I hear ya, not a whole lot of tent for the $$, but then pretty much all of the tipi's and CF floorless shelters aren't a whole lot of tent/shelter for the $, as far as I'm concerned. Speaking of aluminum poles, one thing that I thought was impressive regarding the Warmlite is how large of a diameter the poles are, for the size of the shelter. Obviously with the more robust poles, you sacrifice wt., but it would definitely be worth it to guarantee your shelter staying upright in a storm. One night while goat hunting on the Hepburn Penn., we had a storm come through and my buddy's 4 season Mountain Hardware tent had an aluminum pole snap. It happened in the middle of the night and by the time they woke up and realized what had happened, the wind had pretty much destroyed their rainfly with the sharp edges of the broken pole. Needless to say, bad things can happen really quickly when aluminum tent poles break.
Let me know Jake the next time you go goat hunting with your new tent. I'd like to plan my hunt around that same time because I know just how beautiful Kodiak can be, I just haven't been fortunate enough to experience it much. Oh, maybe I'll get lucky and draw a fall bear tag as well, so not only will it be guaranteed good weather but also guaranteed zero bears.
I just assumed they were a heavier duty pole based on how big they looked on the video. Some where, I think it was also on the website, I saw that the poles weighed approx. 1 lb.
That is the only thing that has been holding me back with the new stone glacier tent. They told me the fly is adjustable though, or that you can pack snow around the edges if need be. I am still planning on it being my next purchase though, just need to save a bit for it. The specs are quite incredible for volume/ weight/ price
When it blows hard, you just pin it down tight to the ground. Rain isn't a problem as long as site selection is proper, ie., you don't have water running through your tent/shelter, and if blowing spin drift is an issue, again, you just pin it tighter to the ground or pile snow up around it. I was skeptical at first as well, but once you figure it out, you quickly realize just how bomber a Mid or tipi can be. I'm sure that if you could go back in time and ask the American Indians that survived on the great plains for thousands of year using just tipi's for shelters, they could explain it through example. If weight/bulk is not an issue, I'll take a Alaska Tent and Tarp Arctic Oven over anything. I've spent too much time in an Artika with the extreme poles, during some pretty major storms, not to have the utmost respect for that shelter.
