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Backpacking Light – Lower Your Shelter Weight
By Hikerpro | June 23, 2009
Backpacking light is now easier and more popular than ever. It seems that the less you carry without sacrificing the essentials, the more you enjoy backpacking. You feel free, unburdened, and close to nature. Choosing a lightweight shelter is a great way to lighten your backpack.
While a tent can be shared with a partner to reduce weight, there are also lightweight options for the tent itself. The weight of the tent can be split between the two of you. One carry some some parts and the other carry the rest.. However there are now more options for lightweight two person tents and older models simply don’t qualify as ultraweight anymore.
Tents that are too heavy are still produced even today. They usually make them out of cheaper and heavier material. Taking good care of your tent will make it last for many years. In the field of ultralight tents, specialty tent makers still outperform mainstream manufacturers.
With the introduction of ultralight silicone-injected nylon, 2 person shelters are now weighing as little as two pounds. One-person tents are less than two pounds. It’s not just the fabrics that got lighter. Poles went from aluminum to ultralight carbon fiber. A 45″ tent pole can now weigh less than two ounces. You can also use trekking poles are tent poles to save weight. This means that you don’t need to even carry tent poles anymore. To reduce the weight of the tent even further titanium stakes are used instead of aluminum ones.
If you want to really go ultralight why not take a tarp instead and save a lot more weight. It protects you from light rain if you set it up correctly but it’s also a good way to feel closer to nature. Poncho tarps double as rain gear if you want to go a bit further. To save on the total weight of gear use stuff that are multifunctional. If you like sleeping under a tarp, but want some extra rain protection, a lightweight bivvy or sleeping bag cover can be as light as six to seven ounces. Use a ground cloth to protect yourself from getting wet as a result of rain water on the ground.
If you need mosquito protection, use an insect repellent or a mosquito net. If the head net is too confining, a square yard of no-see-um netting is only about an ounce, and you can configure it in a number of ways to stay away from your face.
Bug bivvies are ideal if insects are your problem without having worry about weather too much.
Most ultralight tents are not freestanding like your old dome shelter. But they are easy to set up. The really light tents don’t have a separate fly, so that’s one less thing to set up. Instead the tents rely on well-designed ventilation on all sides.
If you sometimes hike solo, consider the advantages of having a separate ultralight one-person shelter for those times you go alone. Since there won’t be anyone to share the burden with, you would want your tent to be as light as possible. If you want one tent to cover all bases, the lightest of the two-person shelters provides a way to pack lighter whether you’re going alone or with a partner.
Look closely at all the new options for ultralight shelters. See which ones have the features to fit your needs.
An ultralight tent doesn’t necessarily sacrifice comfort and you can have comfort both comfort at camp and while hiking with the right kind of tent.
Topics: Hiking & Backpacking Knowledge | No Comments »