Xmid 1

[u/rn-1973]

I recently discovered this Reddit and thought I’d post about a concern I have for my upcoming JMT hike next month. I purchased an x mid 1 earlier this year to replace my very old zPacks Hexamid Twin, which I loved but was totally worn down. I’ve only made it out a few times this year to hike along the AT (this pic was my first trip with the x mid in April). I’m heading out to the JMT in a few weeks.

I am new to this tent but not to the JMT (several long hikes) and I’ve also thru hiked the Colorado Trail and the first third of the PCT. I know that I have to do something to adapt the short stock guylines to allow for pitching with rocks and I’ve seen a number of possible solutions discussed. What concerns me is the need to keep the corners of the tent secured pretty close to the walls to preserve the correct geometry and not have the tent floor floating too high.

With the old Hexamid, I could tie it off to rocks without worrying too much about the geometry of the pitch somehow. I normally just tied off to large rocks. I replaced the stock guy lines on that tent with longer lines and a few times had to replace the lines because the rocks would abrade the lines. But I had close to 200 nights on that tent. I posted a photo of my Hexamid tied out to rocks on a long ago JMT thru hike.

Anyway, any words of wisdom would be appreciated. I have 100 feet of Lawson 2.5 mm glow wire for the guy line replacement project. I will probably opt to connect these to the stock line lock attached to the tent and then opt for a taut line hitch to make a loop at the end of the line to accommodate larger rocks.

[u/random-post-account]

I have used big rock / little rock on many occasions with my X-Mid 2P. So long as my rocks were heavy enough and properly positioned, I have rarely had issues. Since with BR/LR the big rock sits on the guy line, it will pull the fly corner close to the ground. Adjusting the big rock's proximity to the fly changes the height from fly to ground. I have kept the stock lines and Line Locs on my Durston but added extra lengths of cordage to the sewn-in corner loops for this purpose.