs off snow.

The Tarptent Preamble based on the Henry's original tent but with updated materials and design.

Tents are a pain and I have more than my fair share of tarps, double wall, single wall, free standing etc to prove it. Bought this Tarptent when they first came out a couple of years ago based on my quirky likes and dislikes that I have developed from years of buying tents. It is reasonable priced, made in the USA, floorless, simple architecture and best of all, no inner tent. The mesh skirting and doors handles the bugs.

My latest idea was to always have a tent in my pack but only set it up if rain and/or bugs threatened. Being over 70 years now, getting in and out of a backpacking tent is literally a painful exercise. It's much easier for me to cowboy camp, just roll out of the bag then stand up, no privacy needed.

But alas, you still need to be prepared so a good tent is always in my pack, a simple tarp is just too risky for alpine zone weather.

On my last trip it rained every day and the mosquitos were relentless but this tent handled it. It didn't even flap in the windy conditions. The one thing I did experience was misting inside the tent during heavy rains but it never became an issue. Most folks hated the purple color but I found it very pleasing and relaxing when in the tent. Not seeing that as an option anymore.
The front panel and mesh doors are zippered, the back panels are not. I read about zipper failures but never have had any on my tents. It does take up a lot of real estate to get a good pitch so can't say for sure how it would be in tight spots but guessing a good freestanding tent has the advantage on that. Speaking of freestanding, check out the Slingfin Portal Tents.

I have not been happy with the elastic cord used in our Big Agnes Copper Spur tents. I found the cord stretched out after only about 5-6 years. I had to replace the cord to make the tent usable.

I used a pair of ZPack Triplex tents on our last trip but my son brought the Copper Spur. I was glad I did a test setup before my son took the tent on the trip. I had some replacement cord at home so I was able to correct the problem at the last minute.

I have had a tarptent double rainbow for several years and think really highly of the design overall. Hybrid single wall but I've never really had condensation issues with it- it's easy enough to pitch with one vestibule high and that makes it vent really well.

It works dandy with two people provided you are well acquainted.

The dcf version at 28oz (including pole, lines, stakes) is an incredible size/weight option. And if you bring trekking poles it can be setup freestanding in a hurry - but even the standard pitch is pretty reliable and I've never had an issue .


I'm personally looking to grab a single rainbow LI (dcf) for solo use - it's still decently large but drops to just , 24oz - and since I'm not a trekking poles user it is weight competitive for my application with trekking pole tents.