Saturday, July 28, 2012

Help! My Favorite Tent wants to Retire

I Love My Tent!
I Need Your Help!

My Mountain Hardware Tri-Light 1
snuggled up against the wind shelter on San Miguel Island
Constant daily wind speed for 3 days was 45mph with gusts ranging from 60-75mph

Can you help me?
I need a tent that provided everything this one did

Do you have any suggestions for a tent that fulfills all my needs?
Free-standing
(will not compromise on this!)
Super light
(2lbs or lighter)
Easy to pitch in 45-70mph winds
Can withstand relentless rain, hail, and wind, all at once
Can handle mice climbing up the tent body and the fly for 3 nights without showing signs of damage.
Comfortable with the rain fly and without
Fly has a skylight or window so I can look at the stars on chilly evenings
Great ventilation

If you have any suggestions for a tent
(that can live up to my Mountain Hardware Tri-Light 1)
or if you would like to share a picture of your favorite ten and a few reasons why you love it, please post your suggestions and pics on my Facebook page.
:)


I realized it may be time I let my favorite tent retire
It's finally begun to show some deterioration.

No place I would have rather been on the drizzly morning of my 40th birthday, then here, inside my 12 year old Mountain Hardware Tri-Light 1, on Santa Cruz Island.
The best part of this view:
knowing my husband is snug in my 12 year Mountain Hardware Thru Hiker.


This tent has been the best investment ever!
I've had it since 2000!
It has survived epic storms on the NaPali Coast
My first Back Packing Trip
and the first trip to put this amazing Mountain Hardware Tri-Light 1 to the test!
Getting ready to wait out another storm with wind gusts of 70+mph
at the 8 mile plateau on the NaPali Coast


It has endured countless adventures in Joshua Tree National Park
It has been a comfort on 12 degree nights as well as been comfortable on summer evenings when it didnt get any lower than the mid 70s.

It has endured 6 weeks in Tasmania
which included several days and nights of crazy winds at Whitewater Wall and on Maria Island, and 5 nights of endless rain along the Tasman Sea.

It has provided the best mosquito and other biting-bug protection
It has protected me during many scampers down the cliffs along the Big Sur coast to slumbers on the sand.
It has protected me from relentless flys and other biting flying critters while on Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island in Canada.

It has sheltered me from relentless monsoonal hail storms, rain, and wind
During a crazy storm in White Sands National Park, it really proved its worth! I was able to set it up during a crazy freak storm while getting pelted by golf ball sized hail, and being thrashed by unforgiving wind.

It has been on each Island in the Channel Islands countless times
It has withstood 5 days and four nights of crazy wind and rain
on San Miguel Island.
It has endured the wind on several trips on Santa Rosa Island.
It provided the perfect playground for silly mice that enjoyed climbing to the top and sliding down the sides of it on Santa Barbara Island.
It has given me such comfort while back country camping on Santa Rosa Island.
It has provided enough shelter from biting bugs while also allowing me the perfect view of the evening stars.

The Footprint, Rain fly, and Poles
joined me in the Grand Canyon 2 weeks ago!
I was supposed to send the poles back to Mountain Hardware to get re-strung...the people at Mountain Hardware have been amazing! They will replace/re-string my poles for free, but I couldn't pass up a last minute block of time to head to the Grand Canyon!
Since it was over 107 degrees when I got to the bottom at 9am, I decided to not bother with putting up the tent. The fly came in handy when a random, yet very welcome thunderstorm settled in for over an hour.
Nothing says "sexy"
like being wrapped in my Mountain Hardware Tri-Light 1 Rainfly during  a random thunderstorm at the bottom of the Grand Canyon!
You can see more pics of the Grand Canyon Trip Here


Thanks ya'll for reading and for any suggestions!
-Melissa Adylia Calasanz
:)