Snow Pegs for tents

[gisborne612]

How neccessary are snow pegs for snow camping. How long shoulb they be, and roughly how many should be used?

[Moondog55]

Very; 450mm #6 -> 12

[north-north-west]

If the snow's hard packed and frozen they're not necessary. Otherwise, wot 'e sed ^ .

[Moondog55]

A good substitute for snow pegs are deadmen find some-one who has scrap aluminium and cut some rectangular bits about 200 * 300 and drill a couple of holes just off-center and use those
Commercial cool-room places and Alcan retail have a special extra large aluminium coving that can be used but it isn't cheap and only buy it if you can get off-cuts or scrap Scrap 3-ply brace board has a waterproof glue and lasts quite a few years and if you paint it and reinforce the top with a scrap of aluminium angle can be driven into reasonably hard snow or buried in a dug trench.
If doing a lot of snow camping a dedicated skirt along the ground edges is well worth while, but make it from the cheapest possible fabric as I have had to cut mine off more than once as it can freeze in if we have one of those horrible "Freeze/thaw cycles"

[ninjapuppet]

Great tips moondog. I'm trying to picture your aluminium deadmen in my head.... and wondering what the best position would be for those holes?
Would it be better for the holes to be closwer to the edges?
I'd guess you would want to round those holes off for fear of your guys getting cut by those aluminium holes?

Just noticed that all macpac mountain tents come standard with skirts whilst no hillebergs have them as standard. Expedition teams can get Hilleberg to sew them on professionally but at cost! I read where the staikia's skirts costed $700 to get sewn on from the factory. you wouldnt want to be cutting that off any time soon.

[rucksack]

I have always used deadman snow plates for camping in the snow and they have sustained my tents even in blizzards. They are made of 2 mm thick aluminium plate cut into 10 cm x 10 cm squares with a looped cord through one corner. The corners are cut off and smoothed and the square is drilled out 'Swiss cheese style' using a 5 or 6mm drill. The cords on the plates are then looped through the cords of the tent fly. Using the heel of your boot, just stamp the plates into the snow leaning them back at 45º to the vertical. 20 cm deep is normally fine. The snow freezes through the holes, (which is the purpose of the design), and presto, immovable snow pegs. In the morning, just dig down next to the cord (and away from the tent, of course) and retrieve the plates. Then, 'disconnect' them from your fly and pack them separately. Simple. All you need is some suitably inexpensive aluminium plate, a drill and some cord. I made mine at university in the outdoor club. Someone 'procured' a number of sheets of 2 mm aluminium plate and sufficient cord and we made hundreds of them in one night. It was easy. I am still using mine.

As to the tents .. Hilleberg flies comes right down to the ground, so there is really no need to be thinking about storm flaps, especially in Australia. The outer fly on the Macpac Olympus does not come down to the ground so when it is snowing and the wind is strong, snow can be easily blown under the fly and into the vestibule, hence, the valences around the vestibule of the current model. Previously, Macpac offered the option of a yellow snow fly for their Olympus tents and this had snow valences all round. The current design is a 'bit of both'. Easier and cheaper to construct a low snow wall around your tent, if camping above the tree line in snow, than to be getting the old sewing machine out. Much easier and much cheaper.

rucksack

[Moondog55]

My old "Plateau" the original Fairydown version has loops around the perimeter every 300mm, you make a cheap skirt out of proofed nylon or polyester ( or even the cheap orange silnylon ) and for every loop you add a little toggle sewing the snow flaps to the tent just does not make sense.
to stop wear and tear on the guy use a little loop of thick 20mm tape and replace it at need.and of course you are right all holes need to be counter suk and rounded off with emery or fine sandpaper
Holes for deadmen and snow anchors are usually to the center of the plate, my old Cloggie deadmen have a loop of wire so that the pull is redirected downwards
if you have bending facilities the plate is folded at a slight angle and the point is towards the pull
I'll see if i can find all my old winter gear and post a picture how do you add a picture to a post BTW>>>

[Son of a Beach]

how do you add a picture to a post BTW>>>

See the two "How to..." Announcement posts near the top of the gallery forum.
If you have any further questions about either of those methods, please post to those topics.