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The night my new ultralight tent decided to become a kite
I was testing a fancy new single-person tent on a ridge in the White Mountains last fall, a spot I've camped at a dozen times. The wind picked up around midnight, and I woke up because my face was getting wet. The whole tent was bending over me, the poles flexing like crazy, and then one corner just lifted off the ground. I had to scramble out in my boxers and sit on the tent flap with my whole pack on top of it for like an hour while the storm blew through. The tent itself was fine, but the stakes it came with were these tiny little things that just pulled right out of the soft ground. I ended up tying the guy lines to some big rocks. Has anyone else had a tent try to fly away, and what do you actually look for in good stakes for windy places?
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shane1655mo ago
My buddy had his whole shelter collapse on him in a gust, turned out those thin wire stakes just folded. I swear by those big Y-beam stakes now for anything above a breeze.
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the_leo5mo ago
Yeah, I saw a video where those wire stakes just bent like nothing.
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brooke_murray2mo ago
Wait, are we talking about those thin wire stakes that come with most budget tents? @the_leo you're not wrong that they bend easy, but I gotta push back a little. The real problem isn't that they're wire - it's that they're usually cheap steel or aluminum that's way too soft. I've used good quality 12-gauge steel wire stakes for years in hard ground and they hold up way better than those flimsy stamped Y-beams people swear by. The Y-beams can snap at the notch if you hit a rock or root, but a solid wire stake just flexes and stays put. Just make sure you're buying from a real outdoor gear company, not the junk that comes in a $30 tent bundle. You ever try those orange MSR Groundhog stakes @the_leo? Those are basically upgraded wire stakes and they're tough as hell.
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