In August 2014 I drew the first sketches of the Sierra Designs High Route 1 FL Tent. In the ensuing 18 months, we made up four prototypes, and I tested the design extensively in southern Utah and the Rockies.

In designing the High Route Tent, I wanted a single shelter that I could use on all of my solo trips. It had to be:

Suitable for harsh 3-season conditions and moderate winter weather;

Optimizable for the full range of 3-season conditions: hot and cool, humid and arid, bugs and none;

Acceptably light for friendlier 3-season conditions.

I also wanted to solve several problems common among shelters that use trekking poles for support. By offsetting the poles and making vertical the side doors, we created a shelter with:

Steeply angled side walls, for more usable interior space;

A sleeping area that is not dissected by poles, and doors that are not blocked by poles;

Phenomenal ventilation, without compromising rain protection.

Finally, I was willing to sacrifice some weight-savings for living space. If you you’re a big person, if you find that “ultralight” shelters are coffin-like, or if you sometimes get caught in weather that pins you down for an extended time, you probably will love this shelter.

We’re very excited about this shelter and did not want to wait until Spring 2017 to release it. Instead, in early-August we made available a small batch — just 110 units — that can be ordered now directly from Sierra Designs.

Key specs & features

Double-wall. The fly and tent body can be pitched together or independently.

Fly: generous 4- x 9-foot rectangular footprint, with a 4-foot minimum peak height

Body: 30- x 90-in footprint

Requires adjustable trekking poles with 48-inch minimum length

A simple, intuitive, and fast pitch. View the pitching instructions and video.

Two full doors on both the fly and tent body

Both doors can be “porched” for more living space and greater ventilation

20d sil/PE fabric with taped seams on the fly, and 30d on the floor

Requires six stakes; to porch the doors or guy-out the door seam, two additional stakes are needed.

$299 MSRP

Weights Tarp: 22 oz Nest: 14 oz Minimum weight: 2 lbs 4 oz Includes eight stakes, guylines, and an oversized stuff sack, because squeezing a frost-covered shelter into a tiny stuff sack is the worst. By putting the HR1 on a diet, I was able to drop 1.5 oz from its minimum weight.



Originally posted April 18, 2016