Hey guys,
Well I hung last night down in the woods, it was just on the treeline right near the loch. I pitched next to a huge blown over tree because we've been having some serious wind () the last few days and I wanted as much of a windbreak as possible. Seemingly the police were advising people not to travel unless necessary, with 90mph winds forecast. Perfect camping weather IMO!
I didn't have any trouble setting up, pitched the tarp on a steep A frame shape, and added my poncho as endcover/door to stop the wind driving the rain through my shelter.
Over the course of the first few hours when exceptional gusts blew pegs went flying. You could hear the gusts hurtling down from the hills (the loch is on the edge of the highlands) and across the water, and boomph it'd hit hard then die. I went round and replaced the guylines, and by the end of the night I had added 3 extra lines and put down huge rocks over those with the biggest strain as there is nothing I hate more than getting up in the middle of the night to stake down a tarp (which is why I'll only pitch on a beach when it's calm)
Now, my questions,
How do you chaps cope with gale force winds? Do you always carry extra line? I was lucky, I had paracord as well as pegs in my bag for a change (usually just cut my own).
I was lucky with site selection, it was easy to get the pegs in behind or between roots to get a good hold, what do you do if you don't have this advantage, or if you don't have rocks to anchor your lines?
How do you ensure a tight pitch? The force of the winds were so strong to push the tarp flat against me in the hammock and push me up. If it had been wetter this would have really caused problems.
And finally, do you build any weak links into your setup? It occured to me as some of winds battered my tarp that I didn't know what would go first - the lines, the shockcord loops, the tarp's corner stitching, or the tarp material itself!
But boy do I like hanging - even if everyone thinks I'm crazy
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