Blind trust has no place in bushwalking…
Our recent trip to Mount Sorell was a reminder in all things ‘preparation’ for Bender and I.
Like many others, we bushwalk so often that packing for a trip becomes second nature. We have designated storage spaces in our homes for our gear, printed packing lists, specific gear setups for different types of trips (day trip, multi day, winter, summer etc.) and we can (usually) turn around gear between trips super fast - a well oiled machine indeed! But even with all this in place we made a HUGE error on our recent Mount Sorell Trip.
First, a little background. Amongst a bevy of tents (probably too many!) between us, both Bender and I own TarpTents. I have the TarpTent Double Rainbow Lithium, a lightweight (sub-1KG) two-person, single-skin DCF tent we generally use for all of our shared adventures, outside of the winter months where we revert to our vastly-warmer Hilleberg Nammatj. Additionally, Bender has a TarpTent ProTrail Lithium, an ultralight (sub-500gr), hiking pole-supported, one-person single-skin DCF tent that he uses for fastpacking trips and other solo adventures.
After our trips, our tents are usually set up at Bender’s place for a day or two to dry out before being carefully cleaned and packed up, ready for the next adventure. Bender has a large open space to pitch the tents indoors, which is mighty convenient! Looking after our gear is obviously important (good tents are really expensive!) but it is also critical we don’t spread dirt/mud and potential diseases from one National Park or area into another. Phytophthora aka. ‘root rot’ and the frog disease Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis aka. chytrid fungus.
A week before our Mount Sorell trip, Bender had used his tent for a return visit to Federation Peak to guide some friends to the summit, whilst I had solo climbed Mount Bobs nearby. So it just so happened that he had both tents drying out at the same time, ready for the upcoming weekend out west.
Despite being quite different tents, both tents are made from the same materials and look almost identical when rolled up. You can probably see where this is going… ;-)
All the gory details are in the Mount Sorell blog, but I was walking in early to pitch our tent and spend a leisurely day relaxing whilst Lucas, Bender and Ben Y would walk in later that evening after work. Rain was forecast, but I looked forward to being warm and cosy in the tent, chilling out and enjoying some quiet solitude with my book.
Returning from the summit of Mount Sorell.
The night before we were due to set off, Bender dropped ‘my’ tent off to me all neatly packed up and ready (thanks babe) so I popped it straight into its pod, and slipped its poles into my pack along side it. I also had a small, cheap tarp (the blue ones used with trailers) as I knew from previous reconnaissance that our camping spot would be on sharp rocks and gravel. Driving pegs in is almost impossible, but there are lots of rocks to tie tents to and secure them.
The nightmare begins…
As forecast, the rain was belting down as I arrived to our camping spot and I couldn’t wait to get out of the cold and wind and dive into the tent. After laying down the tarp, I dragged the tent pod out of my pack and shook out the tent to pitch it. As it floated to the ground, my heart sank. FML. Shit. FML. OMG - I had the wrong tent! Bender had inadvertently given me his ProTrail! Which not only lacked the required space we’d both need later tonight, but I had never pitched it or used it before either! It pitches with hiking poles to save weight and like most non-freestanding, hiking pole supported shelters really prefers to be pegged out than held in place with rocks.
It was raining, it was windy, I was now quite cold and had NO shelter. The ground sheet tarp was too small to fashion into a lean-to for shelter - it was simply to be a durable footprint. After simultaneously using the most unladylike like language and firing a message off to Bender on the InReach that we had a serious issue he needed to solve before leaving Hobart with the guys, I shoved some chocolate into my mouth to warm me up and realised I had two options:
One - walk all the way back to the car (a good few hours) and sit in the car for the next eight hours until the boys arrived. Or, two - somehow pitch the tent without long enough poles or trees to tie it to! I chose to at least try the second option before bailing out.
Worlds dodgiest pitch!
My Double Rainbow Li is a wonderfully easy and straightforward tent to setup, with a dedicated “arc” pole, cross-brace and a semi-freestanding mode to help it hold its shape on solid rocky surfaces where you can’t use pegs. The ProTrail however needs very specific pitching, and I quickly learned that it can be a very unforgiving tent! My walking poles weren’t long enough to tension the front, and the plastic tips on the end of them meant it couldn’t get them through the small holes that the Bender’s poles would normally use. The ProTrail can be used with dedicated lightweight poles, but of course these are completely different lengths to the ones I had with me for my tent, so were of no help to me.
We’d learned nearly a year ago camping at Shelf Camp (Mt Anne Circuit) and later at Haven Lake (Western Arthurs) that a bit of creativity and a lot of guy line is often required to securely fix a tent without pegs. As such, I had packed in several extra lengths of 3mm cord, as I knew we’d be pitching essentially on solid ground.
So after over an hour of McGyver-ing I had the tent “pitched”. And by pitched, I had just enough tension across it using cord strung up to rocks that it sat upright - sort of! It would however not stand up to any real gusts of wind, so I was praying the weather wouldn’t get worse.
I climbed in, changed into dry clothes and then proceeded to sit in the middle of the already low-slung tent, holding it up with my hands above my head. FOR. NEARLY. EIGHT. HOURS!!
The combination of doing abdominal crunches and holding my hands above my head kept me warm enough. But I couldn’t get my warm sleep gear out, as the inner tent had pooled with water due to rain getting in as I figured out how to somehow pitch it.
Mercifully, Bender had been able to organise another tent for us (thanks Lucas!) before leaving Hobart. He and the guys arrived at camp about half an hour after nightfall, and after profuse apologies we quickly got the new tent up so I could finally shed my now damp-again clothes and get warm!
Whilst I was pretty proud that I managed to deal with the situation and create a good-enough shelter for myself, there was one HUGE lesson in this debacle:
Never trust anyone else to pack your gear - always, always check your own gear.
(I’m sure Schapelle Corby can relate, LOL!)
I was understandably a bit annoyed at Bender when I realised he had given me the wrong tent, but I should have checked my own gear. I placed my safety in the hands of someone else and so it was entirely my burden to bear! Needless to say I wont make that mistake again - and I am sure neither will Bender ;)
If you want to read the whole gory tent story check it our here.
The tent loaned to us by Lucas.
