tarps and frozen ground

[djminnesota]

been having teouble with getting ny stakes (sheppard hook) into the rock solid winter ground. any auggestions? would changing the stakes make the difference?

[Catavarie]

Tie off to good sized rocks instead of bending your shepherd hook stakes trying to drive them in.

[zukiguy]

Huge Difference!!! Regular shepherd hooks are OK for nice soft ground and that's it. The aluminum will bend at most any significant resistance. Even the Ti version isn't much better, just much lighter. For Clay, rocky, or frozen ground you'll need something with a lot more heft. MSR groundhogs or something similar will work in most anything but deep snow. Hunt around there are quite a few threads on here about different types of stakes.

Maybe try this one or this one.

[NCPatrick]

I've never had much trouble getting the groundhog style "Y" stakes in and out of frozen ground, fwiw ymmv.

[Bannerstone]

I recently cut down a handful of aluminum gutter spikes to 4", they don't bend nearly as easily as shepherds hooks and you don't really need to drive them that deep in frozen ground anyway. They weighed in at 4 grams ea. Still carry a few MSR ground hogs too.

David

[Red Wing]

I recently cut down a handful of aluminum gutter spikes to 4", they don't bend nearly as easily as shepherds hooks and you don't really need to drive them that deep in frozen ground anyway. They weighed in at 4 grams ea. Still carry a few MSR ground hogs too.

David

I like that Dave, especially at a 45* angle in frozen ground. If it's frozen enough to bend your stake it's probably frozen enough to hold a partial length stake. Way to think outside the box there buddy Cheap and easy too, score.

[Cannibal]

I beat my Groundhogs into the frozen earth on a regular basis.
I also bend them much more often in winter.

[DuctTape]

I don't bring stakes anymore, not even in summer. I can usually find things to tie off to, like small woody undergrowth. Sometimes I make my own stakes using sticks. In winter up here it can almost impossible to use stakes. If there is snow, it is often too deep to get to the ground. If the the snow isn't very deep, the ground is solid and nothing will go into it, let alone come out. Thus in winter I tie off to other things. Deep snow, I tie to a section of stick, and bury it in the snow. Stomping down on it, maybe a touch of water to help freeze it in place. With little/no snow, if the ground is too solid to pound a stick, then it will be cold enough to freeze something to it. One note, when using the frozen log trick, if possible get one with a small protruding branch to which you can tie off to. Else you will need to be careful to not freeze your guyline in place; tautline hitch works well here.

[Bannerstone]

I like that Dave, especially at a 45* angle in frozen ground. If it's frozen enough to bend your stake it's probably frozen enough to hold a partial length stake. Way to think outside the box there buddy Cheap and easy too, score.

I was using them at Zaleski last week in those high winds and muddy ground for my doors and side pull and they were fine.

David

[Lost_Biker]

Example from frozen Indiana ground. Short 6" gutter nails work well and are really cheap.