After seeing the following two vids and reading a lot in forums here and there, I had to check the Golite SL-3 out for myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnC8vnIcN4I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGPazJpZbSs

I have one on the way and will be looking for a custom inner tent as well as a lighter center pole.

I've been to the Bearpaw Wilderness Designs site and will be contacting them. Are there any other good sources for half-sized inner tents?

With regards to the center pole. What are the go to sources for sturdy but more compact replacements? I'm not one to use hiking poles so I need a dedicated center pole.

This is gonna be cool. :)

Try UK-based OookWorks - Sean has offered ripstop and nylon solo OookNests for the SL3 for a while now, and just today he revealed the two person 2OookNest. He offers all sorts of customization options and he has built a reputation for craftsmanship and excellent customer service.

What's that I hear? Could be the sound of stars aligning. I'll check them out.

Wow, the oooks solomesh for the SL3 looks fantastic. I recently ordered this shelter for family use. Now that I see the vestibule space this inner creates I'm drooling at the thought of using it as a luxurious solo shelter!

Seekoutside, kifaru, and titaniumgoat offer carbon fiber tent poles. The seekoutside one would be my first choice due to its weight and strength; there's a bit about it in the review linked from their page describing the Backcountry Shelter.

Thanks Rakesh. I'd never heard of Seekoutside and it would be cool to source a center pole from a company here in Rockies. I didn't find the review you were talking about though.

I don't suppose anyone has the ideal center pole height range for the Shangri-La 3 handy? It's possible that I could have the new inner tent and replacement pole ordered before the SL3 is delivered to me. lol.

No problem, Ron. This is the review I was referring to.

I got a center pole from Titanium Goat custom-made for my 'mid, and though it's so light that you'd expect it to be very flimsy, it actually feels quite sturdy when it's rigged up. Seek Outside has a new pole that's stronger and lighter than their earlier model, which I learned about after I got my pole from TiGoat. I think the Seek Outside pole is also lighter than TiGoat's, though TiGoat may have a newer revision also, it has after been almost a year since I got mine from them.

I've never measured the height needed for the pole as I use a trekking pole and extender. I'll set it up at lunch and measures. Do you just want to know the range from fully pinned down to as high as it will go with the straps fully extended? (You could tie on longer guys if you wanted to go higher.) I'm sure you know that you can also go without a pole if you find a nice spot under a tree branch. Like this. :)



That's from the GGG outing photo gallery. Pretty funny.

Wow. That looks alien obduction-ish. It's funny but it would be a lot funnier if pals did that to their buddy.

Since my last posting I found the page where Golite is selling their center poles and the "regular" has an adjustment range from 58-70". They also list a "long" pole but I'm guessing it's for the SL5, measuring from 66-80".

I'd imagine that I'll be raising the fly up to a few inches off the ground. My biggest focus on this will be seeing if it's really worth spending about $150? to replace the Golite pole. It's 320g and is reported to be very strong. I'm waiting to see what the weight of a carbon version would weigh. I emailed Seek Outside to get an estimate on this.

Not a lot of trees suitable for supporting a shelter in the kind of places I like going. Evergreens and aspens mostly, if at all.
http://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/image/138677358.jpg

Edited by Miles2go on 03/22/2012 11:18:55 MDT.

You could ask that Grizz to hold it up. :) Personally, unless it's windy and raining sideways, I pitch it as high as possible. The more ventilation the better. And the more room. Even when pitched high, the rain only comes in a bit. And if you pitch in in a grassy area like in that pic, you definitely want as much ventilation as you can get!

The regular length range looks good. I pitched it as high as I normally would and the length was 65.5".

How far above the ground is your regular pitch?

My plan is to pitch it an inch or so off the ground to start, then if the wind kicks up, lower it but what do I know at this point? :) We'll have the door open as much as possible.

Thanks for checking that out for me!

6-8" I guess. I took it down right after I pitched it. Sorry. Condensation can definitely be an issue. As in any single wall tent. Lots of ventilation is good. One thing about the doors on these if you haven't pitched it yet is it opens up all way to the center so you are exposing a lot of the floor space. Really depends on what you want. And you'll figure out how you like to use it fast enough. Here's a pic that shows how high I pitch it. Use dog for scale. :)

Edited by rlnunix on 03/22/2012 13:58:25 MDT.

When solo and with the dog I'll be in the back of the SL3 as shown in the second vid in my first post at 0:35. By door open as much as possible, I mean the door zipped down a bit from the top to add another vent point as well as up from the bottom a few inches. I look forward to my first outing to get this hammered out.

I own quite a bit of GoLite gear (Jam2, Jam, original Pinnacle, new Pinnacle, Ion, Rush, Shangri-La 2 & a few pieces of clothing) I have enjoyed using all of it & have been very impressed with the quailty of design & construction. However, over the last few months I have purchased & returned three Shangri-La 3s. I love the design, but I finaly gave up ordering & returning them. The Shangri-La 3s I recieved should never made it past quailty control, imho. The sewing was horrible. They could not be pitched tight because of many puckers & meanding seams. One even had atleast three good size holes midway on three large panels. I think these are beautiful structures to look at, inside & out. I still believe it would be a wonderful, what ever the weather throws at you shelter, but I gave up!

I certainly hope the Shangri-La 3 you recieve is up to GoLite's usual high standards.
But just in case, check it inside & out.

Surprising to hear. I've done a ton of reading and haven't seen any mention of issues with this shelter series. In fact, to the contrary, everyone has been impressed with the fit and finish. Golite is just down the hill about 2.5 hours so if I have any issues I'll be happy to pay them a visit. Thanks for the heads up.

I'll be looking it over and will post photos of the my first pitch.

Rakesh: What is the adjuster like on your Ti Goat pole, if you ordered one like that? What does the tubing measure, across? 1"? Smaller?

Seek Outside can do a 1" pole with an adjuster, moving in 1" increments and weighing at around 9 ounces. The segment lengths are about 20" long. They have smaller stock but no adjuster sections for it. I don't know if this is the new pole you spoke of.

Carrying trekking poles is starting to sound easier but I'm not interested in doing that. In 2009 I did the Tour du Mont Blanc with 37,000 ft of elevation gain and as much loss and thought I might want to buy a set of poles for that trip and did. They remained lashed to my pack most of the time.

I was in REI today and walked by the Brunton Monopod hiking staff/camera stand:

http://www.rei.com/product/728693/brunton-monopod

Only the top of the monopod didn't look like the REI picture above (with the aluminum piece) but rather had a molded foam knob, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Three-section-Monopod-Binoculars-Transits/dp/B0018LRIPK

Anyway, the pole telescopes to 62.5" and weighs less than GoLite's or Kelty's adjustable tarp poles. Part of the weight includes a long foam handle, wrist-strap and a rubber end-cap for the carbide tip. All these things can be removed/cut off to lose a few ounces from the listed weight of 9.5 oz.

It's a twist lock pole and some folks here don't like those, but it might be a good option for someone who doesn't carry trekking poles.

62.5" isn't the top range I want for the SL3 and that is 7.5" shorter than the 11oz Golite pole. It may work in other applications though.

It is really surprising that the cf pole is only 2 ounces lighter than the stock golite pole - 9oz and 11oz. I assume the 9oz pole from seekoutside is shorter than the one they list on their site that is up to 82".