World's Lightest Two-Person Tent

I had been sitting on this for a while and decided finally to mention it principally because I really think Joe with Zpacks.com is really innovative in addition to offering excellent customer service. Having spoken with him numerous times, I can't think of anyone in the lightweight backpacking industry who comes across as more genuine, more concerned, more helpful, and just all all-round good guy. I try to always note impressive accomplishments about people I write about, and I specifically wanted to mention that he is a Triple Crowner which is fanfare I haven't seen him seek.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Joe came up with the world's lightest tent which he called the "Hexamid" (8.2oz/$269) and will be debuted in June. If you'd like to see a video on it, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPa6IisMqKY. Probably no surprise, he decided to offer a two-person version which he is calling the "Hexamid Twin". It comes in at 10.5oz and is estimated at $319. My guess is it will fall shortly after the Hexamid releases as his design becomes finalized. Neither is available on his website yet as these shelters are still in the prototype phase.

Both tents will have a cuben fiber tarp which uses a nanoseeum screen for walls and a floor. Whereas the Hexamid only uses one trekking pole, the Hexamid Twin uses two to help open up the space. It will also require set up with 6 to 8 stakes. Peak height is 47", rear height 30", length 9', width 5.5', and door height 29". If you are on the fence about the durability of silnylon versus synthetic, check out Joe's comparision video at http://www.youtube.com/user/valesko1#p/a/u/1/8gfcuCh7h04 in which he compares 1.3 oz silnylon to .6 oz cuben and 1.5 oz cuben. Joe makes his shelters out of .6 oz cuben and packs out of 1.5 oz cuben. The video really helps explain why cuben is such a great fabric being that it is extremely light, extremely durable, doesn't stretch like silnylon, and is waterproof.

GoLite...Now for BIG/TALL Folks (Sort of)

I'd like to think my endless pestering of GoLite (http://www.golite.com/) to offer XXL and long's motivated them to finally do it. Regardless of why, I'm happy to report that GoLite is now offering XXL's in apparel. Hopefully they will make their packs and sleep systems longer too.

GoLite is really a pioneer in the lightweight backpacking movement and heavily impacted by one of the premier lightweight founders - Ray Jardine - who had a great influence on the design of gear and its overall function. When GoLite started, it faced a huge hurdle against mainstream manufacturers and they clearly were able to persevere.

Although GoLite nowadays seems to be offering products a little heavier than I'd like when compared to their past history, they continue to offer excellent products which often aren't as hard on the budget as some other smaller cottage industry manufacturers. Check out GoLite.com to see their new website and many new products.

Suluk 46 Engineered Backcountry Gear

Around the end of the year I like to mention specific backpacking websites and blogs which I enjoy. I also often have blogs which I write long in advance and release them at dates scheduled in the future as I want content to keep flowing so my site doesn’t get stagnant.

Well, I wanted to break from tradition and mention a fairly unknown website both because I’m intrigued by it and because there is stuff which others may be able to use today.

With that, check out “Suluk 46 Engineered Backcountry Gear” at http://www.suluk46.com/index.html. This site is run by a 31-year old mechanical designer from Canada who, in my opinion, is someone who truly thinks “outside the box”. The project which he was working on that drew my attention was an 11 ounce cuben fiber/pertex momentum down quilt which is an absurd notion that may very well change lightweight backpacking. He also has developed a very functional way to bond cuben instead of sewing through it which ultimately makes it a stronger and less fallible product. He has other great ideas, like how to shorten a NeoAir and a very lightweight titanium stove and ice axe. His background allows him to both think broadly and offer interesting research regarding strength to weight ratios.

He is working on many things here and there and has only a handful of items for sale…but his ideas are forward thinking enough that he may very well have a great future. I was fortunate enough to exchange a couple e-mails with Steve Evans as I was admiring his Cuben quilt and was doing my best to pursuade him into possibly making some LONG shelters out of Cuben. He is 6'3" and understands my plight. To my joy, he said he was looking into it with some seriousness and I can only hope it becomes a reality.

Lightweight Backpacking Cottage Industry

One of the things I’ve found that often gets overlooked in lightweight backpacking is the fact that this remains a small cottage industry. Hikers just like you and I, likely on a trek, thought to themselves, “hey, I can make that better” – and then went home and did it. The motivation for someone to take an idea from scratch and not only make it for themselves but to offer it to the masses while dealing with the stresses of running a small business is something that can’t be appreciated enough. “Offices” for these manufactures are often their kitchens or garages and customers are often calling them on their home phones at all hours, day and night. For me, and because backpacking is a hobby I greatly enjoy, I felt it was appropriate the day before Christmas to pass along a well deserved T-H-A-N-K-S as it is these little things which make life just a little more enjoyable. It is also for the sake of these cottage manufacturers that the latest and greatest technology and fabric is available to people like you and I so we don't get stuck with merely whatever sells to the masses from the big name guys.


Because these guys have a vested interest in lightweight backpacking, they are quick to offer innovation and switch product lines with little to no fuss. Their business model is to use the lightest and most durable fabrics and technology at whatever the cost instead of targeting a price and figuring out how they can fall under it with less than stellar parts and fabric. Customer-need drives their products and they almost always offer some of the very best customer service in any market.


In appreciation for their continued diligence, I wanted to publicly recommend the following vendors. Each offer great products and have provided great customer service to me over the years. I should mention that this list is incomplete as no doubt there are many who have provided me great service along the way which included telling me that their product would not be the best option for me. Some of these vendors, without prompting, even provided me their products for free when I described to them an idea I had as they too were equally interested in the various uses and durability of their product. With that said though, I also must admit a complete lack of sharpness in my own mind, a fact my wife reminds me of with some frequency, and therefore others of equal merit were simply forgotten at the time of this posting:


Backpacking Light – http://www.backpackinglight.com/
Gossamer Gear – http://www.backpackinglight.com/
Mountain Laurel Designs – http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/
Six Moon Designs – http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/
Titanium Goat – http://www.titaniumgoat.com/
Brass Lite – http://www.brasslite.com/
Bushbuddy - http://www.bushbuddy.ca/
Feathered Friends – http://www.featheredfriends.com/
Anti-Gravity Gear - http://www.antigravitygear.com/
Ultralight Backpacking Equipment - http://www.ula-equipment.com/#
Granite Gear – http://www.granitegear.com/
Western Mountaineering - http://www.westernmountaineering.com/
Wild Things Gear – http://www.wildthingsgear.com/
GoLite – http://www.golite.com/
McHale Packs - http://www.mchalepacks.com/
Adventure Medical Kits - http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/

Now that I've got my holly-jolly all geared up, I wanted to wish everyone who spends even just a few seconds every now and then reading my rants a big ole THANKS and Merry CHRISTmas!