Category Archives: Tents

1980’s Chouinard Pyramid Tent

Unhappy with the Sierra Design’s Flashlight as a winter tent in snow I purchased a Chouinard Pyramid tent in 1985. Unable to afford a true 4 season double-walled tent, the Chouinard appealed to me because of its

Price
Light weight (2 lbs 9 oz without poles and stakes)
Stability in poor weather
Large interior area

What did not appeal to me after using it was

Condensation in cold weather
A pole in the middle that forced me to sleep on either side

But I used it for many years on many trips. However on most 3 season trips I reverted to my tried and true tarp, which was lighter and could be pitched in many configurations.

Today many ultralight shelters use a pyramid or modified pyramid shape, and with newer lightweight materials are super light and stable.

1960’s REI A-Frame Tent

Backpacking Gear, Shelters, Tents

When it comes to shelters, I am tarp guy. I first learned about tarps in 1969 in USAF survival training, where we learned to construct shelters out of parachutes and ponchos.
In high school I bought a used REI A-frame tent at a swap meet. It is made from nylon and being ‘single-walled’ it is not great in snow and generates a lot of condensation. It’s not that good in wind compared to other designs, but it never collapsed, even in strong winds — but there is a lot of movement on the side panels. Compared to other A-frame shelters I have seen it is very stable for an A-Frame. But then it is over 50 years old. Also it is heavy at 5.5 lbs.

STUFF SACK

POLES AND STAKES

1960's REI A-frame Tent (poles & stakes) — Poles and Stakes

The shelter has 4 telescoping poles. When each pole is pulled apart, sections are flipped end-to-end and can be snuggly connected making a 59″ pole. Two poles slide into sleeves at each end of the tent forming an inverted “V.”

Pole Specifications

Each pole weights 7 5/8 ounces (216 grams)
Length of each pole assembled is 59 inches (150 cm)
Outer diameter of pole sections (larges to smallest)
- 5/8″ (15.95 mm)
- 1/2″ (12.60 mm)
- 3/8″ (9.48 mm)
- 1/4″ (6.30 mm)
The wall thickness of all poles is 1/16″ (1.50 mm)

1960's REI A-Frame Tent — Apex of tent poles (2 at each end of the tent)

1960's REI A-Frame Tent Poles — Apex of tent poles (side view)

FRONT VIEWS

1960's REI A-frame Tent (front view) — In this picture I just used my hiking staff as a single front pole (outside of the sleeve) and one of the included tent poles at the rear (outside of the sleeve). This way I could save 1.5 pounds of weight by leaving 3 poles at home — yes even in the old days we tried to par down our weight 🙂

1960's REI A-Frame Tent Door Zippers — Junction of the 3 zippers for the front door

1960's REI A-frame Tent Zipper — Front door metal zippers are very robust

1960's REI A-frame Tent Mesh Zipper — About 4 years ago I had to replace the zipper for the front mesh door. I can’t remember if the original was metal or nylon, but the new on is nylon.

REAR VIEW

1960's REI A-frame Tent (rea view) — In this picture I just used one pole at the rear (outside of the sleeve) and my hiking staff for the front pole. This way I could save 1.5 pounds of weight by leaving 3 poles at home — yes even in the old days we tried to par down our weight 🙂 Note the rear vent.

SIDE VIEW

zPacks Hexamid Solo Shelter

Backpacking Gear, Shelters, TentszPacks Hexamid

The zPacks Hexamid has become my go to 3 season shelter. It sheds wind well and shelters against rain as along is it is set-up with the back to the wind, which I always seem to do. My Hexamid is made from lightweight .51 Cuben Tech fiber and with guy lines only weighs 3.63 ounces (103 grams). Most people use a trekking pole to set it up. Since I rarely take trekking poles these days, I purchased and carbon fiber tent pole from zPacks, which weighs 1.16 ounces (33 grams).

After my first trips with the Hexamid, I became wary of the pole. It had more bend to it than I liked and during a windstorm found that it was flexing quite a bit. I purchased a new carbon fiber pole from Ruta Locura, which is .450 inches thick (versus .293″ for the zPacks pole) and weighs 2.76 ounces (78 grams) versus 1.16 for the zPacks pole.

The Hexamid is a 6-sided pyramid. This means there is only one way to set it up. With a little practice it can be set up in about a minute. Some folks add line-locks to adjust the guy line length, but I use fixed length guys.

Being used to using tarps as shelters, the Hexamid is perfect for me. For those who are “tent people” the following options are available for zPacks:

Inner net
Doors
Beak
Groundsheet or Poncho/Groundsheet

There is plenty of headroom and living space. Notice the bathtub floor. This is a zPacks Poncho/Groundsheet. Also notice the full size NeoAir sleeping mat.