Tent pole snapped in the middle of a downpour at Yosemite last spring

I was camping at Upper Pines in Yosemite back in May, and a big storm rolled in around 2am. My tent pole just cracked right at the ferrule, and the whole side of my tent collapsed on my face. Water started pooling on the fly and seeping through the mesh. I had to scramble out in my rain jacket with a headlamp, grab my repair sleeve and duct tape from the car, and try to splint it in the pouring rain. The tape held for the rest of the night, but I was soaked and miserable by morning. I ended up cutting the trip short by two days because I couldn't trust the repair. Has anyone else had a pole snap on a newer tent and found a way to keep it from happening again?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese5517d ago

Man that sucks, I've been there with the 2am scramble in the rain. "miserable by morning" is exactly how I felt when my pole snapped at Joshua Tree a few years back.

gavinwood7d ago

Man, that's rough. I had the same thing happen at Glacier a few years back. I started carrying a spare pole section that matches my tent's diameter, cut it to length just in case. Also swapped the stock aluminum poles for DAC ones. Way stiffer, never had a snap since. Cost me like $40 but worth it for peace of mind.