Tents

Sorry Ghaz! = about tent ratings - I have a Bibler Ahwanhee which is rated 4 season in the USA and if I compare poles, fabric and final set up structure there is a noticeable difference in percieved strength between the 2 tents. This tent and my previous model the Fitzroy are rated for high altitude winds and have perform very well in extreme wind conditions I have encountered, where other tents have been damaged alongside us. The Fitzroy is popular among European Alpanists as a bombproof tent but I found it overkill for the Berg.

The other comparison I have is to Black Diamond and Mountain Hardwear tents I have seen that are 3 season rated in USA. These also compare favourably to the 360 design in terms of structure and materials.

My personal favourite 4 season Mt tent is the Bibler (now Black Diamond) Eldorado. It is similar to my tent in that it is single wall Goretex but .6kg lighter at 2.2kg and easily takes 2 x 6 footers.

www.outdoorwarehouse.co.za/360-degrees-cool-mountain-2-extreme-3-person-4-season-hiking-tent.html
this is what the website says:

The 360 Degrees Cool Mountain 2 Extreme 2 Person 4-Season Hiking Tent is a high quality, lightweight tent designed for extremely rainy and windy high-altitude conditions.

Dimension: 2.10 x 1.30 x 1.10 m
Fabric - Groundsheet: 210T Polyester, polyurethane coated, fire retardent
Fabric - Tent: 210T Ripstop polyester, polyurethane coated, fire retardent, UV-, fade and
Pegs: Alloy - 6mm
People: 2 Persons
Poles: Alloy - 8,5mm x 2mm
Water column - Groundsheet: 5000mm
Water column - Tent: 2000 mm
Weight: 2.9 kg

this is definitely a 2 man tent. At a width of 1.3m, there is no way its a 3 man tent!!

So Ghaz, the questio is: Have you been lugging your portion of 2.9 kg all this time thinking that it actually was 2.2kg?!!

Or is your's definitely 2.2 kg. Don't ask me how that works then

I have weighed mine, it came out as 2.4kg with the extra tent pegs I have added. Always possible my scale isn't working properly I would go and weigh it again, but half of it isn't even in KZN right now...

Other than last weekend I have only ever shared my Cool Mountain with Hobbit - never given him more than 500g of the tent.

This discussion should be divided in to two new ones. One which considers 'bombproof' tents which will survive on the north face of Everest and probably cost a bomb, and the rest, such as the Cool Mountain III/II. You have to have been 'klapped' by a good Berg cold front to know what you really need (it's the bombproof one). From the website I cannot even work out if the Cool Mountain has two poles or three or four and at 2.9 kg it is obviously one of the multitude of Chinese tents that are sold at Cape Union Mart, Outdoor Warehouse and other such places. Some third party makes all the fittings, eg. poles, clips to hook the tent on to the poles, pegs, guy lines, etc. and various manufacturers put them together and ship them all to SA. One should look at the top magazine's reviews and see what is really essential in a good 4 season tent. I manage to read Trail Magazine ( www.livefortheoutdoors.com/Gear-Reviews/ ) and Adventure Travel magazine as a friend of mine subscribes to them. It quickly becomes obvious what the differences are between a good and a bad tent. You probably won't die when you get hit by that cold front in your Cool Mountain III/II but you will probably think you are, which is worse. Bite the bullet, mortgage the farm and get the bombproof one.

Its 2 straight poles that run on the inner, and a small short pole that holds the bells up (it slots into the outer). The balance of the dome structure is maintained by the pegs on the door.

It comes with 8 pegs (4 corners, 2 for the door, 2 guy ropes). I added 4 guy ropes (it has place for 6 extras), and it has space for 12 extra pegs on the snow flaps. I usually don't worry about the snow flaps though.

With the poles being straight it does have a marginal degree of flexibility, but I have never had it in wind over 40km/h and thus haven't found at what wind speed it would start to shift in a wind.

Wish I had a farm to mortgage - my climbing gear has killed my funds

I have two tents, used on different type of trips.

First, for when my wife has joined me on escarpment or little berg multiday hikes in the past, is a K-Way Annapurna.

I can honestly say this tent is bombproof, despite the somewhat negative air surrounding K-Way tents as an inferior brand. This one survived a night of ultra high wind in the Upper Injasuthi two years ago, including a 04:00 in the morning gust that broke my neighbour's Hillebrand (was a couple of years old but still...a highly rated brand).

The Annapurna is however very heavy, and not nice to pitch. I have not had the misfortune of pitching it in bad weather (it's been close), I'm sure it will not be nice to do in bad weather.

However I believe its ability in stormwinds has to do with the snow flaps. It further has withstood some significant amounts of snow on two trips, and the tent stays relatively warm inside with only some condensation around the bathtub sides.

I further have a K-Way Nerolite 3-person tent for my solo trips. Super easy to pitch (compared to the Annapurna), spacious, but on very cold nights (like last week at Goldengate when the night temperature dropped to -10 deg C, some ice crystals formed on the inside. Everywhere. I was not there later the morning when it probably melted, so no real idea how wet it got inside. This is something we have never experienced with the Annapurna, despite having -16 deg C one night above Giants Castle pass.

Despite minor critisism on both tents I can recommend them (I do however believe the Annapurna model has been superseded).

Ok - not exactly tents, but anyone got some advice about bivy bags?

I am looking specifically at either:
- MSR E-Bivvy R1 325 (www.mountainmailorder.co.za/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=2003)
- BLACK DIAMOND TWILIGHT BIVY R1 800 (www.mountainmailorder.co.za/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1967)

Anybody have any experience with either of these?

Reasons to go for one over the other?

I am tending toward the MSR party because it is slightly lighter (and mostly because its much lighter on the pocket).

Thanks in advance