The Versatility of the Pyramid as an Ultralight Shelter

Bench Pitch

A Buttercup Yellow Silnylon Pyramid in the Shadow of the Walling Reef,
 Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (Sigma DP2s)

The pyramid geometry is the most versatile shelter design for the wilderness trekker.

A center pole means there is nothing to break unless you don't pay attention under the heaviest snow loads, and with cheap and thin carbon poles.

A center pole means it has lots of headroom, and a really easy and fast pitch.

A full perimeter means you're protected from winds, rain, and with not much extra effort, spindrift.

No floor means that you don't really care if you open the door in the rain.

If you get the shelter in silnylon, and size it for two, like the 8'3"-er in the photo above, it's light enough (18 oz) for solo use, big enough that two people don't kill each other, there's room left over for all the gear, and the dog, and you can crank it down tight to huge stakes and a bunch of guylines without worrying about it, like you do with Cuben Fiber.

If you add a short noseeum perimeter, like the one in the photo above, you keep out the bugs simply by stashing gear all around it.

If you get it in Buttercup Yellow like the one above, it matches the flowers and makes for pretty photos and Martha Stewart will even be impressed at your ability to decorate the wilds with good color matching.

If you get it in silnylon grey, you'll blend in better and suffer an identity crisis because there are a lot of these out there in grey.

And if you go from a poncho, or a little Cuben Fiber tarp, or a Moment, or a (the?) One, or a Unishelter, or a Firstlight, or a Lunar Solo, or just about anything else that costs more or weighs more or wears out sooner, you just might think you died and gone to heaven and give yourself a good smack on the forehead for not buying into the pyramid cult earlier.

If I could only keep ONE shelter, it would be a Buttercup Yellow Silnylon Pyramid, because I could do everything on just about any trail in the world during the three tempered seasons, and most of what I'd want to do in the fourth season, and the color makes me cheery on stormy days.

Comments

[Damien Tougas]

Very good post, I think that a series needs to be written (perhaps on Backpacking Light or a blog or somewhere) that talks about a system of gear that has the widest range of uses/seasons for the least amount of weight. So that going light not only means having light-weight gear, but having less gear in the closet as as well. You have alluded to pairing down in some of your other posts, so it suggests to me that you are starting to think along those lines. I find this topic very interesting.

[Walter Underwood]

You forgot to mention "affordable". Here is my pyramid tent review (an MLD Speedmid):

http://wunderwood.org/most_casual_observer/2010/03/mld_speedmid_tent_less_is_more.html

And here is how much room there is inside:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walter_underwood/4573142335/in/set-72157623980063688/

I'm of the grey persuasion, because I find colored tents a bit weird to be inside for long. My favorite tent color is "blinding white", which makes a flashlight inside more effective.

Good luck finding one used, people don't seem to want to let go of a pyramid, even their old four pound Megamid.

I was reading Hillman's account of the ascent of Nanda Devi and noticed that their tents were all pyramids.

The Boy Scouts used to offer a pyramid tent, the "Miner's Tent":

http://books.google.com/books?id=Z6M4MJyVmjcC&lpg=PA28&ots=I7UF3J8fOL&dq=bsa%20miner's%20tent&pg=PA28#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Jay]

Ryan, You don't mention which brand of Pyramid tarp you are recommending in this article?

[Roman Dial]

We went around the world with a pyramid style, albeit six sided, shelter: Arctic Alaska, Utah, Patagonia, NZ, Tropical Australia, Borneo, and South Africa. It is indeed the single best design in my opinion too.

[Joe]

I have rarely agreed more with any post on any blog. My delicious yellow silnylon Duomid would be my choice if I was only allowed one shelter too. It makes me smile every time I see it. It makes me photograph it every time I pitch it. On grey days it cheers me up and on sunny days it glows. I just might paint my bedroom the same colour...