Hi!

Thank you for letting me join this forum. I'm Simon from The Netherlands. I don't hike a lot, but I'm planning to go hiking again. No specific destination in mind, yet. But I already know I want to change one gear item.

I've hiked using a Jack Wolfskin Gossamer tent before, it was what I could afford. Not super lightweight, but in terms of weight, acceptable for me. However, I couldn't sit upright in the tent, which sort of annoyed me at times, especially when it rained days on end :p

So I'm looking for a tent or camp setup with the following requirements:

- Solo
- Being able to sit upright
- Weigh less than 1.5kg total (that's 3 US pounds or so), but preferably under 1 kg.
- Bug free, snake free, other creepy crawlies free
- Quite versatile (withstand long rains and some different climates, but doesn't need to go to the north pole either)
- Can be shipped to Europe (which can be a problem sometimes, sadly)
- Not being a hammock

I do have a Golite poncho tarp, which I could use somehow in the setup, but I don't think going full tarping is the best plan for me. For one thing I don't see how one could easily set it up to be both windproof and high enough to sit under. Perhaps I could make it adjustable or so. Anybody any tips?

But perhaps buying a tent is better. So far I was looking at the Golite Shangri-LA-1 but I can't find a reseller in Europe. And I was looking at the Six Moon Design Skyscapers, but surely there is a lot more out there. Also I have MLD solomid in mind; any similar alternatives?

Thanks a lot for any help you can provide. I'm not really into all of this as much as some others, so I hoped you could help. When I made my first hiking pack 2 years ago the online community has been very helpful and my bag was perhaps twice as light and useful as it would be if I did it on my own. So any suggestions on tents/systems would be great.

T-Rex