Gear cabinet spring cleansing. A mix of culling, gifting, tidying, reminiscing, donating, restoring, “yeah-no, yeah-no……I’ll decide on that one later,” and extra reminiscing.
During a current shakeup, among the many dusty MSR Whisperlite Stoves, indestructible Thermarest CCF mats, bombproof Macpac Pursuit backpacks, and satirically named Northface Superlight Sleeping Bag (it tipped the scales at a goose feather below 2 kg/4.4 lbs), I got here throughout my first ever Tarptent shelter, the Squall.
One of my all-time favourite items of drugs, I picked up the Squall in late 2003. Weighing in at simply over two kilos (1 kg), this traditional two-person tent accompanied me on many far-flung journeys for the rest of the 2000s. It encapsulated the 5 qualities I’ve all the time appeared for in my backpacking gear: simplicity, performance, sturdiness, light-weight, and worth for cash.
Since these days, I’ve carried different Tarptent fashions on a variety of adventures, and alongside some equally worthy tarps and Mids from Mountain Laurel Designs, they’ve been a mainstay of my backpacking package on every thing from mellow overnighters to difficult multi-month thru-hikes.
Here are a few of my favourite Tarptent photographs from the previous twenty years.
Tarptent Squall – Cotopaxi Circuit, Ecuador, 2004.
Tarptent Squall – Camped on a misty Chiu Pass (5,224 m/17,139 ft), Ganden to Samye Monastery Trek, Tibet, 2006 (Featured in Wanderlust Himalaya).
Tarptent Squall – Erg Chebbi, Sahara Desert, Morocco, 2008.
Tarptent Squall – Overlooking Barphu Glacier – Rush Phari Trek, Karakoram Range, Pakistan, 2008.
Tarptent Squall – Jotunheimen Traverse, Norway 2009 (Featured in Wanderlust Nordics).
Tarptent Squall – Altai Tavan Bogd, Western Mongolia, 2009
Tarptent Squall – GR20, Corsica, 2009 (Featured in Wanderlust Mediterranean)
Tarptent Contrail (Discontinued) – Cape to Cape Track, Western Australia, 2010.
Prototype Testing – ProfessionalTrail & Aeon Li
After utilizing Tarptent shelters for a decade, I had the pleasure of assembly Henry Shires – founder and co-owner of Tarptent – in individual at PCT Kickoff (Lake Morena, CA) in 2014. In subsequent years, I examined a few Tarptent’s one-person shelters – particularly the ProfessionalTrail (2014) and Aeon Li (2018/19). After many hikes in a various vary of environments, each tents are nonetheless going robust.
Tarptent ProfessionalTrail meets “Dark Side of the Moon” | Cordillera Blanca Traverse, Peru, 2014.
Tarptent ProfessionalTrail – Cordillera Blanca Traverse, Peru, 2014.
Tarptent ProfessionalTrail | Cocuy Circuit, Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia, 2015.
Tarptent ProfessionalTrail – Arthurs Range Traverse, Tasmania, 2015 (w. MLD SoloMid within the backside proper)(Featured in Wanderlust: Hiking on Legendary Trails).
Tarptent Aeon Li – Australian Alpine Track, NSW & VIC, Australia, 2019
Tarptent Aeon Li – Alta Via 2, Dolomites, Italy, 2019.
Tarptent Stratospire 2
In preparation for an prolonged journey to Iceland and the Balkans area final yr, I picked up a Tarptent Stratospire 2 (“Silpoly” mannequin). Given the contrasting environments that we’d be experiencing, I used to be searching for an “all-rounder” sort tent that was stormworthy, comfy, comparatively light-weight, packable, and worth for cash. The Stratospire 2 match the invoice and proved to be rock stable within the face of prolonged stretches of excessive winds and driving rain in the course of the Iceland portion of the journey.
Tarptent Stratospire 2 – Hornstrandir Loop, Iceland, 2023.
Tarptent Stratospire 2 – Iceland Traverse, 2023 (Featured in Wanderlust Nordics).
Tarptent Stratospire 2 – Albania, Peaks of the Balkans Trail, 2023 (Featured within the soon-to-be-released Wanderlust Mediterranean).
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