Huts or tents?

There are some tents or fly set up that can be pitched with a low profile in higher winds. But not very comfortable and possibly not trustworthy. I recall seeing David Round pitching an A frame tent very low - a couple of feet off the ground and very wide so a low angled pitch in scrub outside a crowded hut.

If it's a bloody cyclone or tornado, there's no way I'm pitching anything 'just outside a hut". I lived on a submarine. I'll curl up semi-comfortably on the sink if need be! :) I'm thinking about nowhere near a hut. On or near a ridgeline. You wouldn't plan it, but I'd be a fool not to think about 'what ifs?' when undertaking a 3000km hike - even if it is along a designated trail.

Ditto.

Ya know, this forum really does need a 'like' button. :)

"You wouldn't plan it, but I'd be a fool not to think about 'what ifs?' when undertaking a 3000km hike - even if it is along a designated trail." Fair enough. My response is that it's only if you get caught unexpectedly on the open tops where there is no retreat to bushline - that you have a problem. And on the TAT how many spots are like that? Possibly the Tararuas (although there are plenty of huts and accessible bushline) and maybe the Richmonds (where I've never been so I cannot comment). You're only likely to get caught out in an exposed spot if the forecast was badly wrong, or you've pressed on into exposed terrain in the face of clearly deteriorating weather. And even then a smart tramper will be keeping an eye out along the way for those sheltered little spots that might make an overnight bivvy. If all turns to custard KNOWING the nearest last good place to retreat to really helps with decision making. And all it needs to be is a fold, or rock, or a patch of scrub that's out of the wind and just big enough to crawl into, set up your SB and cover, and hopeful rig a small fly to shelter your face and upper body. It will be a miserable night but you should be safe. My decision making is based on this idea of always knowing where my possible 'points of safety' lie and what it might take to reach them if I needed to. Pressing on with either no good forecast, no good shelter options and deteriorating weather IS a recipe for disaster - regardless of what tent you might be carrying.

usually huts but i always have a waterproof breathable sleeping bag cover with me at least for emergency shelter. either someone in your party or someone you come across might be in a situation where you have to bivy out for some time... flooded side streams could cut you off from getting to a hut, you never know if you're going to have an injury issue or get sick. The more likely i think i might be caught out the more substantial shelter i'll take, like a tent, if i had a tarp i'd consider that as well.

Tents and fly's are great in fine weather but a hut is where you want to be in an extended rain storm or wind. I like to be able to stand up and move around, which you certainly cannot do in a tent.