For our PCT LASH, we are planning to use a 4 person mid to shelter the four of us.

A key to our shelter configuration is using our trekking poles as tent poles, and arranging them so we can maximize our floor space in the tent.

The first attempt

When I first test pitched the tent and planned out the pole configuration I came up with the following:

• Two trekking poles (adjustable carbon poles)
• Strap handles together with nano straps and loop some cord through the wrist strap hole
• Trekking pole tips out – one on the ground and one up in the peak of the tent
• Shift the bottom of the trekking pole out about 12-16 inches from centre to give more space for the four of us in the tent in our 3/4 floor

I test pitched a few times in our apartment common lawn, and it seemed alright in this configuration. I did notice that shifting the trekking pole from the centre causes the tent to tilt backwards and can make the pitch more challenging, but I thought I could manage.

At some point I had 3D printed some couplers. The two poles strapped together would tilt and rotate apart when at an angle, and that caused issues with stability and the pitch. So I added weight to my system and made couplers to keep the trekking pole axis along the same plane.

After some of our shakedown camping trips, I realized that:

• strapping the poles together takes too long. It’s hard to juggle everything in your hands with kids in the background in the rain or snow wanting to get inside
• The pitch is more sensitive to the pole angle than I anticipated

Alternative

The alternative that I came up with is obvious – but works well because we use kids poles (Black Diamond First Strike) that can adjust quite short. I could only do this configuration with at least one pole set that can adjust down to 1/2 or 3/4 length (maybe 80 cm) – two adult poles strapped together this way would be too long for this configuration.

• Use one adult pole (can be fixed length) and one kids pole
• Use a Tricer Tipi Adapter to couple the tips together
  • I 3D printed a sleeve to fit the adapter collet to the kids pole – the pole tip is smaller than the Tricer Adapter so needed a sleeve to fit.
• Repeat with the other two poles (one adult pole + one kids pole)
• Adjust the kids poles to the shortest length (already done – a 4 year old uses them) and hold the poles so those are on the top
  • Do this because the length required is less than two adult poles together. It’s one adult pole and one kids pole partially extended.
• Make an A under the tent and extend the kids poles until the tent is pitched
• Since the bottom of the poles are angled outwards a cord that ties the two ends together is needed to keep them from spreading apart

I tested this out again in our common lawn.

I didn’t have a cord to tie the pole ends together so I used tent pegs to keep them in place. I have since made this (two small bags connected with a cord connected with cord locks for adjustment) and the total mass is less than 16 grams.

When I tested the pitch with the configuration, I only had one of the 3D printed sleeves made. The second pole (the one closest to the person taking the photo below) has some masking tape to adapt the collet to the First Strike pole tips. This caused the interface between the collet and the pole to be a bit wobbly – but will be resolved now that I have two of the sleeves made.

Our Black Diamond poles broke so I have ordered replacement poles (Durston Iceline) to replace them. I expect the new poles to be more rigid. The Black Diamond poles would have likely worked but the Iceline poles should be better – the BD poles were a little flexy but the tent felt solid.

Here is a diagram of both systems

Conclusions

Using the Tricer Tipi Adapter is very fast and quite stable. It only adds around 50 grams from the previous system but adds significant value with poles at an angle like this. If I just had one centre support that was exactly vertical my original system with nano straps would have worked without extra parts – it’s the tilting of the pole that causes the issue with the pitch.

If one pole breaks I can still pitch the tent with the two poles coupled together and offset at an angle like I originally planned but with a Tricer Tipi Adapter to connect them. So this configuration still has some redundancy.