**GoPro made our video their video of the day on the 27th March 2012. It made us pretty chuffed and we received over 26k views in the first 24 hours** 

During our 5 days camping we got to paddle, chop wood, make fires and toast marshmellows so now our souls have definitely been recharged with a warm smokey glow.

Whilst we were there we took time out to experiment with our GoPro HERO camera and it’s various accessories including the waterproof housing.  We got quite creative with the camera angles.  When we got back I stitched footage together to make a short film.  The music is Old Pine by Ben Howard. Let us now what you think.

For more of my videos check out Maia Media.

Howies Coed Y Brenin Enduro 2011 from Maia Media on Vimeo.

The motley crew who bring you the Howies Dyfi Enduro created a brand new event for 2011 in the UK’s most famous mountain biking forest – Coed Y Brenin.

This new mountain bike enduro event, treated the riders to some of the superb technical single-track that Coed Y Brenin is famous for, and adding some twists and turns that few, bar the locals, have ridden before.

Combining lots of DSLR and GoPro footage this video gives you a taste of the event from a riders perspective. It takes in everything from tarmac to forest road, to rough dirt track, fields and technical purpose built singletrack.

Ride event website – www.summitcycles.co.uk/enduro11

For your official guide to all things mountain biking in Wales visit mbwales.com

or join them on facebook facebook.com/​mbwales

Song: At Home by Crystal Fighters

It finished like this…

Here’s a brief idea of what came in the middle…

After waking up the morning after signing up to the Howies Coed-y-Brenin Enduro I had an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach.  As I slowly came round I realised I had committed myself to 52km of off road riding and I’d made the ultimate mistake in telling people about it!  Oh well better start thinking about some training.

Being a stupidly enthusiastic mtb’er the idea of more miles on the bike didn’t seem so bad.  I worked out a rough training plan for the next 8 weeks.  Now anyone that knows me realises my riding is more about the jumps, drops, flat pedals and pads than spd’s, cycle computers and distance.  A slight change of mental approach was required.

After a few weeks of training I decided that a good mental boost would be to do the full event distance.  A day off during the week gave me the perfect opportunity to spin round Llandegla’s black route three times.  It was a fun ride, tunes blasting in my ears, head down, doing the distance.   I came off the end in reasonable shape so felt good going into the event weekend.

The weekend in question quickly made its appearance.  We met the rest of the team at the registration tent on Saturday, they had a great tent with bar/cafe/dj set up.  Good food available as well as some great ales.  Sunday morning we headed over to Coed-y-Brenin for about 9:00am and got a good parking spot.  I set about putting the bike together and making sure all was in order.  I popped my number on the front, got the GPS bolted to the bars, sorted my pack and was feeling smugly organised by about 9:30am.  As ever nothing is simply.  I soon discovered my x-fusion uppy downy seatpost, which has worked perfectly, was having a fit.  Aaagghh!  I stripped it as best I could and had bits of seatpost, bolts and cables strewn over the roof of the car as we approached the start time.  I decided it was best to get on with it and put everything together

I found the rest of my friends and as we headed over to the start line I was accosted by a complete stranger!  ”You’ve got the wrong number, you’ve got the wrong number.” he kept saying.  WTF I’m thinking.  Our stranger goes on to explain he’d registered two numbers and somehow I’d got one of them.   I madly dashed up to the registration tent, got the correct number and swapped numbers with 106.  Now I’m 108, or am I 106 and he’s 108! Whatever.  Ok, now we’re set to go.  Surely there’s nothing else to go wrong.

It can!  Stood in the start melee I had another dawning realisation.  I had agreed to shoot as much of the event as I could using a gopro on a chest strap.  Where was the chest strap, where was the bloody gopro!  In the car was the answer.  I rushed back to the car.  Grabbed the chesty and gopro and raced back to the start.   After a very brief briefing there was a bang and the roar of a motorbike.  We saw the guys at the front race off up the starting hill.  The first of many we would struggle up that day.  Ok so here we go I thought.  I started the GPS and pushed off.

The start went smoothly, a few people fell over for inexplicable reasons but overall the pack of riders happily started a long fire road climb.  As I knew I would, even after some serious talks with myself, I set off far too quickly.  My heart rate went through the roof and I was sweating bullets.  I wondered how long could I keep this up.  The fire road went up and up and up, my god, it went on for ever.  We headed north towards Pont y Llyn-du where we had a mentally fast road descent followed by another road climb towards Moel Gwynfynydd.

 The riders were, as you can imagine, a really mixed bag.  There were thin, fat, short, tall and just plain weird and those were just the bikes people were riding.  People went past, I went past people and so it went on.  The riders began to thin out a touch.  Fewer people overtook me and I overtook fewer people.  It was interesting to see the differences in riders.  I had an interesting tussle with a very fit lady on a hardtail who would kick my arse on the ups who I would then overhaul on the descent and more technical riding.  I overheard an interesting comment as we started up after the first serious descent.  A rider talking to his friend said “I’m not nearly as good a rider as I think I am.”  This could have been due to the pair being blown away by a couple of riders who’d taken the descent without apparently touching their brakes given how fast they were going!

The first 1/2 of the trail took us higher and higher with some stunning views.  The cloud cover was dissapointing but, to be frank, welcome.  After we peaked in height for the first time we were treated to some oldskool mtbing with forest bashing and an intense rutted, rocky downhill section.  Throw in some bog trotting and a good old hike-a-bike section around Tyddyn Mawr and some would say you’re in nirvana.  Here soggy bog and what felt like near vertical grass slopes combined to create a special kind of purgatory.  I heard later that no one had cleared this section on their bike, that made me feel slightly better.

 Some contouring on fire roads led us to the slopes of Moel Hafodwen which provided a nice breeze and more amazing views.  Diving back into the forest we took some more technical sections into the first feed station.  The food was welcome even though I hadn’t exactly starved myself.  Lots of water, sweet and savoury snacks as well as High5 energy drink on offer.  I was grateful for the chance to stretch and get some more water, others simply dodged those refuelling and rode straight through.

 The next section was pure joy and punishment by turns.  A quick road climb led us into a long section of the regular trails at Coed-y-Brenin.  The riders had thinned out enough that I could let the brakes off and make the most of the inappropriate 6 inches of travel I was dragging round with me.  I really let rip.  I couldn’t help but squeal with excitement. Then I was presented with a choice.   I’d reached the junction of the regular or long route.  All I could think was pain or no pain. Pain or no pain. Pain or no pain.  My legs were saying ‘no pain’ but my ego chose ‘pain’.  I turned away from the direction of the centre and started to pedal away from comfort.

 The next leg took in more trail centre riding, which I loved, then there was an almighty shock.  From the road junction near Gelligemlyn all the way up to the slopes Rhobell Fawr,  a climb of nearly a 1000ft.  It was truly relentless and painful and then a little more relentless.  We were all in the granny ring grinding it out.  Round every corner and every junction there was more up.  The views were amazing when I could wipe the sweat from my eyes to see.  My helmet was full of sweat, squeezing it against my head produced a rain of sweat down my face and onto the bike.  Good job the GPS is waterpoof.

I thought about resting many times but just kept pounding it out.  I couldn’t bear the thought of having to get back on the bike and continuing to go up.  I’d rest at the top I told myself.  If only it would appear.  Finally a gap of cloudy sky appeared above the road.  A block of view sandwiched between the wall on one side and the slopes of the hillside on the other.  I’d reached the top.  I slid off my bike and staggered around a bit, legs geting used to standing again.  Munching energy bars I plugged in the ipod for the first time to get some motivation.  I watched a few riders coast over the brow and head down the other side before getting back on the bike.

 The route took us into the woods again and then I saw a sign.  ”4km to the feed station and it’s all down hill.”  That’s the kind of sign you want to see.  The route took us into some mentally steep descents on grassy, rocky slopes with ruts and drops.  Pure adrenalin.  We countered the hill some more then I found myself in nirvana.  A section of pure singletrack bliss.  Contouring and descending a thin ribbon of pine needle covered track cut into the side of steep wooded valley.  No room for error, the up-slope side would occasionally bulge into the singletrack creating a pinch point.   The focus required to nail this was intense.  I blasted through this section with the odd squeak of joy before being deposited on to the road at the bottom with a huge grin on my face.  It may have all been worth it just for that trail I thought.

There’s always a price to pay and almost as soon as I hit the bottom my legs began to cramp terribly.  Standing didn’t help and every turn of the pedal sent a spasm into either the calf or quads.  I chose pain and I was really getting it.  I just kept peddling hoping it would go away.  We had to walk down a footpath to a narrow bridge over a truly amazing waterfall into a crystal clear pool of very cold looking water.  I dreamed of  jumping in to cool down and try to help my cramp.  Not being sure of how far it was to the end I decided to just bash on .  The cramps eased slightly.

The second visit to the feed station arrived and I took on more water.  I asked how far and was told 10km.  Bummer! I was already 3hrs 30mins in and I had set a target time of 4hrs.  I was going to miss this by some margin.  A quick mental revision and I moved the goal posts to 4hrs 30 mins and I got back on the bike.

 Being familiar with Coed-y-Brenin I was soon on fire roads and linking sections I was familiar with.  As I crested one rise I realised this was the final downhill into the carpark and the finish of the Enduro.  That wasn’t 10km that much I do know.  I dropped into the singletrack going full bore and had an amazing time trying to ride smoothly, fast and not kill myself.  Before I knew it I could see cars and people and what looked like the finish line.  I popped out in the car park, there were people waiting for friends with cameras at the ready.  I was waved on by the marshall, drifted into the timing tent and high fived the guy behind the desk.  Damn, I’d done it and under 4 hrs.  Result!

Hannah will be editing all my GoPro footage and more video she shot herself on the day so keep your eyes out for a film coming soon. You can keep up-to-date with Hannah by following Maia Media on Facebook.

Hot-tub with the team + beer and freeby howies cap.  Happy days.

Here’s a short video trip report to show you the fun that can be had in the Alps on your bike. All filmed on a Panasonic Lumix GH2 and GoPro HERO.

The guys I ride with around the Manchester/NW area had for the last few years entered the PPDS which takes place late June each year. I’d always been keen to ride in the Alps since I started mountain biking properly but the strands of other adventures had always got in the way. That was until 2011. Steve, the internet overlord and general organiser for our disparate group piped up saying he was thinking about an Alps trip and after a few hasty conversation with the missus we decided we were also in. Steve e-mailed a few chalet providers and decided on ‘The White Room’ in Sainte Foy. A few things helped us make the choice. They were prepared to do a 2/3 day stay for 12 people (arrive Saturday & depart Wednesday), they guide every day bar Wednesday, the chalet is full board with free booze. What more could you want. Oh and the price was a very reasonable £495 for the full week (less for the part week.)

The Whiteroom.

This in essence is Stevo and Iona, they run a chalet called Tintin in Sainte Foy, a small resort up the mountain from Bourg St Maurice.   During the winter Stevo & Iona run the regular chalet format but it’s during the summer months the MTBing takes over.

Tin Tin Chalet at The White Room (courtesy of Snowslave)

During the summer Stevo and Iona guide riders around their patch of mountain biking heaven taking in everything from epic alpine hike-a-bikes to DH only weeks and everything in between.   I get the impression the Classic Singletrack weeks are probably the best unless you’re really obsessive about your particular branch of biking.   Where The Whiteroom really stands out is the guiding.   For your money you’re getting either Stevo or Iona, sometimes both, guiding you all day every day, bar the rest day on Wednesday.   This means no messing about with maps, no worrying about getting the uplift on time, no thinking about where to go for lunch, just unadulterated riding for as long as you can hang on.

Chalet TinTin.

It’s a beautiful late 1800’s traditional wooden chalet.   The conversion to house more guests has been done well, although it has left a few quirky sleeping arrangements.   There’s a double room over the kitchen/living area, so make sure the party animal gets this room.   There’s also a couple of bunks in the downstairs corridor.   In addition they use a flat in a building behind the chalet to house some guests which is very modern, complete with it’s own dungeon!   There’s loads of exposed beams and wood, as you would expect, and many of the rooms are en-suite but not all.   The main living eating space is big enough for 12, at least, with a nice balcony over looking the valley.   I never got tired of the view to the mountains in the Villaroger Nature Reserve opposite.

Sunset view from the Tin Tin Chalet balcony

There’s also a little workshop room housing a work stand and tools for when things start to go wrong.   Stevo (one of our guides) was incredibly helpful to everyone who had mechanicals.   The food was excellent, breakfast was a two course affair with cereal/toast/fruit/yoghurt followed by a cooked course.   Lunch was cheese and ham sandwiches prepared by our own fair hands and a bag of goodies supplied at the beginning of your stay.   Be careful not to eat all your goodies in the first few days!   There were plenty of options for lunch out if you fancied but just like during the winter, it ain’t cheap!   When we arrived back from each ride there was a cake waiting for us, a different slab of loveliness each day!   All to see us round to dinner later in the evening.   We had a great chef called Mars who provided us with really good home cooked food. Delicious roasted potatoes in goose fat and pork belly were two of my favourite.   My only comment would be that it was a little light on vegetables but the quality of the cooking was quite exceptional.

Your average day.

There’s nothing average about the riding in Sainte Foy.   We usually met at about 9.00 – 9.30am for either the first uplift or the Whiteroom minibus to go somewhere. Their bike trailers are excellent, keeping each bike well protected from the others.   We’d hit the trails and go till lunchtime.   This was often a later lunch so keep yourself well fed as you go along.   A lunch stop gave you time to rehydrate and eat.   The temperatures were hot so I got through two 3L bladders most days.

Our Uplift. No pedalling!

Post lunch riding was no calmer.   Go go go until you stop for the day.   On the first day alone we put 5000 metres of decent under our belt – that’s like descending Snowdon three times!   Often we’d finish the day in a bar for a beer or two which was welcome.   Then back to the chalet for a bit of maintenance of you and your bike! Dinner was usually at about 8-9pm.

What was everyone riding.

A real mix of bikes were taken out on this trip.   Everything from short travel trail bikes to 160mm coil shock sofa’s. Your average long travel trail bike, ie 5 inches, will do the job just fine.   It has to be said that a short travel trail bike will suffice but won’t be as much fun. However ride what you’ve got and don’t let your bike stop you from booking the trip and having fun. Check out my How to Alpify your Bike post if you want a few more tips.

Overview of our Itinerary

Here’s Stevo’s write up of our trip but from my rough remembrance it went like this:

Day 1

Les Arcs chairlift up and singletrack/DH options down. Very exciting trip up to Les Arcs on the funicular, that’s train to you and me! A few chairlifts and your pretty much at the top of the mountain. Getting the bikes on the chair lifts was easy enough although if you’re not used to heaving your bike around it can be a little tricky. It seems every chair lift has a slightly different way of getting the bike on. Some more bike friendly than others. The riding is Les Arcs was pretty fun. The DH track was much like a trail centre on steroids. Bike berms, bigger jumps and some interesting obligatory slow speed drop-offs. Not everyone’s cup of tea. Personally I loved it and could see how you could go really mad just doing laps on a track like that. We also squeezed in some ace singletrack down from the top lift to the base of the mountain. Epic switchbacks going on forever. Not something we ever do at home!

Day 2

Uplift in Sainte Foy itself taking in some amazing singletrack like you’ve never seen. Steep, technical and exciting.

Day 3

Beautiful Day 3 Singletrack

Uplift in Sainte Foy and some driving around by Whiteroom. ‘Vini Vidi Vici’ was by far the best trail of the day, perhaps even the trip. Smooth flowing singletrack that just egg’s you on to go faster and faster. Lots of people saying it felt like a computer game.

Day 4

Rest Day – boy did we need it. Read books, slept lots and enjoyed a nice meal in the resort itself at ‘Le Maison’ – Oh and I proposed to my now lovely fiancé.

Day 5

Uplift in Sainte Foy – laps on the start of ‘Thin red line’ with ‘whisky & rye’ on the end. A few alternate finishes thrown in. All round a lot of riding on some amazing trails.

Day 6

Alpine hike-a-bike – properly brilliant and quite epic. This is perhaps the most familiar style of riding we did during our stay. We drove up to a resort then cycled and walked our way to the top of a very big hill (this is the bit you’ll all be familiar with!). This bit less so….after a brief break we cruised down some of the most beautiful, smooth and flowing singletrack I’ve ever ridden. It also seemed to go on forever. The riding was less intense and the trails less technical but the views spectacular.

Summary

One of the real advantages of staying at the Whiteroom is Stevo & Iona’s flexibility. Your group not really loving the singletrack, well they can take you to the DH course at a resort instead. Fancy something more XC, they have just the place in mind. They may do most of the transport of you+bike or you may find yourself paying for uplifts everyday. Budget an extra £100 for lift tickets for the week so there’s no surprises for your wallet. They also know their area really well so will take you and the weather into consideration, All told it’s a great package.

Pro’s

1. Lovely quiet chalet, great food thanks to Mars and Amy (2011.)
2. Exceptional riding guides in the form of the Stevo & Iona.
3. World class singletrack at your door with easy access to good resort options as well.

Con’s

1. Go go go!!! It felt a little full on right from the off.
2. The transfer from Geneva is a long one.
3. Perhaps too much cheese & ham for lunch!

BOTTOM LINE – Would I book with the Whiteroom again – you bet I would!

Most of the Team

We braved torrential rain to airboat ourselves down the Giffre River. The water level was high and the weather was miserable but it was the perfect time to go rafting.

We also had chance to experiment with our newly purchased GoPro camera and chesty mount. It was fun to experiment with a camera in the water.

On our return to Manchester we put together a little edit of the footage as a promotional video for Frogs Rafting.  Take a peek at the results below and if you’re in the French Alps be sure to book yourselves on a trip!

With these changing seasons in mind I’ve started to think a lot about timelapse videos.  I’ve seen a number of photo and video timelapses recently and one such video that has stuck in my mind was Eirik Solheim’s One Year in 120 Seconds where he took a series of short videos from his balcony and stitched them together.  He lives in Norway and the transitions between the seasons look really intense.

As it was approaching spring I decided to focus on creating a seasonal timelapse of the quintessentially British flower the Bluebell.  I did a little research in the web and found a spot just 30 minutes drive away which was listed as one of the best spots for bluebells in the North West called Lumb Brook Woods.  Sure enough I made an initial recce with my Dad and it looked as though there would be a mass of bluebells.  They were due to bloom in about 5 weeks time and we could already see the leaves where they would flourish as bluebells start sprouting in winter…i’ve become a bit of a know it all when it comes to bluebells.

Day One of our Bluebell Timelapse

A relatively short distance to the bluebells was a must as once the they started to flourish we knew we would be visiting everyday.  We didn’t want to impact on the local woodland but we needed to find  a spot where we could take a series of videos from exactly the same spot.  My ever resourceful Dad knocked up some wooden stake like things that we could knock into the ground and use as a base for our camera.  We still had the problem of ensuring the camera was mounted in exactly the right place so the transition between shots would be smooth.  In my research I stumbled upon a product called Steel Putty which essentially is a putty until you mould it together in your hands and within 5 minutes it dries as hard as steel.

I inserted my camera in a plastic bag (for protection) and placed the camera onto the stake my dad had hammered into the ground. I then pushed the putty up around the edges of my camera to form and exact outline.  I moved the camera and within minutes the putty had dried and I had a perfect template to mount my camera to on each visit.

Our Camera Mount with Steel Putty

Camera in Action

We planned to take photos from 4 locations in the woods and wanted to take photos on regular days for about 5 mins at each spot. We had planned to use an intervalometer but we soon decided that was pointless as we were covering such a short time period at every spot each day.  From one previous timelapse experiment and a little research I’d guessed it better to use all manual settings so we could avoid any flicker in the timelapse. The first day we went it was overcast but we jotted down the settings and planned to use the same ones throughout the month. Our plans were scuppered though when we returned on a sunny day and the resulting images looked very bleached. It was time to my thinking cap on.

After the bleached out photos I did a little more research. I basically did a google search for “manual or automatic exposure timelapse”. Turns out its a big issue in the world of timelapse. Manual or automatic settings  mainly come down to preference rather than a right or wrong answer. So given the results from our first three trips I decided to switch to automatic mainly because we were rocking up at the same time each day (between 5 – 6pm) so whilst cloud cover may change we were’nt going to experience night fall or and the sun would remain in relatively the same place. I made a final last minute decision to also use video (30 seconds per location each visit) rather than photos primarily because I wanted to maintain the fluidity of water running in the stream and any other movement. I crossed my fingers.

Tree Mounted Platform

So on the 3rd April 2011 we recorded the first video files. We had set the first timelapse photos up 7 days earlier and the photos taken that week wouldn’t get used but we had learnt a lot!  My dad ended up putting a hell of a lot of effort into making trips to the woods and taking videos. He most definitely deserves BIG props! All seemed to be going really well other than a few hiccups such as the steel putty becoming detached from one of our stakes.  There was one major blow though, and that was the bluebells. We had expected a vibrant carpet of dazzling bluebells but instead we ended up with a delicate haze of very fragile looking flowers.

In hindsight I should have done a lot more testing and experimenting before going for the BIG shot but that pretty much sums up my approach. I like to ‘get on with it’ or perhaps others would say I can be a bit ‘slap dash’.

Here’s a very short test video using just four video clips out of a potential twenty. I’m still working on the final versions but you get the idea…

A couple of years ago Hannah and I were looking for a new tent.  We had some very specific ideas about the tent so we went looking for options.  Being a manager of an outdoor store has it’s advantages, firstly we had a fair amount of tents in stock I was familiar with and I was aware of most of the major manufacturers available in the UK.   So began a long trawl through the wonder that is the internet.

To give you an idea of our requirements here’s some of the key features we were looking for;

It had to have two entrances – going on trips to Canada/America a fair bit had put the bear escape options high on the list.

It needed to have a large vestibule to store kit/cook food – comfort is really our first priority and we had an eye on using this tent as a cycle touring shelter somewhere in the future so the extra space would be ideal.

As light as possible – this wasn’t a mountain tent we were looking for, rather lots of living space and light weight.

It quickly became apparent we were going to be looking for a tunnel tent.  This type of tent will generally be lighter and have more living room than a semi-geodesic or geodesic design.  Whilst not as strong as a geodesic design it’s key attributes were also top of our list.

TENT CHOICE

As well as looking at the Terra Nova Voyager XL, Marmot widi 3p and Jack Wolfskin’s Sanctuary II  RT along with a few other options, it quickly became apparent that Hilleberg were really going to be the manufacturer of choice.  It became a question of which one?  Hilleberg seemed to be offering the combination of lightweight and strength we felt was essential.   We took the time to visit some stores to put up some tents, something I think is essential when spending this kind of money.  Thanks have to go to George Fischer in Keswick and the Climbers Shop in Ambleside who were particularly helpful in our tour of tent pitching.  We finally decided on the Hilleberg Kaitum 2GT.

Here’s the link to Hillebergs website for the Kaitum 2GT

KEY FEATURES

Lightweight.

Large sleeping space.

Three entry/exit points – two at the large vestibule end and one at the other end.

Huge vestibule at one end and a medium vestibule at the other.

Vestibules roll up to create a tunnel – amazing in warm weather camping.

Excellent adjustable venting holes at either end.

Dyneema guy cord with easy lock tensioners, two per guy to make tensioning incredibly easy.

No se-um mesh on all doors.

Reflective sections on tent.

Drying line – internal tension line inside sleeping area.

Packed Weight – 3.5KG.

Length – 5.05m (Sleeping area 2.20m Main Vestibule 1.80M secondary vestibule 1.05m.)

Inner Height – 1.0m.

poles x 4.

Pegs x 22.

PITCHING & LIVING WITH THE TENT

Pitching.

This tent is a breeze to pitch, there are lots of little features which help get it up quickly and tension it appropriately.  The pole sleeves are continuous and only have one entry so you can easily put this tent up on your own.  The key is to peg the two ends first then pop the poles in, then start from one end and tension the guys from there.  It’s important to peg the guys at either end at 45 degrees to the tent to they are almost pulling the tent along it’s length.  The other guys are pitched at 90 degrees to the tent walls to give it stability.  It’s incredibly stable once up and fine tuning the tension is also easy with the dual tensioners on each guy.  There’s a guy at each end that helps keep the ventilation holes open and also really pull the tent along it’s length.  You don’t have to use all the pegs, in fact you could pitch it with just four pegs if you want to but the nature of tunnel tents is the better guyed out they are the more stable they are.  I tend to guy everything I can get my hands on!  The attention to detail is amazing.  The pole tensioners and the pole cups that hold the loose end of the poles are a dream to use even with gloved hands.  The doors are huge enabling easy access into the living area.  Another feature I’ve been impressed with are the tension straps between the sections where the doors are.  This allows the tent to be taught and solid whilst not putting the zips under huge loads when you’re trying to do them up.

Living with the tent.

I also found the options of so many entries/exits to be a real help.  We aim to pitch it low end into the wind on as flat as section as possible.  This means we have a large doorway out of the wind and should the weather change there’s a load of other doors to choose from if we need to.  We also purchased the footprint for the Kaitum 2GT which runs the full length of the outer.  This attaches to the outer and can remain attached and still fits in the tent bag no problem.  This obviously adds to the weight but helps preserve the investment.  I think I would remove it if I were hiking or away for a long time.  Another element of the design to note is the height of the bathtub inner and how low the outer comes to the ground.  This tent was designed in a country where it rains and it’s windy all at the same time.  Ideal for British conditions.

REAL WORLD USE.

We’ve been lucky enough to use this tent during our 2009 17 day backcountry paddling trip in Algonquin National Park, a full trip report can be found here.  The tent was pitched and taken down almost every day and we found it a breeze.  As I’ve already said the length of the tent takes a bit of getting used to, particularly if you try to put it up in your living room.  In real terms it didn’t turn out to be a problem.    The outdoors is bigger than you think!

We always found space for the tent and it’s worth noting you only need a flat section the size of a normal two man tent.  If the vestibule is on a rocky sloping section it doesn’t really matter.  What we did find is that during the trip it felt a little narrow at times.  It’s 1.450m wide inside but it did, at times, feel cramped.   There is a narrow and a wide end to the inner tent and I’m unsure if the nights we felt cramped was due to sleeping at the narrow end or just from being over tired and a little fractious.

We’ve also used the tent a fair bit whilst car-camping.  It’s a great tent in this situation as it takes all the extra kit you tend to bring on a trip like that, all the extra space still leaves you plenty of room to get in and out of the tent and generally enjoy your trip.

Not car camping!  Our first camp during out 17day backcountry paddling trip in Algonquin.

CONCLUSION.

If you’re interested in a spacious, strong and reasonably lightweight tent for hiking, ski touring and brilliant for cycle touring or paddling trips where you could argue you can carry a little more then this may be the tent for you.  There are lots of features to this tent that make it easy to live with.  It’s easy to put up and take down, has excellent ventilation options and is particularly comfy in hot climates.  Whilst it’s on the long side this does give you loads of living space should you have to spend a rainy rest day in your tent.  Obviously this tent isn’t going to be everyone’s first choice.  Hilleberg do lighter tents which are still reasonably large and there are always going to be lighter tents I would say the Kaitum 2GT is an amazing balance between spacious living, strength and weight.

Would I buy it again?  Definitely.