UKC

I'm thinking of doing the Pyrenees Haute Route solo this summer.  Now trying to choose a tent.

I want something that's very light, and that will also be useful for future trips.  For this reason, looking at 2-man options.

I had settled on the Nordisk Telemark 2 (https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/equipment-c3/tents-shelters-c25/all...), but now wondering if it will be annoying having a tent that's not free-standing.

How annoying are tents that can't be pitched on hard ground?  Would something like the Hubba Hubba NX be a better bet for general use, despite the extra weight?  (https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/equipment-c3/tents-shelters-c25/two...).

Really interested in hearing any experiences or opinions!

I've walked a couple of longish sections of a mix of the HRP & the GR11. I carried a tent but spent some nights in huts or gites as well. I had a Terra Nova Solar 1 which was fine & never found the need to peg it out a problem. Finding places to camp near a source of water was more of a problem.

I haven't had a free standing tent for 20 years. I've never failed to find somewhere to put my tent up while backpacking in the hills. With something as light at the Nordisk, I doubt you will want to pitch it on a summit unless the weather is exceptionally calm, so I don't think this would be an issue. It has a fairly small footprint too.

done the HRp and GR20 as a pair.  we used a  TN Solar Comp 2 which is free standing with an end entrance (not side which i don't like for 2 people unless there are 2 doors).  It's a brilliant, if a little tight, lightweight tent . Its size was only an issue in rainstorms (when trying to hide), otherwise fine.

On HRP free standing not so problematic as the GR20, so many excellent places to camp near huts and wild.

Great, thanks for all the thoughts!

The TN Solar also looks like a great tent.  Shame it pitches inner first... why's there no perfect tent?!

Although it looks like the Hubba Hubba's inner-first too, so perhaps I can take that off the shortlist

Did the complete HRP in 2016, I have done a great deal of walking, but no long distance 500 mile trails  main lesson I learned from the 4 older guys I met doing the full route was they all used American ultra light gear. It is like night and day compared to the bulky heavy stuff we buy in the UK. Look at 6 moons tent tarps, Mountain Lauiriet gear, and google outdoor kit cottage companies in the USA. They were literally carrying half the weight I was. I had a base weight of about 15 to 18 pounds, way too heavy. Now I  have seen the light and all my kit is from the USA. A few days walk in the UK with a few extra what if's is no big deal, 30 to 40 days of walking each day is going to hurt with too much kit. Go on youtube and search PCT or Appalachian trail you will find loads of great advice we in the UK think we know better about, we are wrong. 

I think you mean Mountain Laurel Designs.    I looked at their stuff but eventually went for  Tarptent Protrail for bikepacking.  And I use a quilt instead of a sleeping bag, saving1/3 on weight and volume. As you say, the yanks are definitely into their specialised lightweight gear for outdoor adventure. Lots of good ideas out there.

I had a Nordisk Telemark 2 which was great on the JMT for two people. Could be pitched fly and inner together. Safely anchored with 6 rocks if pegs were a problem.

However I had an accident in NZ when I tripped over it in the dark and a snapped pole destroyed the flysheet. Neither the UK agent or Nordisk were able to supply a replacement fly which annoyed me no end. As an emergency replacement I bought a Big Agnes Fly Creek Platinum one person which is freestanding, weighs 700g and has stood up very well so far. 

There is quite a lot of sharp pointy grass in the Pyrenees which can puncture the groundsheet, I always pitched my tent on my orange plastic emergency bivi bag. I used a one man terra nova zaphyros - cheap at £140 and 1.5kg - a  two man maybe 2kg . Weight saving is important on these trips but there is always a compromise for a bit of comfort. I saved weight on a Gossamer gear 60litre sac (850g),pocket rocket stove( find out where you can get gas before you go) and a basic cooking set (Gelert 2 piece and plastic cup for brews). Two bits of kit that came in handy- Katoolas stretch on crampons for a couple of sloping snowfields with large drops and crocs for fording rivers (2 on my trip). I only had a two season bag and once was freezing cold camping at 2300m in July but it was adequate in the valleys.

If you want a fly pitching first Solar, the Macpac Microlight fits the bill and is reasonably priced. 1.4kg.

There's also the transverse pole model, which is 1.3kg - but transverse hoops aren't ideal for taller occupants.

b

I've had a TN Solar II for 17 years now. Still a great tent. I've also had a Hubba for a decade which does the job too. Both are inner first and I've never found that to be a big issue. Yes if it's raining or snowing it gets on the inner, but for a minute or so it takes to chuck the fly over it really doesn't matter.

The only place I've found having true free standing tent is very useful is on skerries and little islands in the Baltic. Basically just clean, flat granite slabs or vegetation, making pitching impossible, so you camp on the rock slabs.

I think the Ray Jardine's/ultralight "revolution" has some great ideas we can use, and maybe in the Pyrenees that stuff is great, but in the UK and other northern European countries it can be a bit rubbish. Tarps are great below the treeline or in sheltered spots but you'll get midged to death in the Highlands and wind and rain can blow under on Bleaklow or Brecon. Wearing trail runners in the summer is ok but frankly I want some waterproof boots and gaiters on Kinder in November! 

Totally agree, it is more a case of having the gear and matching it to the walk and conditions you intend to use it on each time you take it out.
I saw a good youtube video called the more you know the less you take. The balancing act is to find out how little you can take and still be safe and comfortable enough. You are going to have to accept that at times while developing your kit to carry you may be uncomfortable if you go too far on the to less side.

I could cut out a shovel, avalanche probe and transceiver out when I walk in the winter hills but I always have them on my kit list. 

I would not dream of walking over a 5400m pass covered in snow in a blizzard in trainers, however I and 10 of the team did when all the mountaineering gear had gone on the yaks another way around days ago. (top tip keep your mountain boots with your trekking kit while on climbing expeditions with big treks between 2 objectives)
You would be amazed at what you can get through, but if I was leading someone in the winter mountains and they turned up in trainers they would not be going with me.
All about horses for courses what works in A location could be a disaster at location B and vies versa. 

Great tent. I chose mine for the really tough groundsheet. First time out withstood really high winds (100 mph apparently) though sheltered a bit by boulders, rocks on pegs. However not the lightest.

PS Just reread OP. They want a 2 man tent and Microlight is probably then too small for any degree of comfort.

FWIW I was always lucky with summer weather in the Pyrenees and thus if doing the HRP would have taken a good bivi bag (cooking in bad weather obviously unpleasant) or a 4' by 8' poly bag and sleep out with no cover most nights. No pitching problems! You could then delay buying (and carrying) the double tent.

I'd have supplemented this with the little cabanes and abris (marked on maps) where possible. In a recent thread someone gave a link to a list of shelters refuges etc: http://www.pyrenees-refuges.com/#8/42.899/0.678  I'm sure you're aware that if you decide to use any wardened refuges its worth joining eg AAC which will pay for itself in discounts over a few nights (and provide some insurance). Apologies if this isn't the sort of info you wanted.

hi,

we never found that  big issue, ok it may not be ideal but with 2 of us we could get the tent up quickly.  You can actually pitch it fly first or fly only (you need a line between the fly sheet corners to stop it spreading but it works).  We went in sept and had only  a few rainy nights and I can't remember it ever being  a big worry. 

we also took a ground sheet protector, i made one out of an old light flysheet which was fine.

its a great walk, you'll have blast.

Thanks, real food for thought this, along with lots of other great info above.

Now I'm tempted to go with tarp + sleep mat + quilt!  I'd better get out in the next couple of months and see if this setup will work for me.

The Hubba Hubba NX in common with a lot of MSR tents can be pitched outer first if you have the footprint.

Are there mozzies or similar there? In Finland I tended to use a tarp in winter and a tent in summer because of mosquitoes! Pyrenees might be much better in this regard though.

no don't remember any, or at least bad.   

re the tarp, get the weather right and could be a winner, easy to pitch and find a place, if the weather is really bad, book into a hut or find a bothy/shelter instead.  

Yep, but getting the weather right in the Pyrenees is far from guaranteed. I've been grateful for my standard issue Scottish kit more than a few times there. I've never thought of the Pyrenees as somewhere entirely suitable for dry-climate North American kit. The French side, especially west of the Ariege, gets a lot more rain than anywhere in the Alps.

I stopped taking a tent to the Pyrenees years ago, unless I was going to specifically camp somewhere. The huts are good and plentiful so long as you book ahead, and there are many cabanes, some of which are pleasant, some not so, but it saves a bit of weight. 

I took a tarp only and in a huge storm with the wind changing direction all night was a tad damp. What I was on about was the 6 moons lunar solo type of system.

If your pockets are deep enough look at Cuban fibre (called something else now) This is a tarp/tent you have full 360 degree cover a bug net to keep the mozzies out of which there are some on some nights.

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/collections/tents

The stuff they are made of makes a huge difference in price and weight.

The tarp is ok and works but you are much better with the tarp/tents 

I've got a Telemark 2 that goes up in one.

Footprint, inner & fly all together - very fast pitch and only needs 4 pegs. 1300 g

www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/gear/telemarkmod.shtml

https://www.snowandrock.com/p/nordisk-telemark-2-tent-D1312313.html?channab...

Where I got my Footprint -

http://www.kongadventure.com/product/equipment/equipment-camping/nordisk-te...

nod, we've had a couple of epic rainstorms - tented 2 hutted 2 or 3.  I'm not a tarp person myself, I don't think the weight saving is that large or worth it.

I used a non-freestanding tent (MSR Zoid 2) when I did it and it was mostly fine. Some of the pitches in the higher mountains are pretty rocky though and a couple of times it was hard to peg the tent securely, meaning it collapsed on me one night. If I was doing it again I would take a tarp and bivvy and use walking poles to pitch. As others have said, I spent many nights in abris. But I had a few big storms and a snow dump in August so be prepared for that kind of weather!