martin.jamie•1mo agoOG Member

Tent pole snapped at 2am in a downpour and I had to get creative

I was camping at Lake Ouachita last fall when a storm rolled in around 2 in the morning. My tent pole just snapped right at the elbow joint and the whole thing collapsed on me. I ended up duct taping a fallen tree branch to the broken section to hold the rainfly up. It worked well enough to get me through the night, but I replaced that tent the next week. Has anyone else had a pole failure ruin a trip? What did you do to fix it on the spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

blairwhite1mo ago

duct taping a fallen tree branch" - honestly that's kind of genius for a 2am panic fix. How long did that branch hold up before you started worrying about it snapping too?

mason_knight1mo ago

Man, that brings back memories. I once had a tent pole snap on me in the middle of the desert in Utah, no tree branches anywhere in sight. Ended up using my hiking poles and some paracord to make a kind of splint for the rainfly. It looked ridiculous and sagged like crazy, but it kept the wind from whipping the tent flat against me. The worst part was I had to sleep curled around the poles so I didn't roll into the sagging side and collapse the whole thing again. Your branch fix honestly sounds more solid than my mess.