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John Kays
(johnk) - M

Locale: SoCal
south vs north on 02/13/2013 13:49:05 MST Print View

The eastern areas south of Cottonwood Pass tends to very loose, sandy soil requiring a longer and wider stake whereas those areas further north of Cottonwood Pass and higher, provide a more packed soil or shallow soil over rock slab as Konrad suggested.
Gross Bob
(redmonk) - MLife

Locale: Bay Area
best stakes for the High Sierra on 02/13/2013 14:03:50 MST Print View

I use two Ti stakes with my stove.

For my shelter I've found stakes to be less useful than heavier lines for tying up rocks.
John Abela
(JohnAbela) - M

Locale: www.hikelighter.com
Re: Stake "?" on 02/13/2013 21:52:39 MST Print View

A W (lost_01) stated: Jason - Out of curiosity, what determines which stakes you use for what purpose? (So three Ti Vargo in the front of the Hexamid, five Ti Shepard in the rear?)


I am not Jason but I will answer this.

The ZPacks Hexamid has two high-stress points, two mid-weight stress points, and four non-stress points.

zpacks hexamid stress points

For my hexamid I used:

Two 9-inch stakes for the high stress points
Two 6-inch stakes for the two mid stress points
Four ti shepard stakes for the low stress points

Remembering that the front and back are where the primary stress along the primary seam of the shelter takes place. It is along that same primary seam that one uses to point the shelter into the direction that the wind is going.

The two side stakes (mid level stress points) are the two stakes used to keep the shelter under tension and keep is form shaped. One of these two stakes can come out of the ground and the entire shelter does not fall down under most wind loads.

The four non-stress points are used for pretty much nothing more than holding out the material to give the person inside of the shelter room. The Hexamid can be setup without the use of these four additional stakes, though the hiker will loose a lot of room on the inside. Any, or all, of these four stakes can come out of the ground and the shelter should remain standing.


From a design perspective it is these facts that make the hexamid an amazingly strong shelter of you set it up correctly. Just remember that the higher the shelter goes (ie: the Solo-Plus) the higher the apex of the shelter goes and thus the more that wind is unable to deflect itself and as a result, the weaker that the shelter becomes. This is one of those decisions that far too few hikers take into consideration. Yes, the room of the SoloPlus might be nice, but it comes with the risk of a less stable shelter - as it goes for all shelters.

At the most recent BPL GGG I had the honor (and pleasure - grin) of showing a hexamid owner just how important proper stakes and proper placement of the stakes are. It was a fun time showing the hiker what different effects happen when different stakes are used in each of the different areas, and which direction wind has on them, and just how important it is to use longer guylines for the high-stress stakes. The non-stress guylines can be mere inches in length, but a longer-than-expected guyline for the two high-stress stakes/guylines can make a *huge* difference in how stable a hexamid shelter can be.

-Abela
Toby Salz
(tobysalz) - M
Hexamid stakes on 02/13/2013 23:04:10 MST Print View

hey john -- what 9" and 6" are you using with your hexamid?
John Abela
(JohnAbela) - M

Locale: www.hikelighter.com
Re: Hexamid stakes on 02/13/2013 23:09:41 MST Print View

tobysalz: hey john -- what 9" and 6" are you using with your hexamid?


Hey Toby,

For the high-stress locations (front / rear) I used 9" Sorex Stakes - and an 8-foot piece of guyline with a micro line lock on it for the front and a 5-foot piece of guyline with a micro line lock on it for the rear.

For the mid-level stress zones (left-right primary stakes) I used 6" Sorex Stakes and a 4-foot piece of guyline with a micro line lock on them.

The non-stress zones (all six of them) I just used whatever Ti stakes I had sitting around. Guyline length of 8 inches, no micro line locks, with loops half way in the middle of each guyline.

-Abela

Edited by JohnAbela on 02/13/2013 23:15:37 MST.
Jason G
(JasonG) - F

Locale: iceberg lake
Re: Re: Stake "?" on 02/13/2013 23:37:30 MST Print View

""I hike 90% in the sierra and for my Hexamid i use 3 vargo ascent V shape ti stakes for the main center and 2 front"

Jason - Out of curiosity, what determines which stakes you use for what purpose? (So three Ti Vargo in the front of the Hexamid, five Ti Shepard in the rear?)"

"I am not Jason but I will answer this."

I am Jason, so I will answer this too.

Yes a.w., I use the 3 v-shape stakes for the front door and 2 front corners. I find that the front door and two front corners are the biggest stress points as they are going against the lean of the trekking poll. If there is significant wind i will just support the stakes with rocks.