Hillberg Soulo set-up

I just bought this tent and will be using it primarily for winter use here in Colorado. With the snow being so light and airy I would rather not have to stake out the corners of the tent but only the six guy lines. Any thoughts on this? Anyone ever tie off the corners to the staked guy lines instead of using additional snow pegs? Thank you!

In all my years of using the larger but similar Staika I never staked out the guylines instead of the tent perimeter stakes.  In fact, the only time I'd stake out the six guylines on the Staika was after I pegged out the four corners because usually that was all that was needed unless a big blow was coming---then I needed all the stakes for every peg out loop---for the Staika that comes to 12 with 4 more around the vestibule bottoms---a total of 16.

I own a Soulo(which I reviewed here) and I personally would not even consider this.

My biggest reason is if you are away from your tent and a strong gust blows through it may cause not only quite a bit of unnecessary stress to the guy points on the outer itself but also cause substantial damage by possibly tearing one of them whether it be the webbing or the outer.

For what these tents cost I would not even consider this. I personally guy my tent(6 stakes) as well as stake the body(again, 6 stakes) regardless of the weather.

Even if it is calm the weather can change in the blink of an eye when one is in the hills.  

Hilleberg provided 12 v-stakes with the Soulo for a reason. 

For the time it takes to properly stake & guy the tent out it hardly seems worth the risk to me to not stake out the tent properly. 

Jmho....

stake it out - better safe than ripped.

Good luck, we have had nothing but problems with the 2 hillebergs we had never again

bridgo73 said:

Good luck, we have had nothing but problems with the 2 hillebergs we had never again

May I ask what models do you have and what kinds of troubles are you experiencing?

Yes, do tell.  I have a whole list of Hilleberg Flaws and I'd like to compare it with yours.  But even with the flaws, my final blurb is Always Again. 

Tipi, I think I found the issue posted by bridgo73 on this thread.

Stake it and you won't break it

For the OP, the tent manufacturers always state in their directions to stake the floor out first. Then, if you are anticipating or are already in a storm, guy from the designated guy points. Some expedition tents have an internal guying setup.

for bridgo73 - Assuming that your reference in the thread Rick linked is the Hille's you dump on above, no quality tunnel tent I have ever used, whether owned, borrowed, supplied, or owned by a partner, had any puddling that would promote condensation such as you describe, as long as they were properly pitched. This includes Stephenson Warmlite, Hilleberg, Kelty (Windfoil), and several other brands. I have had some condensation on the fly (in tunnel tents that had a fly) when in heavy wet snow that stuck to the top of the fly. But even then it was minimal, and less than most "geodesic" tents with flies.

Even given that there is no such thing as perfection, every tent I have used personally or watched others use has had flaws and problems. Some tents are more subject to "operator error" than others (actually leading you into problems), while others just have flaws because of the inevitable compromises that always have to be made in any product. With the quality tent makers, you can always live with the flaws (unlike the Big Box Store tents where most of their tents are, frankly, unlivable).

I would like for you to start a new thread (to get the present one back on topic) describing clearly, as Rick and Tipi requested, the problems you had and the details of the circumstances (season, weather, geographic location, etc).

One more thing to note. Frequently tents have stake out loops on the perimeter of the fly.  I always stake these out as well as it improves the air flow through the tent.  Frequently, if unstaked, especially during a rain, the fly will lay against the sidewall of the tent and create condensation inside the tent.  Staking out the fly perimeter will reduce the condensation.  Staking out the perimeter does nothing, or next to nothing, in terms of stability in the wind, but the living conditions inside do improve.

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