Emergency shelters?

@madpom: is it a straight pole segment you require? Twin Needle here attended to our tent pole to good effect. It needed shortening (freebie replacement from Fairydown).

@Madpom You might be able to get sections that work from these people: https://tentpoletechnologies.com/product/easton-351-diameter-7075-t9-2/ They have a 145 degree arch connector. Two of them with a short straight bit between and legs going down might get close to the curve you need. Your Mountain Hardware tent sounds close to what I have in mind to make. Two poles going across the sleeping direction like a Minaret but only 400 mm height at the foot end, 800 mm at the head end for a wedge shape pointing into the wind. Vestubule/pack space beside the sleeping space. Two skinned, but inner very light with DCF floor and very light ripstop/insect net upper. I'm curious if anyone can point to a similar commercial design.

That windward shallow gradient would be so resilient against winds I wager. As long as the wind direction doesn't change. We got a change of direction one time on Stewart Island, waking up to a gust bending the pole and ripping the tent in the middle of the night.

Cheers for the thoughts fellas. Think I’ll stick with just a light tarp for back up.

I think there's a difference between emergency shelter & back-up.

I suppose it really depends how comfortable you want to be & if you're expecting to use it. Horses for courses really, there's hooped bivvys which I have used before which are not much lighter than single skin tents. And shelter wise you gear is outside the bivvy, and no room to swing a cat. Single skin tents though might be ok for the States where condensation ain't a problem, but in the UK or NZ in summer it's almost guaranteed. If I was expecting to be camping I would take a proper lightweight tent circa, 1.2 - 1.5kg, otherwise I'm happy with tarp and light bivvy like this https://www.burkescycles.co.nz/products/amk-sol-escape-bivvy which again, I've used a couple of times in relatively mild conditions, but would stand up to worse, The bivvy though looks single use, is multi-use and has a zip for ventilation.

If I was expecting to use it, I’d bring my tarp or my tent. This is for tramps I’d be planning to stay in a hut - having some sort of back up shelter in remote country in case of injury or failure to reach a hut seems like it might be safe practice. So the question was borne out of wanting a light-as-possible but still safe “back up” instead of carrying a tent that wouldn’t be used in 99% of these scenarios. The SOL bivy looks like a sweat box. Would you not be better off with just a groundsheet (sandflies permitting)? I have a nice “splash” bivy for tarping which is nice. Single skin tents are no different to tarps for condensation - though people tend to set up tarps with higher sides so they naturally get more airflow and usually are more spacious (so you don’t contact the damp fly easily). Most 3 season tents use mesh inners which don’t stop condensation, but they do make it harder to rub against you. A larger single wall shelter can make that a non-issue. I’m really damp weather a single skin becomes an advantage again if the fly gets so saturated it might drip through the mesh - in a single skin you can much more easily wipe down the fly with a buff or towel. I don’t own a single wall tent anymore, but I used one for years in kahurangi and around the Nelson lakes without issue - I think the issue is often overstated. Hooped bivvies are barely lighter (and often heavier) than light trekking pole tents. They’re a niche item in my opinion. Useful for mountaineers where tiny footprint and super Low profile (for more extreme wind) matter more than any practical comfort (or even enjoyment).

Single skin tents are I think worse than tarps, at least with tarps there is some form of ventilation. The Sol bivvy is reasonably breathable as any other bivvy, more so with a zip. Groundsheet only I would have thought much open to condensation on still night, or the elements on windy & wet one. I've found single skin tents just drip or get contact wetness in the middle of the night before you get the chance to wipe down with a cloth. I use a down sleeping bag, indeed down sleeping quilt, and down bags don't take kindly to getting damp. I'd agree with hooped bivvys, my Terr Nova bivvy which users a trekking pole instead of hoops is barely much lighter than some of the lightest tents.

I guess we need to define single skin tent. I’m thinking of the type that’s a fly with bugnet sewn to it and a floor to the bugnet. Ie essentially a shaped tarp with bug net permanently attached. So ventilation completely depends on design and user use (eg keep a door open all night and you’re barely any worse off than a tarp). Tarps tend to encourage better airflow as they tend to be pitched higher, but this is just how the person uses it. If you mean a single skin tent like the mountaineering single skin tents where they’re just a waterproof fabric totally enclosing you - yeah they’re bad for condensation in the wrong conditions. Ah yeah, I stopped using down in the UK and NZ. It’s obviously lighter, but I’ve got my synthetic wet from snow before and was still warm which really settled my faith in it. Groundsheet vs bivvy : depends on the conditions. Not many decently eater resistant materials pump human created vapor out fast enough not to create some condensation. Whether or not that is worse than the condensation created by the environment is a different story. The bivy does add a few degrees warmth for me by cutting drafts. On summer alpine trips I like just a groundsheet as there usually isn’t much condensation on rockier a ground above the treeline.

The modern design 2-skins are usually a bug mesh cocoon with a bath-tub base ie the solid floor extends up the side of the mesh a little way, like a kiddies paddling pool. The outer fly then doesn't need to xtend all the way to the ground & is flared out from making contact with the inner. Supremely venting while blocking rain. Pretty keen sleeping under the stars ?. I'm more likely in sandfly country. Can sound like steady rainfall as they attack the tent until well into darkness.