User Review: Gossamer Gear The One

I used this shelter for my thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail and The Continental Divide Trail. This tent survived. I used it in snow and hail in the Sierra Nevada. Washington, Colorado and Montana rainstorms, as well as high winds everywhere on those trails. The "One" never let me down.

There is a learning curve to setting this shelter up taut but the reward is a veritable bomb shelter.

The spinnaker fabric is only noisy at first. But the material ages well, gets quieter, and never wets out or stretches in the rain.

One neat rick with this tent is to leave one half of the door open and shift the floor to the back allowing you to get a lot of ventilation yet stay dry in light rain. I also liked being able to leave the doors open in mosquito country like the Wind River range in July! The whole front of the tent becomes one big mesh window. It was always nice to know that at the end of every day there would come a moment when I would zip the mesh door shut and be at peace from the mozzies!

The full coverage integral fly creates a vestiblue area for wet shoes and pack. There are plenty of places to hang wet socks inside as well. This is not a free standing tent but I found it could be set up anywhere. Sometimes by tying it out to vegetation instead of stakes or even using rock anchors.

This is a very versatile tent and it can be set up on uneven ground easily. If you are going to live in a tent for four months the Gossamer Gear One, at 17 ounces (tent body alone before seam sealing), would be a great choice.

If you are looking for something with more wind protection than a tarp but less weight than most tents this could be for you.

Another advantage of this shelter is the way it does not feel claustrophobic inside. You can set it up to be any height you wish and I tended to set it up so I could see out from under the fly. 

After having used this tent for so long I would definitely say it is worth every penny.