Black Diamond Firstlight Tent

[Lucky Larry]

Tell that to the 90 mph winds I had to deal with recently and oh yes we actually have glaciers and big ones here in Wyoming because it gets COLD.

 

Having spent my fair share of time using tarps (blue) and other primitive and improvised shelters in the Wind River Range, yes they do work and no you don't need a $600 tent and no I didn't even say that, I merely opined that some piece of crap Walmart tent don't belong here.

 

$600 tents are much more of a Colorado phenomenon since there is so much yuppie trash (although to be fair we do have Jackson) there, just love it when we get overrun with CO plates. Funny thing is that tends to be in August when we have such nice weather.

 

Anyhow, it can be quite amusing to see all the hordes of out-of-staters and their rico tents all over the Cirque and Titcomb, but fortunately they seem to be nice folks so I don't really mind even if my $90 tent isn't nearly as nice.

I guess you can't judge a book, or owner, buy it's cover.

[Coldfinger]

Well one can spot a fool from a good way off (like the owner of the tent now in the middle of Titcomb lake), other types are a bit harder to figger out.

 

All the patches on my tent tell one I am Scotch. Just didn't care to be conflated with $600 tents, not my style, but Tarps don't make for very comfortable camping here until the first hard frost.

 

Might be a good market for used Firstlights now that they come in a new color!

 

As for additional guy points, I wouldn't bother, still think the thing will be floppy, but that's how the Siberian Larch survives cold and wind so maybe that's best. You could try some spare epic fabric (BD will give you some), sew your guy point to that and just sil-seam grip the whole thing on. I suspect that might be stronger.

 

I personally have survived a two day storm in a Firstlight and while it was pretty grim as the tent flexed, snapped and got knocked over, it never exploded or even showed a stretched seam, I was impressed.

 

 

[johndavidjr]

Little-known trick with the Wal-Mart tents: use seam sealer. Otherwise, THEY LEAK!

 

My go-to tent these days is Golite Hex3. Spooky sometimes without bug-net.

 

I spent about 100 nights in Wal-Mart puptent, including one during which 10 inches of snow fell & I damned-near froze to death due mainly to condensation. Took 10 years, nearly, before I'd touch a down sleeping bag again.

 

Spent maybe 200 nights in Sierra Designs single-wall one-person, manufactured up until about 1990. Horrible condensation problems in certain conditions with that, & only slightly lighter than a stripped-down puptent.

 

Much better in wind however, in that if it blew down, you'd hardly notice the difference.

 

They all have their place. I'd love to get a First Light too. But have recently gone, employment-wise, from middle class to zero-class & may soon be living in a (Whillans??) box tent.

[Coldfinger]

Hey man if you have a cdl or welding or any kind of mechanical skills, consider moving to either the Dakotas or Pinedale, both have great oil & gas jobs, better climbing and lots of other folks from Michigan, who are always welcome here!

[Lucky Larry]

Well one can spot a fool from a good way off (like the owner of the tent now in the middle of Titcomb lake), other types are a bit harder to figger out.

 

All the patches on my tent tell one I am Scotch. Just didn't care to be conflated with $600 tents, not my style, but Tarps don't make for very comfortable camping here until the first hard frost.

 

Might be a good market for used Firstlights now that they come in a new color!

 

As for additional guy points, I wouldn't bother, still think the thing will be floppy, but that's how the Siberian Larch survives cold and wind so maybe that's best. You could try some spare epic fabric (BD will give you some), sew your guy point to that and just sil-seam grip the whole thing on. I suspect that might be stronger.

 

I personally have survived a two day storm in a Firstlight and while it was pretty grim as the tent flexed, snapped and got knocked over, it never exploded or even showed a stretched seam, I was impressed.

 

Well, at least that is good news about the integrity of the 1st light. Now I'm just going to worry about being blown away in another wind storm. Note to self-get better tie down cordage.

[Coldfinger]

I should probably mention that should one want to purchase a used Firstlight, rather than a new one, due to poverty, Epic fabric seems to have rather strong tendency to generate and hold static.

 

The import of this is that my $90 Firstlight came with a rather extensive collection of hairs, most of which were rather short, thick and curly.

 

I should only hope that the new fabric, in addition to being green, has not that tendency.....