Warning: My tent pole snapped in a thunderstorm near Moab last June

I was camped up in the La Sal Mountains, about 30 miles south of Moab, when a sudden storm rolled in around 2 AM. The wind went from calm to crazy fast in maybe 10 minutes. My aluminum pole just bent and snapped at the joint. I had to scramble to tie the tent to some trees with paracord to keep it from collapsing on me. Soaked everything I owned. Now I check for reinforced pole sleeves before buying a tent. Anybody had a pole fail on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

smith.blair11d ago

...and that's the exact moment I realized sleeping in a soggy tent at 2 AM is nature's way of telling you to just buy a cabin, honestly. Nothing like a bent pole and soaked gear to make you question every life choice that led you to that ridge. I figure tents are like a bad marriage - they'll let you down when you least expect it, usually in the middle of the night with nowhere to run.

brookekelly12d ago

I used to be the guy who thought any tent pole would hold up fine, honestly. Then I had a similar experience on the Colorado Trail a couple years back, not even in a crazy storm, just a steady wind on a ridge at 11,000 feet. My pole bent at the ferrule like it was butter and the whole thing sagged right down on my face. Total game changer. Now I won't buy a tent unless it has those beefy reinforced sleeves and thicker gauge aluminum.