Caring For Your Mountaineering Tent

By Jon Rose


When you take up camping or mountaineering one of your biggest outlays in terms of cost will be your tent. If you are placing serious demands on your tent you could well end up paying $500 or more for a quality make. And if you are climbing in the Himalayas or on Denali, which is sometimes known as Mt McKinley, you could be exposed to gale-force winds and heavy storms. Your tent will need to be able to shed enormous loads placed on it without breaking. Yet it also has to be light enough for you to pack and carry up a mountain. Tent designs may not seem it but they really are marvels of engineering comprising high-technology fabrics and fibers that include Kevlar, which is used to make bullet-proof vests, as well as some of the latest alloys for their poles. All of these come at a cost and explain why top quality mountaineering tents are priced at such a premium over cheaply-made ones that are best used only for back-yard camping by kids.
As advanced and robust as modern tents are, they are also uniquely vulnerable in some regards and an expensive tent can quickly be ruined through careless use. The first thing to worry about in a mountaineering tent is the groundsheet, especially when one is wearing crampons. Be sure to always remove your crampons, and ideally your icy or muddy boots outside the tent. After a long day climbing it is always tempting to seek the warmth and comfort of a tent before removing footwear, but no matter how careful you are you will end up poking holes in the groundsheet or sides of the tent if you are foolish enough not to remove your boots.
The second big killer of tents is damp. If you stow your tent without first drying it out properly then you will find just how quickly mould and mildew set in. Try to make a habit of always laying the outer layer, or fly sheet, of your tent in the sun before packing it away. Do this in the field on long trips and you will ensure that morning dew and the condensation from inside the tent has a chance to evaporate off. This can make a huge difference to keeping your tent smelling clean and fresh out on the trail. It is even more important to carefully clean and dry your tent when you return home. Do not use strong detergents but simply use water and gentle brushing to avoid causing damage and you will be able to wash out most dirt and mud. Then dry it carefully before packing it for storage. If you do not do that, the next time you take your tent out of storage you may find it ruined for good.
Jon Rose is the pen name of a journalist who has an interest in camping, climbing and mountaineering. You can read other articles he has written about mountain tents
http://mountaintentguide.com

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