2:57 p.m. on April 28, 2009 (EDT)
WISam,
You ask about windy places. Are there any other kind?
I don't know much about Adak, except that it is way out in the Aleutians, hence windy and foggy most of the time, except when it is blizzarding. The vast majority of the places I have pitched tents in the wind have been in snow conditions (except in the desert and on mountain peaks - which you should avoid, because of lightning potential). But some generic wind comments -
If you are dealing with a location where the winds are pretty much in the prevailing direction all the time, it is pretty easy to select a sheltered place. For example, on the Kahiltna Glacier (and many other glaciers and many valleys) the wind blows up or down the valley and rarely across the valley. So you can readily build windwalls on the up-valley and down-valley sides of the tent. If you are in snow conditions (which I gather you won't be), you will want to build a pair of walls in the upwind direction. The first, about 8-10 feet from the tent is the main protector and the second about 8-10 feet farther out acts like a ridge crest - the wind carries blowing snow up over it and tends to drop the snow in between the two walls (it's like windslab is developed, except the closer wall keeps the deposit from reaching your tent).
Whether blowing snow or just wind (or wind and rain), if the wind is pretty much one direction, shaping the wall (rocks in rocky terrain) with a bit of a prow (like the prow of a ship) does tend to split the stream to the sides as well as up and over. In a valley where the wind is coming up and down the valley, you can just put a wall to the two sides - no need to surround the whole tent. The height of the wall should be the height of your tent or better, a bit higher.
There are places where you pretty much have to surround the tent on 3 or perhaps all 4 sides with a wind wall.
Funneling - valleys tend to funnel winds along the axis of the valley. Passes tend to produce a venturi effect, with the wind speed higher through the pass. But a steep pass will generally have a calm area a short distance below the pass on the leeward side (and a more windy area on the windward side).
Pitching the tent - this is a place where Bibler's and Integral Designs' tents really shine - they use internal poles. The way that Jim S sets up his Bibler is to pull it over his head like an anorak, then set the poles in place from inside, reach out through the door to set the two stakes next to the door, then hop out and set the other two corner stakes, then proceed with the guy lines. Actually a variation on this works with most tents. With my Trango 3.1, I stake the two corners at the upwind side, then set the other 4 corners. Since the Trango is a clip tent, I next put the 2 cross poles in their holes and clip them, then the other 2 main poles. The fly is the big problem when doing it solo, but since the fly attaches to the peg loops with clip buckles, I start again at the upwind side by clipping the two fly clips there, then attach the velcro to the poles working from upwind to downwind. If the wind is particularly strong and I am solo, I will peg the upwind guys as soon as the upwind fly clips are attached and the corresponding velcro straps, again working my way downwind. If you have a second person, it is much easier, since the second person can be holding the tent at all times.
A sleeve tent is harder. But in that case, (my StretchDome, for example), I do the two upwind pegs for the tent floor, then insert the two cross poles in their sleeves and slots, followed by the other main tent poles, at which point I peg the remaining 4 tent pegs. The fly in this case is similar to the Trango, so again, start at the upwind end and work downwind. This also works for TNF expedition tents.
Tunnel tents are a whole different ball game. These almost always seem to require at least 2 people.
Building your windwalls first helps a lot. The pegging conditions make a big difference. For soft peg conditions, always dead-man the pegs, since the wind can just lift the pegs out once you get the tent more or less assembled. Rocky conditions potentially give you a bunch of rocks to use as anchors. By the way, putting your pack inside when pitching the tent doesn't always help - I have seen tents get blown away when partly pitched along with the heavy packs in them.
Putting rocks on top of the pegs sometimes helps, but not always. Dead-manning is always better. But if you are camping on rock, you just have to find large rocks to tie the tent to.
Highest measured windspeed I have pitched a tent in solo was about 45 knots, with something like 60-65 knots with a partner (we built a windwall first, which helped tremendously). I have dug a snow cave at higher speeds - the decision was that since we could barely stand, we could at least kneel down and tunnel into the slope. We kept our packs on while digging out of a combined fear of having the packs blow away and an irrational belief that the extra weight would keep us from blowing away. Well, it worked, so it must be true.
more»
