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My tent pole snapped on a windy night in the White Mountains
I was up near Franconia Ridge last weekend, and a gust came through around 2 AM that sounded like a freight train. I heard a sharp crack and felt the rain fly sag right onto my face. One of the main fiberglass poles for my old two-person tent had broken clean in half. I had to scramble out in the dark with my headlamp, use some duct tape and a spare tent stake as a splint just to keep the thing from collapsing completely. It held until morning, but the whole side was drooping and I got pretty damp from the condensation. That tent is maybe eight years old, so I guess it was time. I'm in the market for a new three-season shelter now, but I'm a bit gun-shy about poles. Anyone have a solid tent that's held up in serious wind?
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harperschmidt6mo ago
DAC poles are no joke, they're basically the gold standard for a reason. My old tent with cheap poles folded like a lawn chair in a storm, but my newer one with DAC has shrugged off some real abuse.
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rivere527mo ago
My buddy's old Kelty got absolutely shredded on a summit camp in the Presidentials. A microburst rolled through and bent two of his aluminum poles into pretzels. He ended up sleeping under a rock overhang wrapped in his ground cloth. He replaced it with a Mountain Hardwear tent that uses thicker DAC poles, and that thing hasn't flinched since.
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