Shelters and Tents

assorted items on black textile
assorted items on black textile

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Hyperlite Ultamid 2 (19.1oz body only)

  • Price- $750 tent body (spruce green color) $420 Ultamid 2 insert w/ Dyneema floor

  • Weight- 19.1oz (542g)(+22oz (624g) for the insert w/ Dyneema floor)

This is our most recent acquisition. We grabbed this after the Hayduke in 2024 when we realized we needed a shelter that was a little more rugged like our much beloved and discontinued Hyperlite Dirigo 2. The Ultamid features the same large toothed waterproof YKK zipper that the Dirigo had and I know I can trust it where ever adventure leads me, unlike some our finer toothed zippers that have been destroyed by fine sand. The Dyneema Composite Fiber (DCF) body never gets saturated with dew or rain, seems mostly unaffected by UV and never stretches and sags when wet.

This is a pyramid shelter that requires two trekking poles to pitch, but unlike most tents these poles are strapped together into one single longer center pole. Hyperlite sells two short ski straps to use with your trekking poles or they also offer a carbon fiber pole if you don't carry trekking poles.

The floor space in this guy is kind of ridiculously large at 83"x107" (211cm x 272cm) so the only real challenge is finding a big enough tent site! We also added the bug mesh insert with the DCF 11 floor for those mosquito infested alpine areas we love. This does add another 22oz to the weight but this is typically split between two people. We're really looking forward to putting some more miles on this one on the Transcaucasian Trail this spring and summer!

-UPDATE 2026-

We completed the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) last summer with this shelter and now have almost 100 cumulative nights in this tent and 1200 miles, enough for a substantive review.

The Good- Once you've practiced pitching this shelter you'll find its pretty versatile and you can get can get a nice pitch on uneven surfaces. You also have the ability to pitch closer to the ground or higher based on your ventilation needs or the weather that night.

Pitched correctly it also very resilient in the wind, especially if you add an additional guy line to one or two of the panels. We found it held up well in sustained 45mph winds and we got better at minimizing panel flapping the more we pitched it.

The Not so Good- Its bulky, this is due to the the slightly heavier and thicker Dyneema this tent is constructed of, so to be fair, its a trade off of bulk vs. durability. But it will take up some serious room in your pack, especially if combined with the insert, that's best split with a hiking partner.

And let's not ignore the price, at $1170 with the insert this guy is an investment but I expect many years of hard use in return. I do think at that price point the stakes or at least the straps used to tie your trekking poles together could be included. But hey, I still bought it anyway.

I miss my vestibules, but that's a trade off when using a pyramid shelter; stability or vestibules.

A hiker at a mountain campsite with a Hyperlite Ultamid 2 tent in the Alpine Lake Wilderness.
A hiker at a mountain campsite with a Hyperlite Ultamid 2 tent in the Alpine Lake Wilderness.
View of a jagged mountain peak and forest from inside a the Hyperlite Ultamid 2 with sleeping bags.
View of a jagged mountain peak and forest from inside a the Hyperlite Ultamid 2 with sleeping bags.
Lightweight Hyperlite Ultamid tent pitched on a grassy mountain ridge overlooking snow-capped peaks.
Lightweight Hyperlite Ultamid tent pitched on a grassy mountain ridge overlooking snow-capped peaks.

Above- view in the Washington Cascades

Below- the Tian Shan Mountains in Kazakhstan

Hyperlite Unbound 2 (22oz)

  • Price- $775 (not including trekking poles or stakes)

  • Weight- 22oz (624g) (tent only)

This is the shelter we used on the Hayduke Trail in the American Soutwest, like here in this photo on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in early May after about 4 inches of snow, and below in Zion National Park on our Hayduke extension, because 750 miles in the desert wasn't enough.

This a non-freestanding shelter, requiring two trekking poles and a minimum of eight stakes to pitch. It's built from ultralight and waterproof Dyneema, using two weights of material, a lighter one for the walls and a heavier and more durable fabric for the floor.

The Good- It's Dyneema, it never absorbs moisture or "wets out" like silnylon, it also never sags or stretches when wet making those midnight guy line adjustments in a storm a thing of the past.

Lightweight, spacious, well ventilated and with double vestibules we found it to be a very comfortable tent and relatively easy to pitch for a non-freestanding shelter. I always love having my own door and vestibule, it makes it so easy to get in and out without disturbing your tent mate and I enjoy cooking dinner or heating up coffee right next to me in the vestibule. *Do this at your own risk, stoves in a tent can be fatal if there is inadequate ventilation.

Most of our use was in more arid environs but we did have a few instances of heavy condensation or frost and the tent design handled it pretty well. It's a single walled shelter so of course the interior will be damp if touched in but it never seemed excessive and didn't drip into the living space.

The Okay- I said it was easy to pitch, but we struggled to get consistently taut pitches, with flat, wrinkle-free wall panels. This caused the tent to flap a little in heavier winds. The price point is also a little high considering it doesn't even include stakes, but this is not a shelter for your casual weekend backpacker, this is geared toward thru-hikers.

Our biggest complaint and why aren't we using it now -- We had a zipper failure, probably caused by the harsh and sandy conditions of the route we were on. The #3 Aquaguard YKK zipper is finer toothed and a little more susceptible to failure so ultimately we opted for a shelter with a beefier zipper, like the Ultamid above or our beloved but discontinued Hyperlite Dirigo 2. For most users I really don't see this as a major weakness, but it is something to consider if you're frequently in the American Southwest or sandstorms...

Unbound 2 backpacking tent pitched in a snowy pine forest on the North Kaibab Plateau.
Unbound 2 backpacking tent pitched in a snowy pine forest on the North Kaibab Plateau.
A backpacking tent pitched in a desert wilderness camp with red rock mountains under a blue sky.
A backpacking tent pitched in a desert wilderness camp with red rock mountains under a blue sky.
NEMO Dagger 3p (4lbs 7oz)
(updated model available Dagger OSMO)

  • Price- 3p $649.95 / 2p $599.95

  • Weight- 3p 3lb 13oz (1.74 kg) / 2p 3lb 15oz (1.78 kg)

This has been our shoulder season palace -- Somewhere to sleep on the more casual trips, or when the sun sets at 4pm. And by more casual I means multi-day midwinter snowshoeing expeditions through the Mt. Baker Wilderness deep in Washington's North Cascade Mountains or 1500m spring climbs to alpine lakes with questionable weather forecasts. This tent will hold up to whatever challengers you throw at it.

The Good- Its spacious, solidly built and works well in all four seasons despite being a "three season" tent. It has good headroom, we can sit up next to each other, cook dinner in a snow storm or play cards after dark with room for our gear in the tent.

Great packability for a large tent, especially when contrasted against our other Dyneema shelters, I forget how much you can squish a nylon tent.

What we don't like- It has the traditional shortcomings of silnylon tents, sagging and stretching when wet, but that helps keep the price point a little more approachable.

In very damp conditions accumulated condensation can drip from the line use to tie the mesh door open or the seam in the mesh near pole attachment points. This isn't an all-the-time problem but more prevalent after a very frosty nights near dew point when ice has accumulated on the tent walls and rapidly defrosts when the sun hits or persistent rain and very high humdity.

The three person claim, as roomy as this shelter is with two people and gear, maybe even a dog, three is going to be a sardine can. I guess that is acceptable for some but personally I'm not interested in getting that close to all my friends...

Nemo Dagger 3p tent pitched near a blue alpine lake in the Olympic Mountains.
Nemo Dagger 3p tent pitched near a blue alpine lake in the Olympic Mountains.
NEMO Dagger 3p tent set up for winter backpacking in the snow with a mountain sunset background.
NEMO Dagger 3p tent set up for winter backpacking in the snow with a mountain sunset background.