Blown Away on Gregory Bald (Almost Literally)

**LyttleBryan** · 10-25-2010, 08:58

I had a first experience this weekend while celebrating my ladies 30th birthday on Gregory Bald in the Smoky Mountains. The campsite we stayed at is Sheep Pen Gap (#13) and is easily one my favorite sites. The only problem with it, is that winds come down off the bald and cut through the gap.

This weekend they were particularly nasty. I don't have any speed information, but it was enough that the foot and a half thick trees I was hanging from had some sway to them. Add in the fact that my tarp is made from material designed to catch winds and I was almost certain I would achieve lift off.

I was actually surprised everything held as well as it did. The tarp was a Warbonnet Big Mamajamba (Spinn UL) with the single brad dyneema that Warbonnet sells. I had the tarp connected to the trees using two small Figure 9s and cord locks (form the Hammock Forums store) on the guy-lines. I only had one failure and it was actually the Figure 9, the cord locks held perfectly.

Something I did notice though was the slackening of the guy-lines during high gusts would give enough slack in the guy line that when the wind died down and the guy-line was pulled back to tautness it would put a lot of pressure on the stakes. One time it even managed to work itself loose from the stake.

I can't really think of a way to fix this, but it was neat none the less.

**DannyBoy2k** · 10-25-2010, 10:18

Originally Posted by LyttleBryan

Something I did notice though was the slackening of the guy-lines during high gusts would give enough slack in the guy line that when the wind died down and the guy-line was pulled back to tautness it would put a lot of pressure on the stakes. One time it even managed to work itself loose from the stake.

I can't really think of a way to fix this, but it was neat none the less.

Tarp tensioners would probably fix that. The tensioner would take up the slack on the leeward side during the gusts. The pull on the stakes would remain much more constant.

~Dan

**LyttleBryan** · 10-25-2010, 13:11

Originally Posted by DannyBoy2k

Tarp tensioners would probably fix that. The tensioner would take up the slack on the leeward side during the gusts. The pull on the stakes would remain much more constant.

~Dan

Of the tarp tensioners I've used and seen, I honestly don't think they provide a strong enough tension to do anything other than get blown around in the wind too.