My tent pole snapped at 2 AM during a storm in the Smokies

I was stuck in a downpour near Clingmans Dome when the main aluminum pole on my three-season tent just cracked in half, so I ended up using paracord and a hiking pole to keep it up til morning; anyone else had a tent fail in the middle of the night?

3 comments

3 Comments

hill.margaret13d ago

Oh wow, that sounds like a rough night. I actually had a similar thing happen once but it was my fault because I set up camp right under a dead tree branch that came crashing down at like 3 AM and bent my poles all out of shape. But here's something that nobody seems to talk about when these threads pop up: have you checked the little plastic or metal joints at the ends of the pole sections? Sometimes they work loose or crack before the main tube does, and if you catch it early you can tape them up with something simple like duct tape or even a bit of electrical tape. I always carry a small roll of gorilla tape in my repair kit now, just for that reason. The other thing is that aluminum poles can get fatigued after a lot of use, especially if you're like me and you don't always dry out your tent perfectly before packing it away, so moisture can get in there and weaken things over time. Hope you made it down okay and got a good laugh about it later!

riley_wood8413d ago

Dang that's rough, I've heard stories but never had it happen myself. Actually my buddy Mike had something close happen on the AT near Roan Mountain, his pole just sheared off at 3 AM during a storm too. He had to use a trekking pole and some zip ties to brace it up, said it looked like a frankenstein tent by morning. @hill.margaret is totally right about checking those little plastic pieces on the pole ends, Mike told me later that one of his was cracked before the trip and he ignored it. He keeps a tiny tube of superglue and some duct tape in his bag now for that exact reason. The worst part was he had to hike out 8 miles in the rain the next day carrying that bent pole, said he'd rather set up in a cave than deal with that again.

charlescraig12d ago

Actually that little plastic joint thing is called a ferrule, and yeah they can definitely crack before the pole itself goes. I had one split on me during a windy night at Grayson Highlands and it was a total mess. But here's the thing - gorilla tape is great but regular ole duct tape works just as good for temp fixes and it's way lighter to carry. I keep a small wrap of it around my trekking pole handles so I always have some.