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Lightweight Floorless Shelter - Viam Outdoors

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VIAM Outdoors
Lightweight Floorless Shelter - Viam Outdoors

A shelter is one of the heaviest items in a backpacker’s pack, so reducing its weight has the potential to make your trail time more comfortable. However, a lightweight shelter might also reduce its durability and storm protection, so picking the right one can be tricky.

The most significant determinant of the overall weight of a shelter is its fabric, and there are many options on the market. The longtime standard has been ripstop nylon, which is affordable and can be made waterproof with a polyurethane coating and seam tape. However, ripstop nylon is not as durable as other fabrics, and it can puncture or tear easily.

To help you find the best lightweight shelter for your fastpacking adventures, we tested several options on the Appalachian Trail and in the Colorado Rockies. While no single shelter performed flawlessly under every circumstance, nine stood out as being light enough for fastpacking and versatile enough to meet the needs of a variety of hikers.

Silnylon, a liquid-silicone-injected ripstop nylon, was the ultralight gold standard until the development of Dyneema (formerly Cuben Fiber), which offers an amazing strength-to-weight ratio in a thin fabric. As such, it’s no surprise that some of the lightest tents on our list use Dyneema fabrics.

Another key factor is the material used to construct the poles and guylines of a shelter. The materials in our test group ranged from 10 to 30 denier, and higher denier fabrics are generally more durable. The 30-denier silnylon on the SlingFin SplitWing Shelter Bundle, for example, sagged less and held up better in wet conditions than the thinner 10-denier sil/PU nylon found on the Gossamer Gear Twin Tarp.

Finally, the size and shape of a shelter can have an effect on its weight. Some freestanding tents, like the Mountain Laurel Designs SoloMid XL, are very large and require two trekking poles for stability. Others are much smaller and designed for solo or two-person hiking. Some are modular and can be built up or down to suit weather and terrain.

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