Used the Trialstar this weekend in the Shining Rock wilderness in North Carolina. Had some really nasty storms on Friday night from 9pm to 3am. This storm produced several tornados in the area and several inches of rain. Can't say that I slept much those 6 hours but stayed protected and dry. Surprisingly my buddy's REI quarter dome 1 held up well. He did have a lot of deflection and tent in the face but it survived as well.

Brad

Did you have a lot of deflection and tent in the face?

Was the opening faced into or away from the wind?

Hey Brad,

I didn't have any nasty weather, but I too had my Trailstar out this weekend. All we got was a couple inches of light snow.

Glad to hear your's performed well in bad conditions!

Jerry,

Good to hear from you. Hope all is well.

A few times in very heavy wind I had a little deflection but not bad or in my face. I sleep at the back of the shelter cross ways for max protection from the door. This minimized the headroom, but I never had issue with wall in my face. Later in the night the wind shifted and I got a little more spray in the door but it was minimal and i didnt get wet. This shift also caused a little wind to be direct through the door which caused minor billowing. I need to practice moving the door while inside. If I would have been sharing the shelter it would have been nice to move the door. I have no doubt that the wind was gusting to 50mph and the rain was horizontal at times. I kept checking the stakes but they didn't budge. I had it setup close to the ground and used all 10 stakes. 5 of the 9" Easton and 5 of the Ti hooks. Used the delivered guy lines and glad I did.

The opening was faced away from the wind most of the time. When it shifted it was more along the side with door catching a little. I checked the weather before leaving so I knew they were calling for severe storms and what the wind direction was going be. I planned the tent setup accordingly (thank goodness). I had a semi protected site. I was between to knobs ( SAMs and Little SAMs knob) along Flat Laurel Creek. I was on a good grassy spot but away from trees (ie widow makers).

Brad

Travis, curious what ground sheet you use if any

Thanks
Brad

Glad you made it back safe and sound, Brad. My mom texted me the next morning to make sure I wasn't out hiking in that mess. It wasn't too bad at the house, but both North and South of me had it much worse.

I don't need anything that big, but the Trailstar is always tempting me. Its just such a cool shelter.

Brad, curious you ask. For the first time, I just tried out my MYOG project, found here:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=59778


I made one for me and one for my wife. They worked well, but didn't look as nice and neat in the real world as they do in the pictures. Function over form, I guess.

@brand

i also have a TS and have heard people talking about shifting the door but i dont see how that will work well from the inside.

There are a few ways to set it up....but lets just assume you used the lower one where the door is in the middle of the panel (not in corner)
Now when you set it up this way (as opposed to with 5 corners to the ground) its NOT symmetrical - ie the distance btw two adjacent corners is smaller for the door corners. this means that to change door position you need to take out the mid panel/door stake, and start shifting the corner stakes away to make that panel taut (which will loosen the next panel) etc until you reach the one you want the new door to be in where you need to set that up.

Now in 50MPH wind what do you think will happen when you loosen the stakes and have flapping fabric...?

Michael

Agree. Waiting for somebody to figure out and video. Maybe all the TS users should add 10 bucks to the pot and first guy to post video wins

Brad

"Maybe all the TS users should add 10 bucks to the pot and first guy to post video wins,"

Sounds great! Where do I send my $10?

Brad, did you use a bivy? Shining Rock is one of my favorites. What were the low temps? I might be making the trip next weekend.

No bivy. Just ploycro groundsheet, 1/8 foam pad and synmat UL. In hindsight I would probably take my Katabatic bivy for wind/ draft protection. Wind started picking up early this morning and the bivy would have been nice.

Friday night low 40 degrees
Saturday night low 23 degrees

I'm heading back in April for another trip. Hope you have fun next weekend

Brad

Brad,

A few questions.

1. Does the 1/8" pad make much difference in comfort at the temps that you saw last weekend?

2. Would the Trailstar have been sufficient last weekend for 2 without bivies?

3. Is the Trailstar a keeper? Better than the Solo Trailstar?

I picked up a Trailstar a while back and haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

1. It does make some difference in my opinion.
2. Yes.
3. Definitely.

Trailstar:
- Lot of room.
- Works very well in high winds/rain
- I will use either in bad weather or when sharing with another backpacker
- The weekend before we had great weather and used with my 14 and 7 year old boys plus my brother in law and his 7 year old son. Yes that is five people under the TS. We were crammed in and a couple of us would have got wet if it rained, so only for a special occasion when I know the weather is going to be nice. However the boys thought it was fantastic.

Solo Trailstar:
- I have the cricket setup and a separate bivy setup. It works well also
- I don't see it being as wind worthy and it doesn't provide the same rain protection. I knew I had a chance of getting slammed by severe storms, so it wasn't an option. For normal weather including some rain showers I would most likely take it for my solo camping.

I think you will find many uses for the tS.

Brad

Andy,
I'm not sure if you've seen this thread, but it really highlights the Trailstar's attributes.


http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=54299

come to think about it - how can you move the door if you are INSIDE? you need to move the pole that supports the door to a different location AND stake that guyline...
also willing to pay 10$ to see that miracle (especially in the wind!)

IMO the only solution to middle of the night wind mitigation would be to intentionally stake it with a low pole height (i thin its like 91cm) so you could get rid of the door and adjust so all corners are to the ground - havent tried this from the inside but I think its doable with minimum moving around:
if you think about it in reverse....if you initially set it up such that all 5 to the ground and then pick up one corner you get a door (i guess that corner would move on an arc of equidistance from the adjacent corners) so you should be able to reverse in middle of night...maybe