UKH

Hi,

I am about to take the plunge on some expensive purchases and would welcome any advice in advance.

I am going to buy a two person tent that needs to be good enough for 4 season use in the UK, can be carried easily by two people that will last and keep us dry. After a fair bit of research, I have decided to go for a Hilleberg Staika. If anyone has any experience of this then tips, advice and suggestions most welcome.

Secondly, we need two sleeping bags that will keep us warm in the British winter and not too boiling hot in the Summer. We were going to go for Rab but am now thinking of Alpkit down bags. Any suggestions on others welcome.

Most importantly, I want some new boots but I don't think what I want exists. I would like a pair that I can wear for hiking all year round that would take a crampon about 5 times a year. Does such a thing exist? Nearly bought some Salewa Condor GTX today but was convinced by the shop that these would be overkill for 80% of what I want them for.

All advice greatly appreciated. Especially on the boots.

In reply to Snelly55:

Don't think you can get boots or sleeping bag that will cope with the variety of conditions you will experience over a year.
Trainers are great for huge chunks of the year, wellies are also really handy but probably not on the hill, boots are great in snow.
Sleeping bags, two summer bags together just about equal a winter bag

In reply to Snelly55:

Hilleberg excellent. Will the Nallo not do?

Alpkits bags are generally decent for the money. I have an old early pipe dream which I use In summer / for mountain marathons and it's great years later.


Scarpa SL? Had mine for years. Not used the new version but mine are excellent and will take a walking crampon.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Thanks for your reply.

Nallo gets great reviews but I don't want a tunnel tent.

I will have a look at the Scarpa SL's. Cheers.

In reply to Snelly55:

Buy a 2 season bag, and add a quilt/blanket for winter.

In reply to Snelly55:

I found the Staika a bit small for 4 season use, when you may be trapped in the tent for a day or so. Also, I am not particularly fond of the side apsides. If you are set on Hilleberg, I would go for the Tarra, which is a hybrid tunnel/geodesic design, absolutely bomb proof, and offers a bit more space with its two head and foot end apsides. Best tent I ever owned, if a bit heavy (same as Staika).

No comments on the bags, but I use LS Nepals all year round, even if they are complete overkill for most summer hiking.

CB

In reply to cb294:
Personally I wouldnt waste a pile of cash on a Hilleberg unless money's no object!? you can easily pick up a M.H Trango 2 or Terra Nova Quasar much cheaper will do the job for 4 season use, plenty room for 2 plus kit about 4kg easily split between 2. Use the spare money and buy a decent winter bag it'll come in handy in Scotland
If it's to warm in summer zip it open or sleep on top, however it's just much simpler to buy a Summer bag.

Sportiva Trango S great lightweight boots that'll do a crampon B1 if it's just winter walking or the Trango Cubes are brilliant lightweight and a tad stiffer B2 and the Scarpa Manta Pros are all excellent boots that will easily do some climbing up to grade 2/3 depending on the feet their attached to

I'd check out the Salewa Raven Pro Gtx.
These can be got cheap and plenty stiff I'd say B2 easily yet still lightweight to use all year round, I wouldnt fancy wearing the Condor all year round

In reply to stevieweesaxs107:

Isn't the Quasar that bit heavier than the Nallo?

I've had so many quasar poles break over the years, that would also put me off.

In reply to Phil1919:
I've owned a few Quasars never had a broken pole, I much prefer the Bombproof Trango 2 if given a choice.

I'm not impressed with the Nallo had one briefly sold it within a month! To fiddly, saggy inner touched the outer condensation problems. Some people rate it just wasn't for me, I wouldn't fancy a Nallo in a hoolie. Besides I'd prefer a little more room for 2 people and winter kit. Besides op doesn't want a Tunnel Tent

In reply to stevieweesaxs107:

I'd agree about space. I've had two. Great tents. Two entrances win out. But I'm not the only one whose had lots of poles break.

Just a bit of a different beast I guess, as the Nallo would win on weight for a lighter weight trip.

In reply to Snelly55:
Staika is a good choice, I just got one myself the other week. I'm quite familiar with Hilleberg tents and it doesn't disappoint (I also use a Tarra, Jannu, Keron 3 and Keron 4). I also have a Force 10 Vortex 200, Vaude Hogan XP and Vango Banshee 200, and have used various Terra Nova tents in the past. I've found the Hilleberg tents seem to work out the cheapest option in the long run, and it would take a lot of clever marketing to get me to buy a tent from any other company in future. My own reasons for avoiding a Quasar on this occasion inc

1) pole diameter is far less than the 10mm you get with the Staika. In the UK even 10mm poles often come up short when the wind picks up, and we often reinforce with walking poles and extra guy lines etc. Having the poles on the outside (e.g. Jannu, Tarra, Staika etc) makes it a lot easier to attach extra guylines in a meaninful way. Your options for doing this with a Quasar are more limited. If you're expecting strong wind you can put 2 sets of 10mm poles in the staika, but with the quasar you're pretty limited. (The ultra light versions are even more flimsy).

2) outer first pitch is a lot better IMO. It's a lot less hassle to pack and pitch with the footprint, inner and fly all staying attached. I get fed up with having to setup the inner and footprint every time when pitching an inner first, even when there's no wind or rain. If you're pitching for a short trip then rain getting on an inner won't matter too much, but for longer trips its preferable to keep the inner dry as you can with the outer first pitch tents.

3) Fly sheet - a lot of the TN tents are PU/Sil coated (i.e silicone coated on the outside and pu on the inner. It makes it easier for them to factory seal the seams and sew it together). But these fabrics are not as durable as Hilleberg's Kerlon 1200/1800. (some of the TN and Vaude tents are also full silnylon though).

4) hillebergs clip system is fantastic when pitching in strong wind. This is a week point of the Vortex 200 - it's strong when it's up, but getting it up without snapping a pole in strong wind can be challenging. The staika (and Jannu, Tarra etc) are far less risky to setup in strong wind, if you follow the correct procedure, very little can go wrong regardless of the wind. Not so with the quasars, you have several precarious stages while setting it up in which the tent isn't properly supported by guylines yet fully exposed to the wind, an unexpected gust at the wrong time could easily snap or damage a pole.

In reply to kieranpurvis:

Did you have trouble with the zips in your Staika?

CB

In reply to kieranpurvis:

Yes, I'd generally agree. just that once pitched (!) the quasar lay out is very good. But then I haven't used as many tents as you have. I've had a Hilleberg Atko for 4 years now. Incredibly simple to pitch, and strong. It became a lot simpler for me once I realised you could keep the inner and outer clipped together! Am thinking of a Nallo now for me and the wife for cycle touring. Have used the Atko but a bit tight for two, especially in poor weather!

In reply to kieranpurvis:

Many thanks for this. Invaluable.

I think we will stick with the Staika. Just need to find somewhere with one in stock!

In reply to bouldery bits:

I have to disagree with you - I think they're nice tents, but somewhat over-rated and over-priced. They just simply don't hold up in the wind. I've seen Hillebergs flattened whilst Quasars and Quasar-copy Force Tens remained standing around them (admitedly in 70 mph wind, but when you spend £400 on a four season tent...).

Naturally, this led to a joke related to measuring windspeed in Hillebergs. Turns out 70 mph with 100mph gusts is at least 3 Hillebergs.

In reply to ianstevens:

Could this not be due to poor pitching?

In reply to ScottTalbot:


Also I'd be curious if this is anything other than anecdotal evidence. In which case, I'd counter that my Akto survived a full on Cairngorm blast by the side of Loch Avon just fine.

In reply to ScottTalbot:


Yes, that would be my own experience to an extent. I have had both good and bad nights in my Nallo (it's quite a few years old now), largely down to how well I pitched it (wind direction, tautness)

I would also say that, and this could be because it is a tunnel tent, it performed better in exposed areas with a consistently strong wind (i.e. coastal or, not that I've been, an arctic plateau!) whereas when I wild camped a couple of times in a complex craggy area with swirling wind, it was not quite so good.

In reply to ianstevens:

Not a problem I've ever had with My Akto. I have been very impressed with it.

In reply to mountainbagger:
Nope, pitched into the wind, everything taut ect. However as we were camping on a arctic plateau (ok, infront of a glacier) the terrain wasn't the best - unconsolidated gravel. Obviously the guys were rocked out, somewhat extensively. I can only say what I saw, and that was the survival of Quasars over Hillebergs.

Equally some of this may be a perception of windspeed - IMO it's something people often over estimate. My windspeeds are from a hyper local weather station we'd erected.

In reply to ianstevens:

Ah well, I've only pitched it into poor gravelly ground once or twice and it wasn't particularly windy, so you've got me there. Anyway it seems the OP isn't going for a tunnel like the Nallo, so my experiences are probably of little help!

In reply to Snelly55:

Am going for a Staika. The Climbers Shop in the Lakes have been incredibly helpful on this. Brilliant customer service.

Sleeping bags - will get summer and winter bags and think we will try and find them on eBay or in the For Sale forum here.

Boots - I am planning to try some Scarpa SL's on although there seems to be a lot of anecdotal experience of the heel area of the insole wearing through quickly...

Many thanks for everyone's advice. Interesting reading and very helpful.

In reply to Snelly55:

l love my Nallo 2 and its survived in plenty of crazy winds , its 2kg lighter than a admittedly bomb proof Quasar..... it means i can easily carry it alone with wild camping kit. It is key that its pitched correctly.

Scarpa SL's are great boots and i use mine for everything.

I use a ME synthetic bag... never owned a down bag. can't fault it.

In reply to stevieweesaxs107:

If you want a 2 porch lightwieght tent then what about the Hilleberg Kaitum 2? It's essentially a double-ended Nallo. I have one and it's very good - handled a confirmed F7 with no problems other than it being noisy compared to a dome and bumping around so much my headtorch draped over the 'washing line' fell down. I think the main downside of the tent is it needs 18 pegs to pitch fully, more than most (if not all) domes. But it is lighter than the domes, so it's all about your priorities.

In reply to Pkrynicki1984:

It's not comparing like with like to compare a Nallo with a Quasar, the only fair comparison would be Quasar vs a Hilleberg geodesic.

In reply to Snelly55:

We ended up going for the Staika and it arrived last week. We have put it up a couple of times and it seems like a very well designed bit of kit. The only drawback is that it is relatively heavy but between two of us, it is not a major issue. We will be out testing it for real very soon.

Very happy with the purchase. I think we made a good choice.

Lastly, the price (significantly less than RRP) and the customer service, from the Climbing Shop were absolutely fantastic. Highly recommended based on our discussions with them.

In reply to Snelly55:

not read the whole discussion but on sleeping bags I would get 2 sleeping bags each a "liner" down bag a synthetic or lightish down bag for summer depending on budget. I would get well fitting winter boots and use solid approach / fell shoes in summer (scapa zen)

my wife walked a large chunk of the GR5 in summer wearing a £20 or 30 pair of boots from go outdoors