Twenty Years of Backpacking Adventures with Tarptent

Gear cabinet spring cleansing. A mix of culling, gifting, tidying, reminiscing, donating, restoring, “yeah-no, yeah-no……I’ll determine on that one later,” and extra reminiscing.

Throughout a latest 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 underneath 2 kg/4.4 lbs), I got here throughout my first ever Tarptent shelter, the Squall.

One in every of my all-time favourite items of substances, 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 at all times 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 all the things from mellow overnighters to difficult multi-month thru-hikes.

Listed below are a few of my favourite Tarptent pictures from the previous twenty years.

Tarptent Squall – Camped on a misty Chiu Move (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 Vary, 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 Observe, Western Australia, 2010.

Prototype Testing – ProTrail & 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 – specifically the ProTrail (2014) and Aeon Li (2018/19). After many hikes in a various vary of environments, each tents are nonetheless going sturdy.

Tarptent ProTrail meets “Darkish Aspect of the Moon” | Cordillera Blanca Traverse, Peru, 2014.

Tarptent ProTrail – Cordillera Blanca Traverse, Peru, 2014.

Tarptent ProTrail | Cocuy Circuit, Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia, 2015.

Tarptent ProTrail – Arthurs Vary Traverse, Tasmania, 2015 (w. MLD SoloMid within the backside proper)(Featured in Wanderlust: Climbing on Legendary Trails).

Tarptent Aeon Li – Australian Alpine Observe, NSW & VIC, Australia, 2019

Tarptent Aeon Li – Alta Through 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 on the lookout 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 throughout 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 Path, 2023 (Featured within the soon-to-be-released Wanderlust Mediterranean).

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