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Tents - my experience

I think that only after experiencing more than once, how easily the wind can rip and tear a tent to pieces that one realizes how important a quality tent is. And even the quality tents are torn apart: high into the vast glacier of Vatnajokull (8500 km2) one of our strong 4 season/expedition tents was completely wasted by a strong blow from the arising storm which had made us come to a stop. 

I use my old Buffalo Lasha 2, (sleep 2, 2 entrances) of 2800 grams on winter-tours and/or if the weather forecast in spring/autumn is dubious (but not bad enough to skip the tour), Big Agnes Lone Spring 2 (sleep 2, 2 entrances), 2000 g is roomy enough for two, Marmot Pulsar (sleep 2, one entrance) 1520 g and my little Eureka! Spitfire 1, 1250 g. The Marmot is ideal for one as everything can then be inside the tent, as well as the cooking. (Last year (2018) was the year when the Marmot started giving in: gluing failing so the bands to tie the outer tent to the poles came off. Not good. I did some rescue- attempts, which seem to prolong the lifetime of the tent but I question the quality. I am afraid that I don´t trust Marmot tents anymore) And this really makes difference on a stormy evening with heavy rain. I made experiments with Aliexpress tents, brand NatureHike. I tried two types. The outcome is quite clear: those tents are simply rubbish. Might last camping ca. 10 nights. The zippers - or the textile of the zippers, to be exact, opens up like a fishing net and water finds its way in. In Iceland, this means that the tent is not usable.  

My little Eureka! has been with me abroad as in Iceland but recently I have been using the Marmot more. Meaning that the Marmot is now my no.1. Except when I go on my own UL backpacking tours - then my homemade Cuben-tent is the thing. That tent is a necessary part of my just-about 7 kilos burden (backpack, food, sleeping bag, mattress, cooking gear/gas, GPS, compass, knife, extra clothes and raingear included) on 4 days tours. Carrying so light actually means that I forget I have a backpack. Simple as that. 

An update: on my tour 21.-30. June (2018), tents were taken to the test in a storm of ca 30m/sec (ca. 67 miles pr hour) with sleet. Altitude close to 870 m.a.s.l., just north-east of the icecap of Langjokull glacier. Temperatures just above zero Centigrade. My little Eureka! lasted but the Big Agnes Lone Spring, the Buffalo Lasha and a 2 pers. sturdy MSR all gave in. Poles seriously bent - and these tents are not usable anymore in their state. The weather and the lack of shelter made us leave for lower grounds in the wee hours: fighting the storm while packing makes things go slowly and even if we started to pack around 3:30 in the morning, it was not until just before 5:00 in the morning that we could start walking.

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