Hilleberg Nallo GT
I have had this tent now for 3 years and it has provided good service. It is suitable for 3 or very spacious for 2 persons. It has a large vestibule which is very useful for gear storage, cooking etc.
The tent weighs 2.2kg (2.6kg packed) so is reasonably lightweight. It is well made and designed. I have also had this model’s younger brother, the Akto, for many years.
The manufacturer, Hilleberg, state in their website that the tent is suitable for year round use. Firstly, I would never use this tent in winter conditions. I believe it is just not strong enough. I have only used it in the 6 months of the year (from May to October) here in Spain’s Sierra Nevada.
In my last excursion into the Sierra Nevada hills (see http://www.sierra-nevada-news.com/2008/09/3-day-south-north-crossing-sierra-nevada/) I experienced the first flaws with the tent. We camped at Siete Lagunas at 2900m. The wind was gusting strong, but we had no undue problems erecting the tent, as it is very easy to put up. However during the night these gusts became more intense. At 2am the first tent pole broke into 2 and I had to repair with the supplied tent repair kit. At 5am another broke and I fixed it with a splint and gaffer tape. At 6am the final pole broke and without splints, tape or repair kit we had to endure a few hours of discomfort.
Ok, so it was summer. Ok, so it wasnt too cold, the overnight temperatures only dropping to 5 deg C. As we were on a multi-day trip into the mountains it did mean though that we had to sleep out the following night with just sleeping bags as protection.
I guess the moral of the story is that this tent cannot withstand any sort of violent gusts for prolonged periods. It is just too flimsy. In all other respects however, the tent is a good 2 season performer.
Trangia 25-5 UL Cooking Set
I seem to be one of the few “older type” mountain goers that have never owned a Trangia stove! Until now that is. A failure of my last cooking system (Jetboil) in January left me looking for pastures new. So I went back to basics and bought a good old Trangia.
So how did it perform? In a word …… excellent! We could cook in the tent alcove in a high wind. It is stable, easy to set up and BOMBPROOF. By that I mean I doubt it will ever fail me. There is simply not much that can go wrong with it. Sure, it is a bit heavier and takes longer to cook or boil water. So what? We had plenty of time. Why rush when you are in the mountains?
In fact our dehydrated meals cooked better than the fast boiler turbo-charged gas cookers on the market. As there was no rapid cooker, there was no rapid …. burning of the pan. We waited longer, but the end result was a better more gently cooked meal with no messy pans afterwards.
Like millions before me, I can thouroughly recommend the Trangia system. Bring on the winter!
Mountain Meals and Munchies dried expedition food
We produce our own mountain and expedition food. You may say I’m biased, but after sampling them in all sorts of differing situations, I wont go into the hills with anything else. We took 3 types for our latest 3 day trip.
- North African Stew
- Mild Vegetarian Curry
- Vermicelli in a barbecue sauce
I do have quite spicy tastebuds so each meal may not be to everyone’s taste. I like strong flavours when in the mountains. I want to look forward to each evening meal, not wait until my bland “cardboard” type pasta is cooked!
The portions are 200 grams of dry weight. After much testing on the hills, I believe this is sufficient for most hairy mountaineers.
Breakfast for me is a dry mix of fruit, oats, milk powder, nuts and spices. Add some boiled water and you have a quick tasty breakfast.
Were these DAC poles that snapped on your Nallo, or unmarked poles?
They were the original poles that were supplied with the tent some 4 years ago. Think they were DAC but not 100% sure.
I believe Hilleberg switched to better (DAC) poles sometime around 2006. That said, I read one report of DAC poles snapping too, so perhaps the problem lies in the design of the tent– lots of fabric, like a sail, catches stiff winds and repeatedly deforms the poles until they eventually snap. If so, that’s too bad. The Nallos have huge amounts of space for their weight. It probably comes down to intended use and whether or not they can be guyed out properly to withstand heavy wind.
Yes, in particular I remember the silence before the gust built and came rushing towards us. The tent buckled with the poles for a good 2 minutes or more before relenting and the silence resuming. Eerie!
Disappointed with the tent as it was a large 2 man tent and perfect for 2 season use here in the Sierras. Any ideas for a replacement (stronger)?
The Nallos were designed so that the poles can be doubled up, 2 per sleeve, with room to seat both poles in plastic pole cups located at the sleeves ends, where the tensioners are. It appears Hilleberg fully understood that there would be environments where two sets of poles would be beneficial. Apparently that environment is whenever and wherever there is heavy or sustained wind, or modest snow loads.
Description of the two-pole compatible cup design can be seen here:
http://www.moontrail.com/hilleberg/hilleberg-nallo-features.html
Adding a second set of poles would probably add a pound-and-a-half or two to the total weight. Probably also recommended that this particular tent model get guyed out soundly /every/ time it is erected, no matter what the anticipated weather, just in case.