Call of the Revolution! - to the Ultralight Moderate Swing Voter

Is it a tarp or not a tarp that is one of my questions.

Tap the word tarp into the online Oxford English dictionary you get the following:

'An early 20th century abbreviation of tarpaulin. A sheet or cover'

Search the word 'tarpaulin' - the Oxford dictionary suggests that it is a 'heavy duty waterproof cloth, often made of proofed canvas'

It goes on to describe it as a noun, and uses the sentence 'a stretch of roof was covered by a tarpaulin'

I mention all this because the ultralight tarp is having to work very hard to shed its namesake the 'tarp'.

 Say the word 'tarp' here in the UK and seek a response. Response's will range from 'Ray Mears', to 'heavy road haulage' to 'motorcycle cover's' or some such answer. I asked a handful of people recently at North Lees camp site about their thoughts on tarps. Not a very large poll admittedly, but a poll of normal outdoor people, climbers, walkers and campers. Not one person had considered a tarp type shelter for camping or backpacking use. Backpacking forums for years have discussed the pro's and con's of tarps and ultra lightweight backpacking probably to death. Outdoor magazines have been talking about tarps and lightweight backpacking in the UK to the point where I think just to write new copy and to move on in the discussion have had to start a new chapter, which seems to be coming from the standpoint of 'lets avoid any extremes'. In other words a more 'moderate' standpoint on weight. Yet, after all that, even still, in 2014 the vast majority of people setting out on their Pennine adventure or other long distance journey have not considered anything other than a full on mountaineering tent, and are probably setting off with 15KG to 20KG or more in their bag even in summer. I am gathering some more data on this, so will post here once all the results are in.

Now I get why hill goers may prefer a 4 season heavy duty tent for summit camps in mid winter, especially if its only a five mile walk-in from the car, and a one off herculean effort is all that is required. On the trail however, say for example the Pennine Way, when you have a few 'hundred' miles to cover, especially at the time of year we make these journeys, a lighter weight arrangement makes a lot of sense. I think it is important to differentiate between gear for camping at Angle tarn only a couple of miles from the road, and a set up that works at camp 50 or 100 miles miles into the Pennine Way. When you have to carry your gear over 200 miles that Kilo or more in saved weight starts to look a lot more attractive. Applying this to every piece of kit in the bag and that 5KG or more of weight saving looks even better. Just look at the posture of someone carrying 15KG of kit v's someone with 7 or 8KG. More to point, look at their faces. The vast majority of camps along national trails are sheltered or low level camps.

So, after talking a while to my fellow backpackers I pitched an ultra-light silnylon tarp at North Lees, and within moments I had a small audience, 'Never seen anything like that before' sort of scratchy head sort of audience. 'What sort of a tent is this'? I had my tarp pitched with a noseeum net bivi underneath, and at least one of the audience felt bold enough to get inside. 'Cool!'

Now I am going to exclude 'bushcraft' tarp use from the conversation in this post i.e the Ray Mears thread going forward because bushcraft guys do use tarps a lot, often the ones as per the Oxford dictionary definition, preferably square ones that can be set up as flying diamonds that are fire resistant canvas and so on.  I am specifically discussing ultra light tarps for backpacking or scouting or hiking use in the UK, rectangular shaped ultralight tarps used by a user who is moving through the environment on foot and carrying it some distance from A to B.

It seems crazy, but forum discussion among UK Hill-goers,  has all but exhausted the discussion before UK long distance backpackers ever really had a go with ultralight.  The tarp is possibly one of those concepts that has been theoretically discussed for 5 years by lunch hour office workers on the forums perhaps on occasion without actually using one here in the UK for trail walking.  In particular the' tarp v tent' sort of forum discussion gets very confusing, because  although both technically backpackers, hill walkers and long distance walkers face very different challenges. Most of us when hill bagging, hillwalking or fellwalking for much of the time, walk from a base camp or car, and return to camp or the car that day. In which case the weight was left at the campsite or in the car. At other times, we may go high into the mountains for a one night wild camp, in this circumstance its a one off effort, to get all the relatively heavy gear up there. By contrast, a long distance walker covering 200 miles, going up and over over the hills along a route setting up a new camp day in day out can see that this is where lighter weight gear pays dividends. An ultralight tarp serves a different sort of backpacker, and I think this is where much confusion and counter argument surrounding the ultralight tarp sets in. The ultralight tarp serves a different niche of our amazing backpacking pursuit.

I noted on a You Tube video recently that Chris Townsend, (one of my personal hero's by the way) who acts as gear editor to The Great Outdoors magazine reviewed tents v tarps v tarp tents. Chris suggested that 'tarps are a good option for the Pyrenees and the High Sierra', ' or in the UK in a sheltered setting with a dry forecast'  I agree, a stand alone tarp would work well in these environments, but I would also suggest that tarps can be great in the rain too. The video is certainly worth a look. Chris did not really touch upon the 4th option however, which is what I discuss below. The tarp with an inner nest as a combination. Oddly the forums rarely discuss the  merits of the tent v's the tarp / inner nest combo for some reason either. It is this 4th option however that is the real alternative to the tent here in the UK.

I used a stand alone tarp for three years, got a little bit chilly at times late in the season and bitten more than once in high season. After a few seasons I went back to a tent as my primary shelter mainly to avoid the midges and ticks. The tarp became an extension to my tent at a fixed camp or was thrown in my bag to sit on at picnics.

The thought however, the dream of something a lot lighter than my tent, for distance walking never went away.  Ultralight still makes more sense for long distance walking than a moderate or heavier weight alternative. Our hiking friends on the American side of the Atlantic, the ones that walk great distances along the Appalachian trail for example, love their ultralight tarps, why is this? In fact no self respecting thru' hiker on the trail would be seen dead without one it seems. Their tarp self brands as, 'trail savvy', 'experienced' and perhaps even brands still as 'revolutionary'. In the UK it could self brand judging by the forums chat as 'off your rocker', 'what are you messing about at son?'.

Then it dawned on me. OMG! how had I missed it!, how had so many of us here missed it. I now know what we were missing. It was the nest! A re-look at all the pictures . Time to read the books again. The thru-hikers often use a nest! They use a tarp and they use a nest. Look once again, yes, there's a friend of Ray Jardine, smiling in his nest!

Many of us spotted that one too in passing,  and then incorrectly deduced that if you had a tarp and a nest, i.e. an outer skin and an inner you might as well have a tent, it's the same!  but there is so so much more to it than that. They really are 'not' the same at all.

So, tarp and a nest. Well isn't that just another way of building effectively a light weight tent? Well yes, it is, but also no it isn't. There is a world of difference between a tent and a nest/ tarp combo. Try configuring a tent in an alternative pitch for example.

So now we look at it, the thru' hikers don't really use tarps, well they kind of do, what they really have is a very very lightweight tent arrangement. More to the point their revolution was and still is really all about a very very lightweight tent inner called a nest and a super simple very light flysheet called an ultralight tarp.

That's it then, we can still have our British ultra-lightweight revolution. It doesn't have to die with the tarp v tent argument. Our revolution is not going to be about the tarp v's the tent, it never was, it was a discussion point only. Our revolution is to be about the 'nest and tarp combo' v's the 'tent'. Or put another way 'the cutting edge cottage gear nest and tarp combo product' v's the 'mass produced tent offering' at a given price point. Once we bring into the equation an ultralight nest design, even a super ultralight nest, that caters for the relevant British season the tarp idea then all makes sense again. A nest that will help keep out the elements, a nest that keeps out the midges, a nest that only weighs similarly to a can of beans ( I use beans, we are talking about British camping after all, and sustenance may be required for revolutionary talk) .

It is this notion that has been playing on my mind for long enough now to have sparked a renewed interest in 'nest design' and to start designing solutions for Pennine long distance walking, trying them out in anger on wet and wild nights, and in midge season. After all this I can report my tarp is so back in my bag!

Tarps are inexpensive, even ultralight ones. Genuine cottage gear manufacturers cut out the middle man, so are able to offer a very high quality product made from durable and strong but light weight fabric. They are able to offer a very lightweight solution for half the price of a sub kilo tent via the normal retail channels. A silnylon tarp for one 295g, an ultralight solid walled nest for at least 1 and a dog  495g, so an 800g tent effectively for around £150 with sitting headroom, elbow room and won't fall over in a gale. This is what we can have. This is now possible. I struggled for so long to find what I wanted, in fact I never found it without having to spend over £400, so now I produce what I see as the solution for UK distance walkers under the Wrath Outdoor brand. Specifically I have produced the 'Jetstream nest' and based every element of its design around my own and fellow hikers needs for our very own thru hike style routes in the UK - The Pennine Routes in particular. The Jetstream has solid breathable walls, which reduces wind chill, creates a micro climate and helps keep condensation to a minimum.  It can be used on a campsite, it also works well in a wild setting.

So lets get back on the trail with something nice and light that does meet our needs, a solution which neither breaks the bank or our back. A solution which probably looks like and is an ultralight tarp / solid walled nest combo.

Thank you for reading, please as always let me know your thoughts.

So is it a Tarp then?

Sean