The North Face Slickrock

A new tent from North Face which, with their single person, single pole! "Canyonlands," composes their "ultralight" series.

I've had it up for a week in the surrounding hills near home but haven't had severe weather other than late winter in the 20s and 30s. One wind storm though didn't faze it, although I admit I wasn't in it that time.

It has plenty of ventilation and despite single walls in foot area of tent. I haven't noticed condensation.

One wind storm with rain left it standing no problem.

A little moisture from probably me and dog getting in and out of it but doors make it impossible to get in tent without getting inside wet if it was raining or snowing. Miniscule vestibule on each side over small amount of netting on doors offers no protection for packs or gear really (maybe a very small daypack or boot(s)!!... but covers zippered opening.

Nice looking simple tent. And light and easy to set up. It's name, Slickrock, may be suggestive of ideal climate for tent use....Southwest...but so far here in New England it's kept me dry and warm.

One weakness though is the no-see-um netting on door has developed a hole, probably from dog's paw....just a quarter inch hole....doors shouldn't have netting probably and like other NF designs these doors drop onto floor forcing occupants to step on them and wear them. Otherwise a nice pretty tent and easy to carry.

Has much appreciated compression bag and relatively short poles 16 or 17 in. long. Only two of them and 6 nice aluminum pegs. About 32 square feet of floor space (more a one-person comfort zone (or with child or dog as companion) but with the easy in and out doors of both sides two people shouldn't have a problem, but their gear maybe'll have to stay outside, but it accepts a gear loft which I ordered (TNF #2 gear loft).

Any suggestions on fixing netting would be appreciated.

I love this tent. It is a little larger than a breadloaf, and doesn't weigh much at all, so even a weight freak like me will take it solo. It's only 25% heavier than my bivvie -- and so much roomier! My 6'4" partner and I fit in it just fine, but the packs stay outside. There isn't a vestibule to speak of, so we toss them in a trashbag. (This is useful for a thousand other things too, again, I am a weight freak, so I wouldn't carry it otherwise.)

The test itself is mostly mesh, and the fly covers only the mesh part and a little beyond that -- so if it is pouring rain and the wind is driving it in different directions, rain will get into your tent. So, don't take it out in a rain storm. I have taken it snow camping though, and in moderate rain, and in the desert in the winter and in all of these conditions it was wonderful. Although it seems odd to take a 70% mesh tent snow camping, it takes so little room in my pack I can add a down vest or something to make up for the space and that's more valuable to me. (It makes a pillow, it warms me when cooking, etc.)

This is an ideal tent for everything but driving rain. And after I bought it and took it out a few times, most of my friends went out and bought one for themselves. Now when we go out we look like a tour group with our matching tents. Sigh. (At least we don't wear matching parkas.)

Good summer tent. Good for my height 5'10"-- not a ton of extra room lengthwise, but get in one and judge for yourself. The design in fairly minimalist and so the tent is pretty light and rolls up pretty small--it's not unreasonable to carry solo. Innovative design; it's part single walled tent. This saves weight by making the fly only need to be big enough to cover a little over half the tent. It's still very well ventilated though because the part of the inner tent that goes under the fly is mesh.

On clear nights I keep the fly off and get a great view of the stars, though it's very breezy in the tent. Since it so well ventilated it's certainly not a very warm tent, even when the fly is up, but like I said, it's a great summer tent. I stayed completely dry in some serious Hawaiian downpours near Hana, Maui, last month. Also, it survived some serious wind storms in Utah last summer--but be sure to stake it out well, after all it only has two poles.

This tent has lots of great qualities: it's very light, packable, roomy, easy to set up (even in wind/rain), comes with taped seams, etc.

But mine LEAKED big time. On two nights on the Georgia AT last week some driving rain came right through the yellow wall. The tent was full of water; our bags and sleeping pads were wet. We were cursing TNF all night long. We saw another guy with the same problem who had taken to draping a big poncho over the yellow wall at night.

The North Face Warranty department says that my tent may have been defective--they're testing it. Still, I would definitely suggest holding off on buying this tent until there are more reviews out there. If you do buy it, buy it from somewhere that you can return it without a hassle.

Trent

My wife and I used this tent on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail in May 2002. The tent performed admirably and was a breeze to set up and take down. We had just a bit of condensation at the foot of the tent (the fly only covers the head to the waist area) where the tent is single walled with a foot vent, but we had extra gear stuffed around our bags which could have impeded ventilation. The tent had plenty of room for the two of us, our bags, thermarest pads, and assorted other goodies. We used a SD Omega CD attic which fit quite well too. All in all, I would say we are pretty happy with it, but haven't had it out in major summer storms or anything.

This is an excellent tent! It stands up extremely well, even in foul weather. It may leak somewhat, especially if you're stupid enough to face the single wall in the direction of the rain (hint, move the tent so the fly gets the rain, afterall, it IS freestanding!).

Yes, I did say THREE PEOPLE, and I am not kidding. I managed to fit three 6-foot people in it when the third guy's tent broke.

Since there is no vestibule so to speak, pack covers are the ideal thing (and you should have one anyways if you backpack regularly).

The batwing design is innovative, saving quite a bit of weight. The only downfall to this tent is rain will get in while you exit/enter, so do it fast!!!!